I will say this, as someone who's not a huge fan of green day, American idiot is objectively a good album. It's got a ton of memorable tracks and catchy hooks and it's something that is easy to just sit down and listen to as an album.
I agree. I think an album can meet a threshold as to whether it’s objectively good or bad. If something is sloppily produced or poorly composed, it can be seen as an objectively bad album or amateur album. American Idiot is solid enough that it doesn’t count as “mid”, and the sheer amount of recognition over the years for being “one of the greatest albums ever” is at least testament to that. Rob Cavallo’s work on that album especially is professionally done, and has won countless awards that further prove that. As to whether it actually is one of the best or greatest albums however, that is definitely subjective. I just think it’s popular to call well-liked things mid lately due to ones’ own subjective opinion, rather than actually being unbiased in their rating. There are many albums I don’t care for (ie Dark Side of the Moon), but I at least recognize it as an objectively good album.
"Objectively good", proceeds to talk about subjective opinion. Like, if you talked about the influence or relevance that would be more "objective". "Catchy" and "easy to listen to" are personal opinions. And personally I don't like the album that much. It has some certified hood classics, but as an album it ain't it.
@@buzzwithdrip6347 This is always my exact thought when listening to Jesus Of Suburbia. I've probably listened to it 500 times and somehow I'm not sick of it.
Most people that don’t like American Idiot don’t seem to get that it tells a story. Like Brad Taste In Music’s reaction he’s so oblivious to the story which is shocking because he really enjoyed The Black Parade.
I remember after Brad's reaction to American Idiot that he tweeted about watching a video about the story and concept of the album and how it made it worse. I wish i could remember what he said exactly, but searching for old tweets i find to be a b*tch
I think it just comes down to pop punk not being Fantano’s favorite genre. If you look at the music really he likes, its all super experimental, artsy, genre fusions, or something else out of the ordinary. Green Day is not known for any of these things. They are still a great band and have lots of great albums, but they do one thing and they do it very well. It makes sense why he wouldn’t like most of Green Day’s catalog (I feel like he should like Warning a lot more though, it seems up his alley)
which is sad. All their new tracks always wound up in the Worst Tracks list. Not everything Pop Punk can be a Jeff Rosenstock level, why can't he get that.
I mean, that's not really true. He likes pretty much likes everything out there, and he does still like a lot of pop punk records, even recent ones. Also, it's not like he only likes weird records cause he is not a fan of The Garden, for example.
I think overproduction criticism alluded not to the amount of extra stuff added but how everything was over-corrected and clean. Especially if you factor that Melon's top album is Dookie, you can see where he comes from.
Yeah thas wut I thought he meant. Like it felt overproduced for a punk record, which is fair. I still don't agree with him, but I can see where he's coming from
Yeah, agreed. Seems to be a common complaint from the “Dookie Generation.” If you come in looking for another Dookie, you’re going to get whiplash. This isn’t that album, a Rage Against the Machine, or a London Calling. But it’s still a darn well written record if you take it for what it is.
@@centennialpeaksadventures Fantano defended the trilogy more than a lot of die-hard Green Day fans or members of the "Dookie Generation" do, I don't think it's a fair assessment or criticism to say that the reason someone doesn't like American Idiot is solely because they were "looking for Dookie".
Green Day did a great job of picking the singles considering every song on the album is supposed to be a story. They picked songs that are great on their own and in the context of the story
@@prometheustv6558honestly letterbomb would’ve been a fantastic single, but holiday and bobd is prolly a better single considering trying yo reach as much influence and success as possible
I was offended as soon as i saw insomniac not a or s tier. Their best album, where almost every song could be the best song if it were on a different album
i always saw fantano's take on the lack of depth of the album's lyrics being due to him not fully understanding the story or what green day was trying to go for, for an example, i imagine it could be confusing for some ppl to see a song like whatsername in the end of the album if not given full context, plus the context just makes all of the songs from this album better
Anthony's one of my biggest inspirations. I admire his way of expressing himself, and the passion he feels for all types of music. American Idiot is one of my favorite albums ever (I'm wearing a shirt with the cover art while writing this), so of course I felt let down by hearing his thoughts about it. I respect his take, I'm just confused because he loved The Black Parade, a pop-punk album that's very theatrical and different, like American Idiot. He praised My Chemical Romance for coming out of their confort zone, but critized Green Day for doing the same.
As someone who likes TBP a lot, but not so much AI, they're very different albums musically and arguably lyrically. Aside from being pop punk, TBP is way more hard rock, emo, and post-hardcore inspired and while it shares in being fairly "clean" (though not as much as AI) and "ambitious", Green Day does that with squeaky-clean production and suites and MCR does it with choruses and massive walls of guitars. Also I think the lyrics are just way more interesting and clever. Not to say AI has bad lyrics, I just find them less compelling. Especially with the fan re-order, The Patient comes across as a sneering asshole. I couldn't really tell you anything about the AI protagonist aside from his environment and circumstances.
