Every week in Second Listen, Frank Macarthy looks back at lesser-loved albums from well-loved bands’ discographies.

Bands lose fans all the time. New albums, new sound, new members, fake shows (fuck you, Death Grips). Practically anything can cause a fan to lose interest. But there aren’t too many bands that pissed off an entire generation. Green Day is one of those bands. And American Idiot is the album that did it. After a decade of bitching and moaning (the good kind), eyeliner made the complaining all too real. What used to be rebellion became a midlife crisis.

Punk has become an umbrella term. Kind of like rock, or electronic. And underneath that umbrella is a genre that has caused a rift in the culture over the past two decades: pop-punk. Some hate it. Some love it. Most don’t give a shit. Accredited to bands like the Buzzcocks, the Descendents, Bad Religion, and the mod revival movement, pop-punk takes everything great about punk and turns it into a teenage, heartbreak, skateboard-loving circlejerk. And I love it. Pop-punk may have taken the stage in the late ‘70s, but it took about a decade to perfect.

1987 was a pretty rad year in music. Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fugazi played their first live show. Michael Jackson released Bad. The Smiths broke up. And Nikki Sixx was declared dead for a bit. Oh, and the greatest pop-punk band of all time was formed. I’m definitely not biased.

Green Day’s original lineup was missing one pretty cool member: Tre Cool. But, don’t fret, he joined after the band’s first release, 39/Smooth. Other than that, there haven’t been any line-up changes unless you include additions to the band. From 1990 to 2000 the band was dedicated to four things: girls, weed, poop, and masturbation. They were the epitome of pop-punk, and their early ‘90s popularity was further proof of this.

But, things change. The girls are replaced by wives. The weed is replaced by eyeliner. And, well, poop and masturbation probably still happen. After a severe decline in popularity near the end of the ‘90s, Green Day scrambled to reinvent their image for a new generation. And, what was popular in the early 2000s? Emo. Emo was popular. Thank shit that didn’t last too long.

Before American Idiot was released, Armstrong revealed that the band recorded an entire new album entitled Cigarettes and Valentines. Apparently the master tracks were “stolen.” There’s a whole heaping mess surrounding the band The Network and their initial release Money Money 2020 – check it out. Cigarettes and Valentines was promised to be an unapologetic punk album in the same vein as earlier albums like Kerplunk and Insomniac. I still want my Cigarettes and Valentines.

Instead, Green Day released a forgettable, generic rock opera that granted them a whole new generation of fans. Good for them. Bad for me. Let’s be honest, we all knew they were going downhill after Warning (I actually liked Nimrod). People complain about the fanbase changing, but, let’s think about this for a second. When were the original fans listening to them? When they were teenagers. Who is the new fan base? Teenagers. So, what happened? The original fans grew up. The fan base didn’t change, the fans did. They’re still attracting the same fans as always. So, let’s be as objective as we can here.

I will admit, there’s still a lot of Green Day on this album. You know, under the 10 pounds of makeup. Songs like “American Idiot,” “Holiday,” and (especially) “St. Jimmy” all have that classic fast-paced, silly Green Day style. Although a little overproduced, you can still hear the teenage angst and skate-tape mix perfection.

It’s the more “adult” songs that stand out. “We Are The Waiting” just isn’t Green Day. It’s slow, melodic, and simple in all the wrong ways. “Wake Me Up When September Ends?” More like Wake Me Up When This Song Ends. Amirite? I’m rite. Not to mention the two, count ‘em, two songs over nine minutes long. This typically wouldn’t be a problem, for, let’s say, a prog-rock band. But, this is Green Day. Both “Jesus of Suburbia” and “Homecoming” feel like a bunch of unrelated, disjointed songs smashed together. Rock operas are a subtle art, and Green Day is anything but subtle here. They are trying too hard. Go smoke some weed, masturbate, and sing about that.

Realistically, American Idiot isn’t the Green Day we know and love. But is that a problem? Well, kind of. But not really. I’ve wanted to do this review for months now. I’ll never forget seeing Green Day live in the eighth grade with Blink-182, Saves the Day, and surprise guest Simple Plan. To this day, that show remains one of the best I’ve ever seen. I’m biased. I love Green Day. I don’t love American Idiot. But, that doesn’t mean that it’s not a good album. It has its moments of glimmering hope, and it allowed Green Day to earn the popularity (and money) they deserved. Maybe if we open up a little we can accept what we lost and accept what Green Day has become. Or we can go back and listen to Dookie. Actually, I’m just gonna go and do that.