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From this (Green) Day forward

By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
Green Day is on the verge of a 21st Century Breakdown. The band's eighth album, due in May, doesn't retreat from the seething invective of 2004's Bush-whacking American Idiot, which sold 5.8 million copies and transformed the Bay Area trio from punk brats to serious rockers.

After Idiot's success, "we asked how much more ambitious can we be?" says singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong. "We could take a sideways step or go back to our roots. We chose to move forward."

Expected to be one of 2009's blockbusters (bolstered by a summer tour), Breakdown addresses working-class struggles, internal demons, apathy and the fading American dream. "It's about reflecting what's been happening the past three years and putting it to melody with some bold statements."

The boldest may be March of the Dogs, which rails against religious hypocrisy. "I have nothing against religion," Armstrong says. "It's about preying on people's blind faith. I'm all for spirituality. There's nothing more spiritual than rock 'n' roll."

I'm betting that this will be every bit as big as AI. This group crosses generational differences effortlessly; I'm 45, and I like them...my daughter and niece are each 15, and they like them.

I can't wait. I must have listened to American Idiot for a year straight.

Great news! Can't wait to hear it

About frickin' time. The Foxboro Hot Trots album didn't do a lot for me, waiting nearly 5 years for "real" Green Day.

I like Green Day up until American Idiot. Good for them though for jumping on an easy trend of making money off bashing Bush. Join all the other unoriginal artist out there

Great news.

I hope they're more old school Green Day than new Green Day. Less Boulevard of Broken Dreams and more Welcome to Paradise, please.

Same here. While another American Idiot wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, it just didn't have the lasting value of most of their other albums.

Cover art:

Good news!

Crank up some Toby Keith tunes and you will feel better.

There's always one sore loser in the crowd ready to piss in the punch.

Quote one line in the album that bashes Bush.

Awesome news... AI was really a great album from start to finish.

Cannot wait to hear this one.

I lost interest in this band completely until AI. If they continue to push things in a different direction with songs as good as AI then I'm all over it.

I like AI much more than any other record they have done. I am looking forward to this very much.

I like AI, but I'm hoping for something like Insomniac, where the whole thing is fast-paced punk.

American Idiot took my "like" to "like like" with Green Day. It brought something more to the table than songs like Minority, Warning, and Nice Guys Finish Last had in the previous years.

While I've always liked them, I never craved more than Dookie offered.

When I first heard Jesus of Suburbia, I knew they were capable of so much more. My "like like" was officially "love".

If this is even a shadow of what they did on AI, I welcome it with open arms. Plus I get to go see them perform again so that's great.

I suspect after AI the band is starting to see itself as "maturing" into a more classic hard rock sound to widen their appeal (and possibly build a bigger legacy). I doubt they'll be returning to the snotty punk sound that so many younger bands have ripped off them. I may be wrong.

Ah, I remember visiting a friend at CSUSF back in '91 and seeing Green Day playing in a dorm room to about 15 people. Good times.

"...don't want to be an American Idiot..."

Yep you win

^ I think that's more general than Bush. This, though, has always been about Bush directly:

Zieg Heil to the president gasman
Bombs away is your punishment
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government

I like their old stuff a bit better, but thought American Idiot was still good. More is good.

Yeah, I always took it that "American Idiot" referred to everyone that voted for Bush.

Lucky for me, I don't really pay attention to lyrics, so any retarded, inane, childish, closed-minded bashing of any political figures or people who are for LESS government (not more) is going to make absolutely no difference to me.

AI to me was nothing more than an album with a great bunch of riffs and songs put together in a very creative way (yeah, many of the riffs were stolen, but they put them to good use).

Looking forward to this new one.