I think as someone who listened to green day all their childhood and have met my partner the love of my life while a green day song was playing I'm pretty unbiased and I think American Idiot is great
I somewhat agree with Fantano. When the record came out it seemed more of a product than a labor of love. The matching MTV-punk outfits and emoish aesthetic that had become popular looked like a smart PR/design decision more than organic evolution of the band. The same can be said about the music, which was somewhat of an 180 and the production was more commercial than on their pervious records. It most definitely is an iconic record with good songs, but I somehow always felt it was a bit artificial.
I like the album but don't like the direction it meant for Green Day. It definitely felt more corporate, less genuine, less true to themselves, less punk. I mean comparing lyrics on AI to lyrics on say Insomniac is night and day, Billie used to have some really smart lines you would immediately associate with Green Day, sticking with insomniac Brat, Armatage Shanks and Panic Song are songs only Green Day could've written, compared to it American Idiot lyrics while good just don't sound Green Day, anyone could've written them, they are boringly good. The albums comes out and it's amazing albeit not "true" Green Day. But it also meant the start of the new direction they took where they'd try to replicate it multiple times; 21cb is in my bottom 4 Green Day albums, Rev Rad was another whack at the formula but worked because they didn't try to overdo it like 21cb and Saviors sounds like the exact same thing for the 4th time but even safer and with less interesting ideas going judging by the lead single. Old and new Green Day divide is clear and new starts with AI. They are complete different bands. If I say my favorite band is Green Day I feel like I must specify old, pre-AI, Green Day. That's my favorite band, the post 2000 Green Day is a band I like but that doesn't have anything to do with my why that other, older band is my favorite.
I was in grade 4 when i first heard of green day. And I’ll be the first to admit, American idiot isn’t as “punk” as we thought it was, But its a DIFFERENT type of punk album that harkens to classic rock, ballads, and other things. It has something to say, and its a consistent album. Its not a bad album. Its better than mid. Its better than metallica’s black album.
As someone who is a huge fan of this album and has been for a while Im gonna play devil's advocate here to better understand Anthonys points as well as the greater context of this album in green days catalogue. The political messaging in particular, is admittedly vague and relies heavily on imagery and aesthetics to convey it's political leanings. As a result, it's particularly inoffensive and lacks the poignancy one would expect from a punk band making a political statement. The two most political songs on the album, being American idiot and Holiday, don't even really tackle politics any farther than being anti war and anti propaganda, and even then, there isn't a lot of substance to these sentiments. That is to say, being anti war and anti propaganda were never really bold takes to have to begin with, even post 9/11. The rest of the album mostly focuses on more personal, albeit typical pop punk themes such as love, lust, and suburban angst. You can argue that this plays into the story (Jesus being lured to the city by the aesthetics of punk only to meet the grim reality of capitalism), but this is never really addressed and 21CB and RR also suffer from the same criticism in their respective political tracks. The story itself is followable. But it's not really complex or groundbreaking by itself. Kid moves out of suburbs and into city, meets girl, they break up, and kid moves back to suburbs. Add in a punk Tyler durden sub plot and that's American idiot. The most successful songs from this album hardly mention the story too. American Idiot, holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and wake me up don't add any story or mention any of the characters in the story and could easily exist as separate singles on their own or another album. The production is most definitely a "love it or hate it" imo and I think the difference of opinion on it is largely generational. It's a massive sounding album whose sound defined 00s rock in a lot of ways. Its brighter, crisper and wider sounding than the 90s green day in every way. If you grew up with 00s green day, it's probably nostalgic. If you grew up with 90s green day, it probably marks a changing point in their career when you stopped listening and had already outgrown them. Overall I love this album. But I can see where melon is coming from with his criticisms.
I mean i don't necessarily disagree with American Idiot being overrated, but the fact he doesn't go into the story of the album ironically makes his critique pretty surface level as shown. Now Melon placing 21st Century Breakdown in E is very much a crime IMO. He just brushed it off as if he was handed Father of All and just like American Idiot doesn't mention the story. Speaking of, it should be nowhere near Father of All.
@@joaquin5929 while i see where your coming from, both albums sound completely different and don't really warrant being combined. well yeah it wouldn't really matter too much in the end, but it would have been nice seeing them both rather than just 1. (Also the list looks rather empty at least for me because of the combining, even if the trilogy combination was warranted) (also sorry for yapping alot)
@@Kerplunked_insomniac39 I thought they sound very similar. In the end they have the same skill and songwriting in both albums. Of course 39/smooth doesn’t have Tre Cool but it’s still a hype punk album. Both serve as the foundation for Green Day’s style
It's all subjective. I think Insomniac is Green Day's best. He put Fantano put it C tier. What makes me more right than him? What makes him more right than me?
