The Story of Green Day's "American Idiot" 

Fun Fact: The voice of Whatsername on the track 'Letterbomb' is Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of Bikini Kill. She's also the person who gave Kurt Cobain the inspiration for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit''s title. The 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' music video was directed by Samuel Bayer, who also directed all the American Idiot videos.

Something interesting I noticed listening to the album- in Jesus of Suburbia there's this line (I don't remember the exact quote) about walking a line that he wants to get off of. At the end of the song, you're pretty sure he gets off the line when he gets out of town. Now skip ahead to Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and you get "I'm walking down the line, that divides me somewhere in my mind." Implying that he never left. Not really. A cynical message of "you can't escape your past, even if you think you have".

Me: Knows literally every single detail about American Idiot Also me: *watches this video*

Green Day just never dies. They branch out but never loose contact with their roots. Something many other bands fail to do.

6 months ago, I wrote a thesis on American Idiot for school and it was an amazing experience: trying to figure out the sense of the album, piece by piece, and then looking at the whole picture. American Idiot DESERVES critical analysis, like any other work of art, in order to be appreciated as a majestic opera that, I dare say, should be studied in schools. Kudos to you.

I kinda want to thank whoever stole the person who stole those demos.

It’s actually insane how timeless this album is. Relevant almost 2 decades later. Truly the last great rock opera.

I’m probably wrong, but I like to think that the whole point of the album is that just being a rebellious ‘screw the system’ kid isn’t enough, and that things will end in a melancholy fashion for everyone unless we revolt against it together. Almost like a subtle call for mass rebellion. Or somet along those lines anyway

Still one of my favourite albums ever! This one line of Jesus of suburbia always gets me '...It says home is where your heart is But what a shame Cause everyone's heart Doesn't beat the same'

I'm glad you're telling this story. People always call Green Day sellouts for making this album without realising what actually happened and how they completely changed their style. P.s.- Never realised how relevant the title track's lyrics are, especially in the recent years.

7:12 "another 9 minute EPIC made of 5 PARTS..." yep, and this is why I love Homecoming and Jesus of Suburbia. They don't follow the common song structures with choruses and stuff. And then there's Forever Now that does the same. The reprise of Somewhere Now in the end outright surprised me because it sounded so awesome the first time I realized it. Green Day is my all time favorite band eversince highschool.

Whatsername is low-key the best song off the album

American Idiot is not just music. It's a message for everyone to remember that the current state of america has only gotten worse since 2004.

Warning is an underrated album

When I heard: "I read the graffiti on the bathroom stall like the holy scriptures of the shopping mall," when I was like 10 or younger, I swear that was some of the most compelling lyricism my mind could comprehend.

looking at the lyrics in the booklet of the CD: He remembers whatshernames name - but he wants to forget her name, so her scribbled out her name.

Is no one gonna talk about the amazing custom made album covers for the different songs THEY’RE GREAT

Holy crap, i loved this album already but this gave me a totally different perspective on it. so awesome!

Arguably the best and most important album by an American band ever. Pretty amazing how Green Day, a band a lot of people scoff at, have managed to record TWO of the most classic rock albums in American history!

American idiot isn’t an album, it’s an experience

I've decided I'm going to watch the entire video before commenting.

What makes it more timeless, and I don't know if this is a good thing, but these same political themes of distrust and dissatisfaction in the government, media, and America have come up again. I think as long as there's a person in power who does dumb things or is untrustworthy or just bad (which we will hopefully have less of): angry and unsatisfied teenagers are going to turn to this album to get their feelings into words. This album is the sound of angry youth and I believe it will be for a long time.

This is my favorite album ever created. I got my 1st tattoo based off of the lyrics “i’m the son of rage and love”. This album and band means so much to me

I still wish we had gotten to hear Cigarettes and Valentines. It would have been so good from the songs we already know were from the setlist.

Wait, you forgot Wake Me Up When September Ends. Where does that fit in in all of this?

