10 Amazing Rock Albums We Never Got To Hear

Not many bands have been able to have a career resurgence quite like Green Day did. After floating around in the mid-tier of rock acts since their 1994 masterpiece Dookie, the release of their pop punk opera American Idiot stomped out any of their supposed competition, with a story that perfectly paralleled the teenage mindset around the turn of the century. However, the original plan was a far more balls-to-the-wall affair.

Coming off of the folk rock lowlight Warning, Billie Joe Armstrong was reenergized and wanted to get back to making the Dookie-flavored brand of rock and roll. Though the makings of the album tentatively titled Cigarettes and Valentines originally were made, the entire thing went up in flames when someone stole the master tapes just as they were about to finish the record. Instead of just re-recording again, Armstrong decided to follow his muse after writing the title track for American Idiot, which set the bar for what was to come.

With one epic piece following another, the end result proved to be the shot in the arm they really needed, as songs like Holiday and Boulevard of Broken Dreams became hits right out of the gate. While tracks from Cigarettes and Valentines eventually saw release on other albums, you sometimes need to get to the lowest you can go before igniting the fire all over again.