I don't get how can fantano describe american idiot as overproduced when he's a big fan of the black parade, which i'd say is even MORE produced than american idiot
American Idiot is basically just a rehashing of Husker Du's Zen arcade updated with bush era politics. If you judge it by how well it does that (y'know what it's trying to be) then it's actually really good.
New to your channel and enjoying it. Just watched your Enema of the State video and now this. As a 13-14 year old at the time, who was a couple years into my newfound love of pop punk, I found that this album just felt... corny. Blinks untitled album came out not too long before, and even though I wasn't the biggest fan of it at first, I felt like my taste matured with more listens (maturing music taste and blink.. lol i know). With American Idiot on the other hand, I just heard poppy and easily digestible songs with political references that I even at that age thought were too on the nose. I agree with your sentiment that it's outright wrong to say bands like this can't push the envelope, but I can't help but feel like this is when they started pushing in the wrong direction.
Welcome to the channel, I appreciate your input! I also haven’t been a massive fan of the band’s direction after American idiot. I never personally found american idiot corny, but I can see where you’re coming from.
Honestly I don’t think American Idiot isn’t Green Day’s best work, it’s a great album & tells a great story. I do love the songs on American Idiot but compared to Dookie, Insomniac, & Nimrod it’s not their best.
Aside from the radio making sure I can comfortably go the rest of my life without hearing Boulevard of Broken Dreams ever again, as a passing fan of Green Day I really can't complain about American Idiot. It's about what I would expect after growing up hearing the Dookie singles --- fun pop-punk with the maturity and production values an additional decade in the craft provides. Nothing wrong with that.
Kerplunk, Dookie, Insomniac and Nimrod was a hell of a run of albums. I'm a massive Green Day fan but can happily just forget that everything from Warning onwards even exists and that includes American Idiot.
I don’t think it’s fair to label American Idiot a Punk Pop album. The band itself labels it a rock opera. American Idiot is one of the best put together albums that just as relevant 20 years later, as it was when it came out. Fantino has a bunch of trash takes.
'Over produced' is one of my least favourite music critisms ever, especially when most of time it'll be something like there's a synth in this rock song - Ok, tell me why it doesn't fit don't just call it over produced. If I can hear everything properly that's all the productions needs to do if it does more as long as its not overcrowding I'm fine with it. Plus I'd rather songthing overproduced with interesting ideas (even if not executed right) over something that sounds dull, empty or void of emotion.
Overproduced basically means excessive use of audio effects which takes away the rawness of your song. If anything, a song that's overproduced often sounds empty and devoid of emotion because the producer is trying to make your song sound clean. Autotune is probably the most obvious example of overproduction that average people can hear. Listen to songs like Basket Case or Burnout. It has greater dynamic range and more instrument seperation. The audio is much clearer while still sounding raw. Compare to American Idiot, there's a lot more compression. Drums don't have a lot of punch because the guitar takes up a lot of the mix, which sounds heavily distorted. That's not to say American Idiot is bad, just that there is a noticeable difference in production quality. If you care about music production, American Idiot is undeniably overproduced, but whether that takes away your ability to enjoy the song is down to the individual.
@@KanekoIA That tells me your opinion of AI has been colored by your preference for EDM in the same way Fantano's opinion of AI has been colored by his preference for "true punk" (for lack of better words). Neither preferences are wrong, but it doesn't mean overproduced isn't a legitimate criticism. Music production does not matter to most people who listen to music, but some value that part of music highly.
@@ImNotPhaT Completely agree but like what is stated in the video my main complaint is so many critics will say something is overproduced but won't eleborate at all or specify.
@@KanekoIA It's not a review of American Idiot. It's a tier list of their entire discography. The video is condense and probably assumes the viewers are familiar with the band. If you watch his review of Blink-182, he talks about how the album has so much vocal processesing it can be difficult to tell the difference between Mark and Tom's voice.
Yes and no. He does admittedly have some good critics on other albums and songs but to me at least he comes off as a snob who looks too deep into things.
If you're judging music from being a 'purist' your opinion means nothing from the get go. Your mind is already made up before you hear a note. People hate Green Day because they put more effort into all their songs than people do any aspect of their own lives. Same goes with most hate.
Not sure why you think writing a song takes more effort than anything else. Like if someone is trying to start a business, they're definitely not putting any effort like Green Day puts into their songs? That's ridiculous!
