10 2000s Albums That Are Practically Flawless
2. American Idiot - Green Day
As the '00s really started to kick into high gear, it looked like Green Day's time in the sun had really passed them by. After a lukewarm reception to their folky album Warning, it looked like the new school of bands like Sum 41 and Blink 182 were about to ride the band's coattails and pick up right where they left off. After a few startups though, the California brats came back strong by taking punk into the world of classic rock.
That doesn't mean that American Idiot was a breeze to make though. Coming off of losing almost all of their new record, Billie Joe Armstrong decided to start again from scratch by making a protest record against the Iraq war that he was seeing on TV. Though it doesn't follow a set narrative, this whole record follows the tale of American kids trying to find their way in the world, even when the powers that be are telling them that they can't make it on their own.
Even though most bands tried to protest in their own way, Armstrong's wordplay is much more open to interpretation, with songs like Holiday and Boulevard of Broken Dreams still holding up as amazing songs about anger and what it means to feel truly alone. Yeah, you weren't going to see someone like Simple Plan doing something like that anytime soon.