Stories Like American Idiot (or 21CBD or like individual songs or whatever)

[green day is]

I recently had the realization that AI is a lot like Fight Club, which is to say it's another unreliable narrator story. The guy who directed the musical also mentioned the same thing in an interview, it was posted in the Q&A thread if you want to check it out.

Then, not only has this been talked about in multiple reviews, but Hermione mentioned that it's similar to The Who's album Qudrophenia and I've heard it compared to their other opera(s) as well.

I listened to the album Underclass Hero by Sum-41 once or twice last year and it has a huge AI feel to it.

Try not to spoil anything I guess, post some others. If you have to point out some similarities that would ruin the other movie/book/whatever, use spoiler tags.

[momoluvGD]

The guy who directed the musical? Micheal Mayer???

[She is Amanda]

did you hear about that musical? It has the same story and everything... IT EVEN HAS THE SAME NAME

[momoluvGD]

The Who has a musical too and The Flaming Lips.

[Jean]

The whole concept album thing makes me think of Sgt. Peppers by the Beatles.

[failure00]

The movie "SLC Punk" has many similarities to American Idiot.

[green day is]

The guy who directed the musical? Micheal Mayer???

Yeah, him. I couldn't remember his name.

[VisionsofGreenDay115]

I listened to the album Underclass Hero by Sum-41 once or twice last year and it has a huge AI feel to it.

Underclass Hero has a lot of songs that relate to what American Idiot represents, it is definitely political and has that bittersweet feeling to it. But I wouldn't think it is a story like AI. Great album though. Sum 41 is great.

[Guest]

Underclass Hero always felt like "YEAH GREEN DAY RELEASED A PSEUDO-POLITICAL POP PUNK ALBUM AND MADE $$$$$$ SO WE'RE GONNA TRY THAT TOO". Probably the reason I never liked it much.

As Billie Joe has matured as a songwriter he's been taking a lot of notes from songwriters like Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen, masters of storytelling songwriting. It shows.

[Sarcasm]

As Billie Joe has matured as a songwriter he's been taking a lot of notes from songwriters like Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen, masters of storytelling songwriting. It shows.

The king is away on business. Business.

I like Underclass Hero, lots of the lyrical works may be similar because of similar experiences, it's not like they were rich kids growing up, and that's what the majority of sum songs is about. They didn't grow up until they made Screaming Bloody Murder, which is my contribution to the topic of the thread. That album is so fucking good, and if you ever had a bitter breakup, you're gonna recognize the feel in some of the songs.

[Jude O'Reilly]

The whole concept album thing makes me think of Sgt. Peppers by the Beatles.

Ah such a masterpiece. Another album that comes to mind with concept albums is Space Oddity - David Bowie.

[TheGrouch33]

Underclass Hero always felt like "YEAH GREEN DAY RELEASED A PSEUDO-POLITICAL POP PUNK ALBUM AND MADE $$$$$$ SO WE'RE GONNA TRY THAT TOO". Probably the reason I never liked it much.

As Billie Joe has matured as a songwriter he's been taking a lot of notes from songwriters like Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen, masters of storytelling songwriting. It shows.

a bit like my chemical romance that tried the same in 2006 and with rob cavallo as a manager....it just comes to show how hard it is to pull off an album like American Idiot, because both Underclass bla bla and the black parade truly sucked in my eyes.

[Alan86]

Green Days song Misery tells a story and has characters.

[The Green One]

a bit like my chemical romance that tried the same in 2006 and with rob cavallo as a manager....it just comes to show how hard it is to pull off an album like American Idiot, because both Underclass bla bla and the black parade truly sucked in my eyes.

I never really saw The Black Parade as a concept album, the songs seem related but not in an ongoing story. That said, I love the black parade, and it ranks among my favorite albums of all time.

[JIGD13]

Green Day was one of first bands in publishing an album that talked about how bad was America that had success, so I don't think it was or it will be another album Like it in some years

[TheGrouch33]

I never really saw The Black Parade as a concept album, the songs seem related but not in an ongoing story. That said, I love the black parade, and it ranks among my favorite albums of all time.

i was probably a bit harsh with "the black parade" because in the past ive enjoyed some songs like "Mama", and im 90 per cent sure its a concept album, i dont know how youve missed that!! its about a kid with cancer that dies and has a like an after-death trip...right? ^^ haha

[green day is]

So today I realized Misery is basically Pulp Fiction in song form. Four different stories, revolving around four characters, and all the little individual stories intertwine. Pretty cool.

[green day is]

Not having been raised religious, I recently read the "Parable of the Lost Son" AKA The Prodigal Son for the first time. Today I realized that American Idiot seems to tell a similar story, but with the hometown acting as his father and perhaps all the desires he'd had or even his memories of the whole thing acting as the brother. I hope that makes sense, but I could probably expand more. I doubt it was intentional on Billie's part, it seems like one of those stories that just gets told over and over again in different ways.

[Spike]

How about The Black Parade? I always found the parallels between that and American Idiot kind of unnerving. It's like, were Green Day and MCR the same band at the time?! The visual similarities were striking, both bands had sudden massive success out of seemingly nowhere, and both did so with inflated pop punk concept albums at more or less the same time. I think MCR took a lot of influence from Green Day for that album. I know they were released two years apart but Green Day's success over here was still going strong in 2006, and MCR kind of took over from them for a bit, although naturally to a lesser extent. Obviously the stories have different themes, but I think they actually complement each other very well, and listening to both albums back to back makes for a very interesting experience.

Edit: I didn't realise it had already been mentioned, didn't read the rest of here thread What I said stands though, and I think it's a fantastic album, which is, bizarrely, strengthened by the existence of American Idiot.

[Antonium2200]

The guy who directed the musical? Micheal Mayer???

Micheal Bay**