So all personal taste can just be boiled down to one's own insecurity? Nah, it seems like you guys are just finding any way possible to convince yourself that your opinion is the superior one
Opinions are like buttholes, we all have one. That being said I've never found my self agreeing with fantanos hot takes, ESPECIALLY this one. I'm not saying American Idiot is the greatest album of all the time, but it's not only the album that saved Green Day's carrer but probably their most definitive work to date. And from start to finish it's a great record with a great concept that left it's mark on that era of music. Calling it mid is like saying Green Day sold out with dookie and were never truly punk. There's no merit to saying that.
I feel as though if your going to give any negative criticism of a critically acclaimed album then you should at least explain why you think so many other people love it but it's just not for you. (Side eyes at fantano)
I like watching Anthony Famtanos vids but I honestly think he has way more misses than hits, American Idiot pretty much revolutionised popular Rock music and he clearly wasn’t a fan of most popular music back when it was released so why would he rate it highly? I fucking hate Taylor Swift but it would be foolish of me to say that her music is “mid” when it’s that popular, even though I do think it’s “mid”.
In what way did it "revolutionize rock music" bruh you folks are really acting like this is Nevermind or Master of Puppets or something lol the formulas Green Day uses and the sound they produce were established long before them, they revolutionized nothing
@@liquidsnake6879 Green Day not once but twice brought Punk-adjacent music to the masses, with Dookie and American Idiot respectively in two different decades. Maybe “revolutionised” was a poor choice of words but they must’ve done something that no other band was doing to generate that kind of popularity amongst punk rock and non-punks alike right? It’s fine to have the same opinion on Green Day and American Idiot as Fantano but this comment section is full of people who share my view on this album and Green Day as a whole so chill man
Greendays trilogy was amazing Billie wrote 65 songs and that is impressive as itself like people hate on all these albums like you try and write 65 songs tell me if any are good probably can’t even write 1 good song to save you’re life it’s not a easy thing to do
I don't know why people care so much about this anyway. Like, you say he "conveniently ignores the reasons people like it" as if you're obliged to say why people disagree with you when you say something. I guess someone will always dislike you for your opinion, whatever it is.
I feel like what people forget about this album is that it’s a concept album that tells a story, specifically about a character changing his views and personality. If there is a critique I have for this album (keep in mind this is in my top 3 atm) is that it’s more about Jesus of suburbia at points than the American idiot. Also his takes on revolution radio, warning, and insomniac were just awful lmao.
His stache is pretty mid
I will say this, as someone who's not a huge fan of green day, American idiot is objectively a good album. It's got a ton of memorable tracks and catchy hooks and it's something that is easy to just sit down and listen to as an album.
There is no "objectively good" album dude, that doesn't exist
Agree with the other guy. I love the album but art can't be objectively good or bad
I agree. I think an album can meet a threshold as to whether it’s objectively good or bad. If something is sloppily produced or poorly composed, it can be seen as an objectively bad album or amateur album. American Idiot is solid enough that it doesn’t count as “mid”, and the sheer amount of recognition over the years for being “one of the greatest albums ever” is at least testament to that. Rob Cavallo’s work on that album especially is professionally done, and has won countless awards that further prove that. As to whether it actually is one of the best or greatest albums however, that is definitely subjective.
I just think it’s popular to call well-liked things mid lately due to ones’ own subjective opinion, rather than actually being unbiased in their rating. There are many albums I don’t care for (ie Dark Side of the Moon), but I at least recognize it as an objectively good album.
"Objectively good", proceeds to talk about subjective opinion. Like, if you talked about the influence or relevance that would be more "objective". "Catchy" and "easy to listen to" are personal opinions.
And personally I don't like the album that much. It has some certified hood classics, but as an album it ain't it.
Jesus of Suburbia is one of my favorite songs of all time and nothing will change that
man it just does not ever get old
@@buzzwithdrip6347 This is always my exact thought when listening to Jesus Of Suburbia. I've probably listened to it 500 times and somehow I'm not sick of it.
Same here, dude it's a masterpiece
Most people that don’t like American Idiot don’t seem to get that it tells a story. Like Brad Taste In Music’s reaction he’s so oblivious to the story which is shocking because he really enjoyed The Black Parade.
fantano also adores the black parade
Brad actually went back and gave the black parade a 7/10 just recently
@@sxth2915 still liked it
Brad: *almost cries listening to Mama/Sleep*
Also Brad: 7/10
I remember after Brad's reaction to American Idiot that he tweeted about watching a video about the story and concept of the album and how it made it worse. I wish i could remember what he said exactly, but searching for old tweets i find to be a b*tch
I think it just comes down to pop punk not being Fantano’s favorite genre. If you look at the music really he likes, its all super experimental, artsy, genre fusions, or something else out of the ordinary. Green Day is not known for any of these things. They are still a great band and have lots of great albums, but they do one thing and they do it very well. It makes sense why he wouldn’t like most of Green Day’s catalog (I feel like he should like Warning a lot more though, it seems up his alley)
which is sad. All their new tracks always wound up in the Worst Tracks list.
