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ah American idiot the mere sound of that
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song probably brings all of us back to
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some awkward period for me it recalled
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images of Orchestra class where I
00:00:24
pretended to know who the Sex Pistols
00:00:26
were in order to impress the kids who
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were already in a rock band having sex
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this was the time of Green Day the girls
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in my school all had crushes on Billie
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Joe Armstrong and all the guys in my
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school could list up every single lyric
00:00:40
of letter balm and give me novocaine
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Green Day was on top of the world in
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2005 the album American Idiot had just
00:00:47
won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
00:00:49
when a bunch of MTV Music Awards and
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then sparked an enormous worldwide tour
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but just what made this album so
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incredibly successful how did it
00:00:59
resonate with the American populace of
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its time particularly those who like me
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were coming of age in this video we
00:01:07
analyzed how and why American Idiot
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became a modern-day classic how Green
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Day was able to catch the spirit of its
00:01:15
time
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this is we like stories I'm your
00:01:24
narrator Casey and if you like what we
00:01:27
do here please subscribe we have a lot
00:01:29
of videos in the future about art
00:01:31
literature music anything that you can
00:01:33
make narratives out of this video is
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going to explore the political and
00:01:37
social commentary of American Idiot but
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it's such an enormous and sophisticated
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album that we the sake of time have to
00:01:44
cut down to an analysis of a few songs
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the two most explicitly political songs
00:01:49
on the album American Idiot and holiday
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song with the most interesting music
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video wake me up when September ends
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and also homecoming which both serves as
00:01:59
the essential culmination of the album's
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rock opera narrative and is in my mind
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the most unacknowledged masterpiece on
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the entire album
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[Music]
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you don't need me to tell you the major
00:02:19
events that were occurring in the United
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States when the album was released in
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2004 it was a time of reckoning in the
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midst of an ultimately successful George
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Bush reelection campaign we were only
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three years removed from 9/11
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the subsequent US invasion of
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Afghanistan along with the invasion of
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Iraq in 2003 are all events that remain
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at the front and center of the American
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psyche today we yet cannot get away from
00:02:51
those things they ensured that a
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generation of Americans grew up those
00:02:57
who are today roughly between the ages
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of 22 and 35 cognizant of the ability of
00:03:03
the United States to do harm on a global
00:03:06
scale or if you're not so pessimistic
00:03:10
about those foreign wars you have to
00:03:13
certainly admit that our involvement in
00:03:15
them at the very least forced the
00:03:17
recognition of the possibility of
00:03:19
anti-american sentiment across the globe
00:03:22
for better or for worse there were other
00:03:26
happenings - what I want to stress are
00:03:29
the income tax cuts of 2001 and 2003
00:03:32
which benefited the wealthy compounded
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with the public perception that our
00:03:37
Middle Eastern wars tremendously helped
00:03:40
big oil companies these cuts drove the
00:03:44
narrative that corporations and the rich
00:03:47
and powerful were benefiting in a
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country where people were being sent off
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to fight in Foreign Wars
00:03:53
[Music]
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out of this mill you came American idiot
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an album that strikes at the Bush
