Green Day
American Idiot

Review By Ian White
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  Even the most obsessive political junkie had to be bored by this year's staged series of political debates and it was during the opening moments of Kerry/Bush III that I decided to conduct my own political experiment. Rather than listen to the dynamic duo trade insults for the better part of ninety minutes, I put on my aging pair of Grado headphones and listened to Green Day's take on post-9/11 America while the fearless leader of the free world and the senator with the platinum card filled my television screen with their puppet show.

Is it too late to write -in Green Day on the ballot?

As their stiff hand gestures, smirks, and phony smiles filled the screen, a mini-opera of modern protest rock worthy of anything Pete Townshend ever recorded, unfolded inside my head. American Idiot is both a tribute to the hardcore punk bands that were Green Day's inspiration and a genuine "who the f@*#$ is in charge?" collection of interwoven tracks whose purpose is to debunk the fear and paranoia that have post-9/11 America firmly in its grasp. Each track on American Idiot stands firmly on its own two feet, but taken as an entire meal, it is the best effort yet from Green Day, easily eclipsing the raw and genuine anger of Dookie.

Green Day's stinging attack of President Bush is certainly not going to get them invited to Crawford with the sharp words of the title track, but fear not dittoheads... everyone is fair game for the Starbucks drinking punk rockers from Oakland and let's face it… it is about time the entire country had a venti extra-hot wet cappuccino enema.

Some people just need to make their injection a double.

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