10 Things You Never Knew About Green Day
9. They Made An Entire Album We Never Heard
The whole allure of American Idiot has been etched into the minds of rock fans for years now. Ever since its release in 2004, fans have responded to its' railing against political authority and jaded love story between the Jesus of Suburbia and Whatsername. Even though these narrative elements are the cornerstones of the record, the initial plan was as far removed from the rock opera as possible.
After coming off of the lukewarm success of their folk-tinged album Warning, Green Day's original plan was to get back to their original sound of Dookie, with tracks that were more in line with the pop punk they had become known for. Though the album tentatively titled Cigarettes and Valentines was ready to be mixed in the early '00s, the band turned up at the studio days later only to find that the masters were stolen.
While they could have easily just re-recorded their old material, Armstrong decided to write new songs on a whim and came out with the title track for American Idiot. Knowing he was on the verge of something amazing, Armstrong ran with the idea and left the remaining tracks in the dust. With a few songs from the project being released in live cuts and riffs being interpolated into later material, there's a good chance that we'll never really get to hear what Cigarettes and Valentines would have actually sounded like.