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administration and the giant
00:04:04
corporations that green they saw as
00:04:06
benefiting from Bush's policies it does
00:04:10
this from its very first lines the
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album's title track which you just heard
00:04:14
targets the media it may seem kind of
00:04:18
strange hearing a critique of the
00:04:20
mainstream media come from a decisively
00:04:23
leftist point of view but in 2004
00:04:26
mainstream media faced constant
00:04:28
accusations of being pro war contra
00:04:32
accusations of the media's anti Trump
00:04:34
fake news in 2020 in 2004 media outlets
00:04:38
like Fox News and CBS were accused of
00:04:42
being too hawkish in foreign affairs a
00:04:44
[Music]
00:04:46
2003 report by fairness and accuracy in
00:04:49
reporting found that pro-war coverage
00:04:52
was far more likely than anti-war
00:04:54
coverage it was in this landscape that
00:04:59
Billie Joe Armstrong wrote lines like
00:05:01
I'm not a part of the redneck agenda now
00:05:04
everybody do the propaganda and called
00:05:07
the u.s. one nation controlled by the
00:05:09
media but the song American Idiot is
00:05:13
more subtle than that to merely placing
00:05:16
the two words of the title American and
00:05:19
idiot in juxtaposition deflates the
00:05:23
patriotic fervor concomitant with pro
00:05:25
war discourse was being American being
00:05:30
idiotic the proliferation of the album
00:05:34
and songs title meant that those two
00:05:36
words were coupled even for those who
00:05:39
refused to listen to Green Day the
00:05:43
Stephen the title American Idiot
00:05:45
reiterated the existential crisis of
00:05:47
those skeptical of the Iraq war
00:05:53
if American Idiot takes aim and fires of
00:05:55
the media holiday the album's third song
00:05:58
crucifies big business declaring that
00:06:01
the company lost the war today Holliday
00:06:04
reiterates Green Day's contention that
00:06:05
corporations are intricately tied up
00:06:07
with the nation's foreign conflicts just
00:06:09
like in the opening track were forced to
00:06:12
reverse our conception of a particular
00:06:13
signifier Holliday sounds are turned on
00:06:17
their head Christmas carols and Easter
00:06:19
hymns are replaced by the sound of the
00:06:21
falling rain coming down like an
00:06:23
Armageddon flame and the drum pounding
00:06:25
out of time Billy Joe's vocals on the
00:06:28
representative from California section
00:06:29
paint a particularly menacing picture of
00:06:32
political corruption and immorality just
00:06:40
listen to it here it is
00:07:12
I actually want to single in on a
00:07:13
particular image from this song one that
00:07:16
suggests surprisingly an anti-military
00:07:18
tinge to the entire album this is the
00:07:21
part where Billy Joe Armstrong in
00:07:24
holiday says can I get another amen
00:07:27
there's a flag wrapped around a score of
00:07:29
men a gag a plastic bag on a monument
00:07:33
there's a lot going on here but the flag
00:07:37
refer to is almost certainly the flag
00:07:39
placed over the head of the Saddam
00:07:41
Hussein statue in Baghdad sphered or
00:07:43
square right before that statue was very
00:07:46
famously brought down in April 2003 for
00:07:49
those of a certain stripe this was the
00:07:51
perfect image in service of the
00:07:54
righteous cause in Iraq the world's
00:07:56
finest symbol of liberty freedom and
00:07:59
goodness literally blinding the tyrant
00:08:01
who had terrorized the region with an
00:08:03
authoritarian fist but Green Day takes
00:08:07
another tack using appositives to
00:08:09
compare the flag to a gag in a plastic
00:08:11
bag
00:08:12
the flags usual sacredness is debased
00:08:15
into lyrics comparison the former
00:08:18
comparison especially making the flag a
00:08:21
gag makes the flag a stopper of free
00:08:25
speech not its guarantor the fact that
00:08:28
flag gag and bag all brime produces a
00:08:32
mockery out of orderliness the
00:08:36
discipline of words that make sense
00:08:37
together
00:08:39
gets made fun of reminiscent more of the
00:08:43
kind of blind obedience decried by the
00:08:46
military's greatest critics but is Green
00:08:51
Day entirely anti-military this mockery
00:08:55
of the army gets edited or perhaps
00:08:58
clarified in the video for what is
00:09:01
perhaps the album's most enduring staple
00:09:04
Billy Joe Armstrong tribute to his late
00:09:07
father wake me up when September ends if
00:09:12
Green Day really hated the army why
00:09:15
would they make a mostly sympathetic
00:09:17
video about a man who goes off to fight
00:09:19
in the aforementioned Wars I think one
00:09:22
way to answer is to make a
00:09:24
differentiation
00:09:25
between being anti military and being
00:09:28
anti soldiers some people would say that
00:09:32
these two positions are inextricable but
00:09:34
Green Day I think goes otherwise gearing
00:09:37
their ire almost primarily towards the
00:09:40
systemic military as a whole represented
00:09:43
by the elite classes that wage war and
00:09:45
the generals who allow ordinary infantry
00:09:48
soldiers to fight their battles one of
00:09:51
those soldiers is the protagonist of the
00:09:53
video for wake me up when September ends
00:09:55
a sentimental story about a man who
00:09:58
leaves his girlfriend behind at home
00:10:00
while fighting in one of the Wars
00:10:01
mentioned earlier notably the shots here
00:10:05
do not give screen time to the powers
00:10:07
that be with delicacy the video aims to
00:10:11
tell the story of a single soldier I
00:10:14
think the fact that we don't know which
00:10:16
particular middle eastern country he's
00:10:18
in is key I mean you could say that it's
00:10:22
just Americans not really distinguishing
00:10:24
between the different Middle Eastern
00:10:25
countries anyway but I would say that
00:10:28