Can you normalize your audio so that the levels don't spike when you play audio samples of the songs that you are talking about?

This deserves at least 10 Million views But also: this was good now do 21Century Breakdown

I really love this album. It represents so mucho for me, and how my life has become. We all can agree that Jesus of Suburbia could be one of us

Warning IS great, got some great songs and, probably, the most experimental one of the entire carrer, Misery. Which is awesome and underrated just like the entire album.

Great one as always 👍😊

the art in this video is incredible.

8:33 Listen Closely and you'll hear "Don't wanna be an American Idiot" in the background.

this album curved my childhood, my mother was in the hospital for 6 months and i stayed with a family friend, this album kept me going. regardless of the negatives im glad i grew up in this era. thanks for this video and the nostalgia blast i needed.

Now do The Wall

My gf: Their last two major releases are concept albums. Me: oh. What are they about? Gf: well, in the first one a dude meets a girl and they loose themselves in the american system. M: Ah, and the second? Gf: Uhm... A dude meets a girl and they loose themselves in the american system.

This just might be my favorite Green Day album.

Back in my teenage years, I used to listen to Green Day almost daily, hell even my dad (who is the most anti-metal person I know) became a fan. Up until today I didn't realize how profound this album really was, thanks.

Why didn’t he talk about “Wake Me Up When September Ends” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” ????!!!!

i never noticed the actual lore in these songs, just makes them this much more enjoyable!

What always has intrigued me and (still does intrigue me) is how intentional every single line of every song on this album is. Like, with maybe the exception of Wake Me Up When September Ends, you know that every line is somehow correlated with the plot and and has either a metaphorical or literal meaning. Like, "The 7-11 to the fear of breaking down", or "Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed?", or "Try to fight fire, setting fire / is not a way that's meant for me" or "Forget me nots, second thoughts live in isolation / heads or tails and fairy tales in my mind", to name a few My point is that this album is chock full of lines that I keep re-discovering and realizing that I didn't give much thought to before. It all means something. And the way you perceive the album I think changes over time, but you're never at a loss for what you think it means. It's accessible but endlessly captivating.

Fantastic analysis as always. New perspective on an album I never paid much attention to but now will probably go through. Gives me a few ideas for an academic paper - keep these videos coming because they are some of the best of their kind online! Brilliant

Love everything about this channel!

This is officially my favorite video on RU-vid. Your editing is insanely amazing and your analysis abilities are fantastic. Favorite channels as of right now.

Great video! American Idiot changed my life forever, and it's magnificent to see how Green Day's music continues to resonate across the world even today. Thanks a lot for this video!

So happy you’ve grown a lot since I last watched you. By the way, my 3 favorites are good riddance, wake me up when September ends, and basket case

Another brilliant video

Really awesome video that picks apart each track to piece together this album's story! It's always been one of my favorites, and every few years I like to revisit the story and hear how different people interpret parts of it!

Just discovered this channel, and already really digging it. Grew up with Green Day in the 90's but am only just now starting to really love them.

This entire album was absolute brilliant poetry.

Can you do one on 21st century breakdown?

great videos man! keep it going!!

This was amazing, just so eye opening and really got me thinking and seeing some of this in myself, it’s really crazy

Brilliant. This album is so close to my heart and it’s great to see other love it too for the same reasons.

4:23 is kinda sounds like Ring of Fire to me

This is one of my favourite videos of all time, I’ve watched it more than 33 times and I’m still not getting bored.

Great GREAT video! Thank you! I only wish it was longer.

I been waiting for someone to do this

Favourite album of my youth. Every song rolls off the previous so perfectly and there isn't a single song you want to skip. My idea of a perfect album.

Been wanting some insight on this. Thanks for making the video!

Bro, I simply loved this video. You've done a great and complete analysis of this so awesome album.

This is a pretty damn good breakdown of the album. Well done, whoever´s behind it!

Why is the music so loud compared to your voice?