Not everything Pop Punk can be a Jeff Rosenstock level, why can't he get that.
I mean, that's not really true. He likes pretty much likes everything out there, and he does still like a lot of pop punk records, even recent ones. Also, it's not like he only likes weird records cause he is not a fan of The Garden, for example.
Sounds like some pathetic coping over some dudes opinion to me🤷♂️
@@SheriffCheese Rosenstock surpasses the traditional sounds and conventions of pop punk which is why he likes it so much
That's not really true though, Fantano likes a lot of music that is "basic", from all sorts of genres.
I think overproduction criticism alluded not to the amount of extra stuff added but how everything was over-corrected and clean. Especially if you factor that Melon's top album is Dookie, you can see where he comes from.
Yeah thas wut I thought he meant. Like it felt overproduced for a punk record, which is fair. I still don't agree with him, but I can see where he's coming from
Yeah, agreed. Seems to be a common complaint from the “Dookie Generation.” If you come in looking for another Dookie, you’re going to get whiplash.
This isn’t that album, a Rage Against the Machine, or a London Calling. But it’s still a darn well written record if you take it for what it is.
@@centennialpeaksadventures Fantano defended the trilogy more than a lot of die-hard Green Day fans or members of the "Dookie Generation" do, I don't think it's a fair assessment or criticism to say that the reason someone doesn't like American Idiot is solely because they were "looking for Dookie".
if he ever asked me "what's my worst takr" his opinion on American Idiot is easily it for me
YES, I don't see enough people bringing it up
House of balloons is literally a 3 for him 💀
You can't deny the greatness of the singles on American idiot
Green Day did a great job of picking the singles considering every song on the album is supposed to be a story. They picked songs that are great on their own and in the context of the story
@@prometheustv6558honestly letterbomb would’ve been a fantastic single, but holiday and bobd is prolly a better single considering trying yo reach as much influence and success as possible
The title track is so obnoxious.
@@mountaverage2706 aight bruh
@mountaverage2706 I guess, I try not to take it too seriously, it is very repetitive I will say that
I was offended as soon as i saw insomniac not a or s tier. Their best album, where almost every song could be the best song if it were on a different album
Try not to let other people's opinions offend you, it will make life much more tolerable 👍
I respect your opinion but insomniac is not that good 💀
@@AmazingJuniorBros its legit their best album along with nimrod, give me one reason its not that good
American Idiot is the root of almost my entire music taste. Pop punk, through it punk rock and grunge, through that heavy metal and noise rock.
Dude I'm fucking high I got halfway through this video before I realized this isn't a fantano video
i always saw fantano's take on the lack of depth of the album's lyrics being due to him not fully understanding the story or what green day was trying to go for, for an example, i imagine it could be confusing for some ppl to see a song like whatsername in the end of the album if not given full context, plus the context just makes all of the songs from this album better
But the story doesn’t matter if the song is shit
21st Century Breakdown is their best album imo. E tier is a crime
Anthony's one of my biggest inspirations. I admire his way of expressing himself, and the passion he feels for all types of music.
American Idiot is one of my favorite albums ever (I'm wearing a shirt with the cover art while writing this), so of course I felt let down by hearing his thoughts about it. I respect his take, I'm just confused because he loved The Black Parade, a pop-punk album that's very theatrical and different, like American Idiot. He praised My Chemical Romance for coming out of their confort zone, but critized Green Day for doing the same.
As someone who likes TBP a lot, but not so much AI, they're very different albums musically and arguably lyrically.
Aside from being pop punk, TBP is way more hard rock, emo, and post-hardcore inspired and while it shares in being fairly "clean" (though not as much as AI) and "ambitious", Green Day does that with squeaky-clean production and suites and MCR does it with choruses and massive walls of guitars.
Also I think the lyrics are just way more interesting and clever. Not to say AI has bad lyrics, I just find them less compelling. Especially with the fan re-order, The Patient comes across as a sneering asshole. I couldn't really tell you anything about the AI protagonist aside from his environment and circumstances.
I think as someone who listened to green day all their childhood and have met my partner the love of my life while a green day song was playing I'm pretty unbiased and I think American Idiot is great
It’s one of my favorite albums.
You know what albums were excessive…
!uno! !dos! !tre!
Clearly American Idiot is the 🐐
Yes!! Thankyou for this, American Idiot is my favourite Green Day album :)
I somewhat agree with Fantano. When the record came out it seemed more of a product than a labor of love. The matching MTV-punk outfits and emoish aesthetic that had become popular looked like a smart PR/design decision more than organic evolution of the band. The same can be said about the music, which was somewhat of an 180 and the production was more commercial than on their pervious records. It most definitely is an iconic record with good songs, but I somehow always felt it was a bit artificial.
