By Judy Chia Hui Hsu . Found at Seattle Times
staff reporter
MARIO ANZUONI / REUTERS
Green Day receives the award for Video of the Year at the 2005 MTV Video Music
awards in Miami last month.
"American Idiot," a 57-minute self-proclaimed "punk-rock opera" was nominated for six Grammy Awards and the California band won Best Rock Album in February, later taking home seven MTV Video Music Awards, including the Viewer's Choice Award last month.
Honors aside, "American Idiot" also turned out to be one of the most popular CDs of the past year. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart and sold more than 4 million copies in the U.S. since its release last September. Three singles have also hit No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The band's biopic has just screened on VH-1's "Driven." And there are even reports that "American Idiot" may become a movie.
It was just a decade ago that Green Day sang about masturbating while watching TV and "not growing up" in their breakthrough album, 1994's "Dookie." But in their recent work, there's evidence that these thirtysomething punksters are all grown up.
Armstrong, Dirnt and Cool, all fathers now, have collaborated to write forceful political indictments of President Bush and the Iraq war, along with critical commentaries about individual alienation and societal complacency. The impassioned "American Idiot" even contains nine-minute suites with lyrics like, "We are the kids of war and peace, from Anaheim to the Middle East."
Jimmy Eats World opens Monday's show.
Judy Chia Hui Hsu: 206-464-3315 or jhsu @seattletimes.com Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company