This needs more views, and this channel needs more subscribers. You’re massively underrated.

Love it great video

I'm live in India in Gujarat state and live in a small town called "vadodara" And it feels like green day tells my story in this album...they never know that my town and I exist but it shows that how iconic this album is ,In my eyes one of the greatest album ever how

Praise be the Gods! Another Polyphonic video

Amazing, succinct and insightful. Thanks

Very well done video. impressive. i already lov ethe album but your analysis adds even more love for this album for me. thank you

Words can't describe how much this album means to me

I remember dancing to holiday when I was a little girl about 4 or 5, my mother had just run away from my dad and my sister bought this album, we listened to it until my mom decided cursing was a bad thing for us so we didn't listen to it for many years, when I was 12 my brother got this album for his birthday and started playing it again and I got deeper meaning out of it, I was just realizing I was growing up without a father Wake me up when September ends was the best song but many other songs made me feel better about all this crap I was going through, I stopped caring about what others thought because of it. Today at 17 I got the whole story. So many people hate this band and though I can see the reasons why, I do not. It got me into allot of other music that was darker. I don't see why people always want to have a contest over, "my music is heavier than yours," nothing but meaningless arguments come out of that, why not just listen to it and enjoy your life?

The sound quality of the song samples in your videos is top notch !

Dude this was fantastic!!!

Letterbomb is such an underrated track

Make an analysis of The Black Parade by MCR!

i've been watching for so long and I really appreciate how much effort goes into the video itself music theory and symbolism aside, the video editing is insane bro. This is what I do when my parents ask, "Did you finish your homework" and of course i say, "Yeah right I''m watching polyphonic" and then my parents shut down the internet lmao. doesnt matter

Green day is my favorite band

American Idiot was released when I was a baby. Here I am 16 years later and the songs still ring just as powerful today as they did under the historical context of 2004.

Thanks for the great subtitles!

Thanks for making this video. This album has been a huge influence on mine and my family's life. GOD BLESS GREENDAY!!!!

Do a similar analysis for The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance

My first album, my young single mom got it for me and said "o you'll like Green Day"... I was ten and I still have the CD in perfect condition tho I played it constantly, my mom is awesome!!

This is so well done.

This video is a masterpiece. THank you for helping me so much with my essay!!!

I'm a simple guy I see Green Day I hit like

Awesome video!! please do the story of rage against the machine (self titled). This was one of the biggest musical and political influences for me. A underrated milestone in rock history

this was a *really* fantastic video. very well done :))))

The way this guys uses the album poster/booklet and different pictures featuring the lyrics is amazing and opens the door. A detail I like to see is how the album directly tells you of the two themes. The two vinyls are shown as the rage and love parts

Damn, I never realized this album was like the modern day version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall.

Some really great song writing

This is a great video thank you!

American Idiot has been one of my all time favorite albums since I was in middle school. I love the music and I love learning about the context of the album. Thanks for the good work on this video. =3

Warning was perfect, I'm sorry but I don't get why the public didn't like it. Warning & American Idiot are definitely my favorite albums

I'm soooo happy because I was just looking for video that explains the story of 'American Idiot'. Soooooo thanks. Can you make a video about '21st century breakdown'? It is also a great album, but I can't find a video about the story of it...

You’ve explained in the album in its ultimate essence, great job, what a brilliant record.

thank you so much for this 🖤❤🖤

One of the greatest and best album of the 20's I find myself listening to this album everyday It's like a daily ritual for me

It took me a minute, but “tales of another broken home” sounds a lot like “ring of fire”

I grew up with that album I’m glad you made this video so some people will understand the story thanks :)

I still remember every single word to this entire album. When they played it live when I saw them the first time, I never stopped singing along. Such a killer record, so emotional and so important.

Hey Dude, Great video! I've been watching your stuff for a few weeks now and I'm really enjoying it! Any chance of a breakdown of Rush's "2112"? I'd love to see your take on it