American Idiot (song)

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Green Day Songs

Songs about the USA

Genre:

Punk rock

Artist:

Green Day

Released:

August 31, 2004

Album:

American Idiot

Length:

2:55

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Top ranked in this topic:

American Idiot (song), Party in the U.S.A., American Pie (song)

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About
American Idiot" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the first single from their album of the same name.   Re... (more)

American Idiot" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the first single from their album of the same name. 

Released in 2004, the single peaked at #61 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Green Day's first Billboard Hot 100 chart entry (excluding singles that charted on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart), helping revive the band's career. However, the appearance of "American Idiot" on the US singles charts occurred just prior to Billboards inclusion of internet download purchases into their Billboard Hot 100 chart data, which would have made a significant difference in the song's peak had it benefited 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. In Australia, the song was ranked #22 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004. Green Day performed this song at the 2005 Grammy Awards. The album won for Best Rock Album.

The song was featured in the trailer for the 2005 film Wedding Crashers. An edited version of the song is featured on the soundtrack of the American football video game Madden NFL 2005. It was featured as the closing theme song for the first season of The Andy Milonakis Show. "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song on his album Straight Outta Lynwood as "Canadian Idiot" - a satirical commentary on American nationalism and the stereotypical American view of Canadians. In The Simpsons Movie, the song was played by an organist at the band's funeral. Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered this song into a lounge style on their 2005 album Aperitif for Destruction, and Avril Lavigne did as well in 2006. The guitar riffs of the song were sampled for the theme for Johnny Test and multiple episodes of the show.

It was ranked the #13 Single of the Decade by Rolling Stone magazine in 2009. "American Idiot" has sold 1,371,000 copies as of July, 2010.

Rolling Stone ranked it #432 of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2010.

A live rendition of the song recorded in Montreal, Canada on the 21st Century Breakdown World Tour featuring an extended guitar solo was featured on the CD portion of the band's 2011 live album "Awesome As Fuck".  (less)

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