American Idiot (song)
"
American Idiot" is a song by
American pop-punk band Green Day, and is the first
single from their ninth album,
American Idiot.
Released in
2004, the single peaked at #61 on the
Billboard Hot 100, becoming Green Day's first chart entry (previous singles had not been allowed to chart). Although the song was a relative flop in the U.S., it is known for reviving the career of Green Day (the song performed poorly for reasons which will be described below, but the song helped the album become a major hit), and for its controversial lyrics which many see as a political attack against
George W. Bush and his government. However, it should be noted that the appearance of "American Idiot" on the US singles charts occurred just prior to
Billboard Magazine's inclusion of internet download purchases into their
Hot 100 chart data, which would have made a significant difference in the song's peak had it benefitted from the new chart tabulation system. This most recent form of sales assessment has resulted in the far greater successes of "
Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "
Holiday" and "
Wake Me Up When September Ends".
"American Idiot" became Green Day's first Top 5 single in the
United Kingdom, reaching #3, and peaked at #7 in
Australia. It debuted at #1 in
Canada, holding onto the zenith position for five weeks.
The song has been subject to some controversy for certain fans. Fans of the band "Dillinger Four", will notice that Green Day ripped off the main guitar riff from The Dillinger Four's song "DoubleWhiskeyCokeNoIce", for their song "American Idiot".
The song was written by
Billie Joe Armstrong and was co-produced by Green Day and
Rob Cavallo.
"American Idiot" ridicules the U.S. government under George W. Bush. Green Day made no effort to hide their political identity and they are strongly opposed to president Bush. In the song, they refer to such issues as
gay rights, propaganda,
media, and George Bush's
southern background. "American Idiot" was strongly opposed by some U.S. Americans who supported the president, leading many to believe that this was the reason why it failed in the United States, despite becoming a top-ten hit almost everywhere else in the world, perhaps helped by the criticism of George Bush.
[About.com - Bullet in a Bible]American Idiot has also been certified as an RIAA Gold ringtone (500,000 downloads) along with
Boulevard of Broken Dreams,
American Idiot's second single [
1].
Regardless of its weak U.S. release, the song helped pave the road for the future
American Idiot singles, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (which, in a great turnaround, would reach #2 in the U.S.), "Holiday" (a Top 30 hit worldwide), "Wake Me Up When September Ends" (which would reach #6 in the U.S. and the Top 20 worldwide), and "
Jesus of Suburbia".
The EP and single covers are two frames of the scene shown on the single's cover. The EP shows the mom and the dad holding a kid while running and the single cover shows them swinging him over a bear trap. The mom and dad may be the Mom and Brad characters from
Jesus of Suburbia.
World
| Year | Single | Chart | Peak position | | 2004 | "American Idiot" | Canadian Singles Chart | #1 (5 weeks) |
| 2004 | "American Idiot" | UK Singles Chart | #3 |
| 2004 | "American Idiot" | Australian ARIA Singles Chart | #7 |
| 2004 | "American Idiot" | Mexican Singles Chart | #76 |
| 2004 | "American Idiot" | New Zealand Singles Chart | #7 |
|