I like the album but don't like the direction it meant for Green Day. It definitely felt more corporate, less genuine, less true to themselves, less punk. I mean comparing lyrics on AI to lyrics on say Insomniac is night and day, Billie used to have some really smart lines you would immediately associate with Green Day, sticking with insomniac Brat, Armatage Shanks and Panic Song are songs only Green Day could've written, compared to it American Idiot lyrics while good just don't sound Green Day, anyone could've written them, they are boringly good.
The albums comes out and it's amazing albeit not "true" Green Day. But it also meant the start of the new direction they took where they'd try to replicate it multiple times; 21cb is in my bottom 4 Green Day albums, Rev Rad was another whack at the formula but worked because they didn't try to overdo it like 21cb and Saviors sounds like the exact same thing for the 4th time but even safer and with less interesting ideas going judging by the lead single.
Old and new Green Day divide is clear and new starts with AI. They are complete different bands. If I say my favorite band is Green Day I feel like I must specify old, pre-AI, Green Day. That's my favorite band, the post 2000 Green Day is a band I like but that doesn't have anything to do with my why that other, older band is my favorite.
I was in grade 4 when i first heard of green day.
And I’ll be the first to admit,
American idiot isn’t as “punk” as we thought it was,
But its a DIFFERENT type of punk album that harkens to classic rock, ballads, and other things.
It has something to say, and its a consistent album.
Its not a bad album.
Its better than mid.
Its better than metallica’s black album.
As someone who is a huge fan of this album and has been for a while Im gonna play devil's advocate here to better understand Anthonys points as well as the greater context of this album in green days catalogue.
The political messaging in particular, is admittedly vague and relies heavily on imagery and aesthetics to convey it's political leanings. As a result, it's particularly inoffensive and lacks the poignancy one would expect from a punk band making a political statement. The two most political songs on the album, being American idiot and Holiday, don't even really tackle politics any farther than being anti war and anti propaganda, and even then, there isn't a lot of substance to these sentiments. That is to say, being anti war and anti propaganda were never really bold takes to have to begin with, even post 9/11. The rest of the album mostly focuses on more personal, albeit typical pop punk themes such as love, lust, and suburban angst. You can argue that this plays into the story (Jesus being lured to the city by the aesthetics of punk only to meet the grim reality of capitalism), but this is never really addressed and 21CB and RR also suffer from the same criticism in their respective political tracks.
The story itself is followable. But it's not really complex or groundbreaking by itself. Kid moves out of suburbs and into city, meets girl, they break up, and kid moves back to suburbs. Add in a punk Tyler durden sub plot and that's American idiot. The most successful songs from this album hardly mention the story too. American Idiot, holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and wake me up don't add any story or mention any of the characters in the story and could easily exist as separate singles on their own or another album.
The production is most definitely a "love it or hate it" imo and I think the difference of opinion on it is largely generational. It's a massive sounding album whose sound defined 00s rock in a lot of ways. Its brighter, crisper and wider sounding than the 90s green day in every way. If you grew up with 00s green day, it's probably nostalgic. If you grew up with 90s green day, it probably marks a changing point in their career when you stopped listening and had already outgrown them.
Overall I love this album. But I can see where melon is coming from with his criticisms.
I mean i don't necessarily disagree with American Idiot being overrated, but the fact he doesn't go into the story of the album ironically makes his critique pretty surface level as shown. Now Melon placing 21st Century Breakdown in E is very much a crime IMO. He just brushed it off as if he was handed Father of All and just like American Idiot doesn't mention the story. Speaking of, it should be nowhere near Father of All.
American Idiot is true art
Hot takes for me: 21CBD is a tad bit better than American Idiot. Uno Dos Tre should’ve just been what Demolicious is.
If he hates 9 minute tracks i bet he hates Full Metal Jackoff by DOA😂😂
While i repect his opinion, Combining 1,039 hrs/smoothed out and kerplunk due to "simularity" was a dumb move.
Why? There’s no difference in separating both of them if they were going to be in the same tier for the same reasons.
@@joaquin5929 while i see where your coming from, both albums sound completely different and don't really warrant being combined. well yeah it wouldn't really matter too much in the end, but it would have been nice seeing them both rather than just 1. (Also the list looks rather empty at least for me because of the combining, even if the trilogy combination was warranted) (also sorry for yapping alot)
@@Kerplunked_insomniac39 I thought they sound very similar. In the end they have the same skill and songwriting in both albums. Of course 39/smooth doesn’t have Tre Cool but it’s still a hype punk album. Both serve as the foundation for Green Day’s style
Of all of Fantano's opinions, this one pains me the most
American idiot is definitely green days best album
It's all subjective. I think Insomniac is Green Day's best. He put Fantano put it C tier. What makes me more right than him? What makes him more right than me?
