American Idiot
Green Day make a useful discovery on American Idiot: a song can get much bigger without losing its basic urgency. The record stretches from short punk attacks to long sequences with piano, changing tempos and several different sections. At its best, the ambition gives familiar strengths more room to work.
The title track needs very little space. Its clipped guitar attack and impatient vocal establish the anger immediately. Holiday gives that anger a marching rhythm and a chorus designed for a crowd. Both songs make their political position clear, although the music often supplies more precision than the slogans do.
Jesus of Suburbia is the greater achievement. Its sections move through defiance, boredom and vulnerability without losing the thread of the melody. The changes feel connected to a person's unstable mood. Green Day keep finding another route forward, and the performance has enough energy to make its long running time feel necessary.
The quieter material matters too. Boulevard of Broken Dreams creates a straightforward picture of isolation, and the softness of its opening gives the heavier chorus a clear purpose. Wake Me Up When September Ends is more deliberate and occasionally feels overextended. Its emotion is clear, but the arrangement does not always need to underline it so heavily.
The story linking Jesus of Suburbia, St. Jimmy and Whatsername can be difficult to follow in detail. Fortunately, the songs communicate anger, escape and disappointment without requiring a character guide. Letterbomb is especially strong here, bringing a bright melody and a fierce performance to a moment of emotional confrontation.
Homecoming gathers the record's theatrical impulses into another extended sequence, but Whatsername makes the more lasting final statement. Its relatively direct construction leaves room for regret and unanswered questions. That is a fitting destination for an album whose loudest gestures can otherwise suggest certainty. American Idiot earns its scale because the people inside it still seem confused, hurt and capable of change.