the war here really isn't the focus the
00:10:31
event isn't the highlight what Green Day
00:10:33
cares about are the regular Americans
00:10:36
serving as troops the video from start
00:10:39
to finish is littered with close-ups of
00:10:41
faces particularly the two main
00:10:43
characters underscoring the scale of
00:10:46
Green Day's interests these they seem to
00:10:48
be saying are the lives affected the
00:10:51
lives traumatized the lives lost the
00:10:54
lives for which we take aim at the
00:10:58
politicians and the corporations with
00:11:00
our other songs
00:11:03
I want now to turn to how I think
00:11:05
American Idiot gets at the feeling of
00:11:08
being alive in the bush-era without
00:11:11
being explicitly political or rather I
00:11:14
want to get at why I think Green Day
00:11:15
resonates so clearly with those who are
00:11:17
coming of age in 2004 a good place to
00:11:20
start is actually the conversation at
00:11:22
the beginning of the wake me up when
00:11:24
September ends video sitting in a field
00:11:27
again with those close-ups the couple
00:11:29
deploys a bunch of the usual adolescent
00:11:31
angst they say that life is short
00:11:34
that if they could have anything it'd be
00:11:36
to stop time to never grow old this is
00:11:39
of course at the root of their huge
00:11:40
disagreement when the man chooses to
00:11:42
enlist he has by joining the military
00:11:45
done something that will shorten his
00:11:48
life even further that will undoubtedly
00:11:51
grow him up the desire expressed by the
00:11:55
adolescents for time to slow down is
00:11:58
made ironic because while the man is at
00:12:01
war time as we see goes by so slowly for
00:12:06
the girl left at home time goes slowly
00:12:08
in the worst possible way many songs and
00:12:12
books have been written about the
00:12:14
problem of growing up but not many have
00:12:16
I think so actively captivated our
00:12:18
imaginations like American Idiot and
00:12:20
what I think Green Day does so well is
00:12:22
let us know that they too are going
00:12:25
through this problem something that
00:12:28
those of you in your teens don't know is
00:12:30
that most people still haven't figured
00:12:32
things out haven't figured themselves
00:12:34
out in their mid or late 20s
00:12:37
increasingly people of this age struggle
00:12:39
with finding a permanent career or a
00:12:41
steady relationship but another way at
00:12:44
25 it is no longer cute to say that life
00:12:47
is hitting you hard you must in other
00:12:50
words
00:12:50
confront your mediocrity and your sins
00:12:53
those who grew up with green day may
00:12:55
quite truly resonate with the aimless
00:12:58
tired characters of the album's plot
00:13:00
Jesus of Suburbia Saint Jimmy
00:13:02
what's-her-name how in this period of
00:13:06
life do you deal this is I think Green
00:13:09
Day's interests at the time the three
00:13:11
band members Billy Joe Armstrong Mike
00:13:13
Dirnt and trey cool were all in their
00:13:15
early 30s when the album was
00:13:17
recorded rock stars grow up even slower
00:13:20
than most people and we know that at the
00:13:22
time Green Day was considering breaking
00:13:24
up their quarter life crisis was upon
00:13:28
them right us they were reeling a little
00:13:29
bit in their careers four years out from
00:13:32
warning and ten years away from their
00:13:33
major label debut Dookie in the midst of
00:13:37
this it would have been easy for Green
00:13:39
Day to offer a half-hearted low effort
00:13:40
compilation album something they did by
00:13:43
the way twice before but what they came
00:13:47
up with instead in 2004 was this
00:13:50
masterpiece
00:13:51
a surging sprawling fantastic rock opera
00:13:54
full of thoughtful songs capped off by
00:13:57
homecoming my personal favorite song on
00:14:00
the album to end this video I want to
00:14:03
argue that homecoming offers an antidote
00:14:05
to the problems posed by this album
00:14:06
right in the very name of the song
00:14:09
what is vital is coming home coming back
00:14:12
to what you have known but on the other
00:14:15
hand the lyrics are quite bleak saying
00:14:18
Jimmy it seems has killed himself and
00:14:20
one part of the song is simply about
00:14:23
stating that nobody cares where is the
00:14:27
homecoming in the song homecoming my
00:14:30
answer is in the form of the song as I
00:14:34
mentioned declining success had weighed
00:14:36
on the band members but for homecoming
00:14:38
everyone contributed a section of the
00:14:41
song I love this song in spite of being
00:14:43
relatively sure that the mic turned and
00:14:45
tré cool sections of the song are just
00:14:48
plain bad in and of themselves they feel
00:14:51
more like the band members [ __ ]
00:14:53
around than actual attempts at music
00:14:56
compounded on to this is the collage
00:14:58
like structure of the whole thing what
00:15:00
are these trips doing amidst Billy Joe's
00:15:03
brilliant sections wouldn't the song be
00:15:06
better without them it may have but if
00:15:11
it had it may have also killed Green Day
00:15:13
the compilation the collage it was all
00:15:17
vital in keeping the band together in
00:15:19
making everyone feel as valued as they
00:15:21
actually were and it was about showing
00:15:23
the world that unity that Green Day was
00:15:27
in the end playing for themselves and
00:15:29
for their love of music
00:15:31
in other words green day amidst a
00:15:33
loneliness alienation and anger spurred
00:15:35
on by the wars in the Middle East and
00:15:37
the corporate corruption of Bush's first
00:15:38
term found solace in each other their
00:15:41
old friends their music and they offered
00:15:44
us the wondrous beautiful fruits of that
00:15:47
realization thank you for listening and
00:15:51
if you'd like to see more videos of this
00:15:52
kind please subscribe to the channel be
00:15:54
coming up with more videos soon