I don't get how can fantano describe american idiot as overproduced when he's a big fan of the black parade, which i'd say is even MORE produced than american idiot
While I do admit I lean more towards the more heavier side of punk.
American Idiot is a great album.
Fantano's take is odd, but hey, it is what it is.
American Idiot is basically just a rehashing of Husker Du's Zen arcade updated with bush era politics. If you judge it by how well it does that (y'know what it's trying to be) then it's actually really good.
New to your channel and enjoying it. Just watched your Enema of the State video and now this. As a 13-14 year old at the time, who was a couple years into my newfound love of pop punk, I found that this album just felt... corny. Blinks untitled album came out not too long before, and even though I wasn't the biggest fan of it at first, I felt like my taste matured with more listens (maturing music taste and blink.. lol i know). With American Idiot on the other hand, I just heard poppy and easily digestible songs with political references that I even at that age thought were too on the nose. I agree with your sentiment that it's outright wrong to say bands like this can't push the envelope, but I can't help but feel like this is when they started pushing in the wrong direction.
Welcome to the channel, I appreciate your input! I also haven’t been a massive fan of the band’s direction after American idiot. I never personally found american idiot corny, but I can see where you’re coming from.
Also he ranked 21st century breakdown pretty goddamn low. B tier at least.
when he didnt like american idiot i knew no chance hed give it a good rating
Warning was better. American idiot was when I decided I no longer like green day
Honestly I don’t think American Idiot isn’t Green Day’s best work, it’s a great album & tells a great story. I do love the songs on American Idiot but compared to Dookie, Insomniac, & Nimrod it’s not their best.
Yeah American Idiot isn't my favorite either, but I still love it to death!
Aside from the radio making sure I can comfortably go the rest of my life without hearing Boulevard of Broken Dreams ever again, as a passing fan of Green Day I really can't complain about American Idiot. It's about what I would expect after growing up hearing the Dookie singles --- fun pop-punk with the maturity and production values an additional decade in the craft provides. Nothing wrong with that.
Kerplunk, Dookie, Insomniac and Nimrod was a hell of a run of albums. I'm a massive Green Day fan but can happily just forget that everything from Warning onwards even exists and that includes American Idiot.
I don’t think it’s fair to label American Idiot a Punk Pop album. The band itself labels it a rock opera. American Idiot is one of the best put together albums that just as relevant 20 years later, as it was when it came out. Fantino has a bunch of trash takes.
why did i watch this? i dont like green day 💀
Bored?
thanks anyways lol
Fantano has had the worst opinions for years. I'm amazed people still take him seriously
'Over produced' is one of my least favourite music critisms ever, especially when most of time it'll be something like there's a synth in this rock song - Ok, tell me why it doesn't fit don't just call it over produced.
If I can hear everything properly that's all the productions needs to do if it does more as long as its not overcrowding I'm fine with it. Plus I'd rather songthing overproduced with interesting ideas (even if not executed right) over something that sounds dull, empty or void of emotion.
Overproduced basically means excessive use of audio effects which takes away the rawness of your song. If anything, a song that's overproduced often sounds empty and devoid of emotion because the producer is trying to make your song sound clean. Autotune is probably the most obvious example of overproduction that average people can hear.
Listen to songs like Basket Case or Burnout. It has greater dynamic range and more instrument seperation. The audio is much clearer while still sounding raw. Compare to American Idiot, there's a lot more compression. Drums don't have a lot of punch because the guitar takes up a lot of the mix, which sounds heavily distorted.
That's not to say American Idiot is bad, just that there is a noticeable difference in production quality. If you care about music production, American Idiot is undeniably overproduced, but whether that takes away your ability to enjoy the song is down to the individual.
@@ImNotPhaT Yeah, it's probably cause I listen to a lot of edm that I really don't care for people labling things overproduced
@@KanekoIA That tells me your opinion of AI has been colored by your preference for EDM in the same way Fantano's opinion of AI has been colored by his preference for "true punk" (for lack of better words). Neither preferences are wrong, but it doesn't mean overproduced isn't a legitimate criticism. Music production does not matter to most people who listen to music, but some value that part of music highly.
@@ImNotPhaT Completely agree but like what is stated in the video my main complaint is so many critics will say something is overproduced but won't eleborate at all or specify.
@@KanekoIA It's not a review of American Idiot. It's a tier list of their entire discography. The video is condense and probably assumes the viewers are familiar with the band. If you watch his review of Blink-182, he talks about how the album has so much vocal processesing it can be difficult to tell the difference between Mark and Tom's voice.
