Album of the Day

The phenomenally successful DOOKIE proved that the members of Green Day knew how to write great songs, but rock history is littered with groups who made a big initial splash and then vanished. AMERICAN IDIOT proved that the Bay Area pop-punk trio was a band headed for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Of course the Reprise collection has the requisite catchy singles: “Holiday,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” “Jesus Of Suburbia,” the title track and “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” (the last of which was released on this day in 2004). And the album was a big hit, reaching No.1 on the U.K. chart and following suit in the U.S. But this Who-like rock opera is much more than the sum of its parts; AMERICAN IDIOT engages the post-9/11 political and cultural landscape with surprising insight and passion.