10 Perfect Rock Albums Of The 2000s
2. American Idiot - Green Day
It's almost laughable how much Green Day were being considered old news at the turn of the century. Ever since their graduation anthem Good Riddance went up the charts, their switchup album Warning had flopped and they were left playing second fiddle to Blink-182 on the tour circuit. They needed to have something good to shake things up, and Billie Joe found it by reaching into the pool of classic rock.
In the vein of his heroes like Pete Townshend and Ray Davies, Armstrong sculpted American Idiot based on the chaos that he was seeing around him, weaving together a punk rock opera about the disenfranchised kids trying to make their way through middle America in a post 9/11 world. From one track to the next, this album pulls absolutely none of its punches, even when going for broke for 9 minutes straight on epics like Jesus of Suburbia and Homecoming.
Keep in mind, this was the same band that was known for songs like Basket Case and Longview before this album hit it big. Considering how much they could have embarrassed themselves at this point, Green Day took the gamble for rock legends and came out on the other side like seasoned veterans. This wasn't just a career comeback. This was hitting the recent button and starting over again.