Fantano has the worst opinions on most things
Yes and no. He does admittedly have some good critics on other albums and songs but to me at least he comes off as a snob who looks too deep into things.
@@Pig_Man06 Lol yea exactly. Sure a small percentage of things he says could be an ok opinion, but generally - it aint
Fantano had another ignorant, clearly biased take? Who could have possibly guessed. He’s like Reddit personified
If you're judging music from being a 'purist' your opinion means nothing from the get go. Your mind is already made up before you hear a note. People hate Green Day because they put more effort into all their songs than people do any aspect of their own lives. Same goes with most hate.
Not sure why you think writing a song takes more effort than anything else. Like if someone is trying to start a business, they're definitely not putting any effort like Green Day puts into their songs? That's ridiculous!
So all personal taste can just be boiled down to one's own insecurity? Nah, it seems like you guys are just finding any way possible to convince yourself that your opinion is the superior one
Are you gonna do a vidogood on under my skin the masterpiece of Avril Lavigne
I actually agree with him, American Idiot is mid. It is objectively "good", but personally I just find it mostly very generic.
you can hate it but generic ? its not generic, it innfluenced many albums
That’s why I don’t watch Fantano, I almost never agree with him and this is no exception. His moustache is mid
still he is a good guy and to keep up with everything i watch him even if i disagree
If you've spent more than 5 minutes total watching Fantano, you've wasted too much time.
Opinions are like buttholes, we all have one. That being said I've never found my self agreeing with fantanos hot takes, ESPECIALLY this one. I'm not saying American Idiot is the greatest album of all the time, but it's not only the album that saved Green Day's carrer but probably their most definitive work to date. And from start to finish it's a great record with a great concept that left it's mark on that era of music. Calling it mid is like saying Green Day sold out with dookie and were never truly punk. There's no merit to saying that.
I feel as though if your going to give any negative criticism of a critically acclaimed album then you should at least explain why you think so many other people love it but it's just not for you. (Side eyes at fantano)
Anthony literally has the worst takes anyways no one care what he says 😂
I like watching Anthony Famtanos vids but I honestly think he has way more misses than hits, American Idiot pretty much revolutionised popular Rock music and he clearly wasn’t a fan of most popular music back when it was released so why would he rate it highly? I fucking hate Taylor Swift but it would be foolish of me to say that her music is “mid” when it’s that popular, even though I do think it’s “mid”.
In what way did it "revolutionize rock music" bruh you folks are really acting like this is Nevermind or Master of Puppets or something lol the formulas Green Day uses and the sound they produce were established long before them, they revolutionized nothing
@@liquidsnake6879 Green Day not once but twice brought Punk-adjacent music to the masses, with Dookie and American Idiot respectively in two different decades. Maybe “revolutionised” was a poor choice of words but they must’ve done something that no other band was doing to generate that kind of popularity amongst punk rock and non-punks alike right?
It’s fine to have the same opinion on Green Day and American Idiot as Fantano but this comment section is full of people who share my view on this album and Green Day as a whole so chill man
Why would it be foolish to say Taylor Swift is mid? If it's because of her popularity, then Taylor Swift could fart out a song and it wouldn't be mid.
When he talks about production he means it’s too clean sounding. Not that there’s too much stuff going on.
why do we even listen to fantano
Greendays trilogy was amazing Billie wrote 65 songs and that is impressive as itself like people hate on all these albums like you try and write 65 songs tell me if any are good probably can’t even write 1 good song to save you’re life it’s not a easy thing to do
i agree biggreendayfan9850
As a person who has never like this album, well said (:
When people fail at making art they become art critics.
There is nothing wrong with being an art critic. Doesn't make you better or worse than the artist.
I don't know why people care so much about this anyway. Like, you say he "conveniently ignores the reasons people like it" as if you're obliged to say why people disagree with you when you say something.
I guess someone will always dislike you for your opinion, whatever it is.
I feel like what people forget about this album is that it’s a concept album that tells a story, specifically about a character changing his views and personality. If there is a critique I have for this album (keep in mind this is in my top 3 atm) is that it’s more about Jesus of suburbia at points than the American idiot. Also his takes on revolution radio, warning, and insomniac were just awful lmao.
Fantano loves to review Green Day albums but he doesn’t even like the band so, why does he do it anyways…
because its his job?
also in his video he said he likes green day
All of Green Day is mid tbh
Green day is over rated
“Punk purist” “70’s stuff and hardcore” the man knows his shit!
Green day has to be one of the most over hyped cheesiest groups in recent history 😂
Better then all these horrible rappers
And yet they managed to stay relevant for the last 40 years.
They aren't even that over hyped and cheesy compared to a bunch of other bands
Can't stand Fantano anymore. He's truly clueless.
Green Day as a whole is mid
American Idiot is undoubtedly their best body of work.