American Idiot (Deluxe Version)

No one saw this one coming: three minute Berkeley punk rock heroes put together a compelling concept album (Punk Rock Opera) about a guy known as Jesus of Suburbia who suffers the rise and fall of the American Dream with a nine-minute track (“Jesus of Suburbia”) that splits into five parts as if it’s a tune from Rush. Other tracks follow in similar fashion, splitting into various parts. Characters such as St. Jimmy and Whatsername show up to advance a plotline that’s less important than the overall feeling that something’s going terribly wrong for everyone involved. Post-9/11, the world’s a mess and Billie Joe Armstrong summons up his inner Joe Strummer and Green Day’s Clash tendencies for the title track. But the most rewarding moments are when Armstrong lets his melodic firepower loose. “Holiday” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” use sweet choruses to express their fears and frustrations, with “Extraordinary Girl” and “Letterbomb” furthering the push for pure pop for the now concerned people. The “Deluxe Edition” contains several additional tracks outside the spectrum of the album’s original narrative that are welcomed additions to the Armstrong songwriting catalog (“Shoplifter”).