sold millions and spawned four huge hit singles, led by its pointedly enduring titular protest anthem. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\tOne of music\u2019s biggest stories in 2004 was Green Day\u2019s resurrection. After a \u201990s run that included era-defining alt-rock and MTV hits like \u201cLongview,\u201d \u201cBasket Case,\u201d \u201cWhen I Come Around\u201d and \u201cGood Riddance (Time of Your Life),\u201d the band had taken a folkier turn on its 2000 album Warning<\/em> \u2013 and experienced its softest sales and least enthusiastic reviews in years. With a new generation of pop-punk and emo bands emerging, Green Day could\u2019ve easily seemed like a relic by 2004.<\/p>\n\n\tBut with that year\u2019s album American Idiot<\/em>, Green Day reasserted itself as a mainstream force \u2013 eclipsing even its monumental \u201990s \u2013 with a dramatic reinvention. On the album, the band infused its tested brand of pop-punk with classic-rock grandiosity, grafting an anti-war storyline of disillusionment onto the 57-minute set; in interviews ahead of its release, Green Day\u2019s members likened American Idiot<\/em> to a \u201cpunk-rock opera,\u201d drawing a direct line from idols like The Who to their own new project.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cThe melodies are based on the tradition of Lennon and McCartney,\u201d frontman Billie Joe Armstrong tells Billboard<\/em> today. \u201cThat\u2019s where we were trying to push our stuff and take our melodies and the whole idea of Green Day \u2013 pushing it to a level that we thought could be our Tommy<\/em> moment, or our Sgt. Pepper\u2019s<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tThe high-concept, high-octane album blew up like the heart-shaped hand grenade on its iconic cover. Recorded during the early days of the Iraq War and released three months before President George W. Bush\u2019s eventual re-election, the title track and lead single took aim at news illiteracy, widespread propaganda and \u201ca redneck agenda\u201d; in its stark, Grammy-nominated video, the stripes wash off a giant American flag suspended behind the band. \u201cAmerican Idiot\u201d topped the Alternative Airplay chart, snagged a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year and ignited a run of subsequent Idiot<\/em> Hot 100 smashes \u2014 which included the caustic protest anthem \u201cHoliday\u201d (No. 19), as well as the power ballads \u201cBoulevard of Broken Dreams\u201d and \u201cWake Me Up When September Ends\u201d (Nos. 2 and 6, respectively).<\/p>\n\n\tAll told, American Idiot<\/em> snagged six Grammy nominations (winning Best Rock Album), was certified six-times platinum by the RIAA, and launched a 17-month world tour that spawned the live album Bullet in a Bible<\/em>. In a couple short years, Green Day went from possibly-over-the-hump \u201990s greats to being in the mix for the world\u2019s biggest rock band.<\/p>\n\n\tRecently, Armstrong says, a fan approached him at London\u2019s BRIT Awards. \u201cThey go, \u2018American Idiot<\/em> changed my life.\u2019 And I said, \u2018It changed my life too!’\u201d he recalls with a laugh. \u201cIt changed everything for me. \u2026 It really made me feel like I can spread my wings. It proved to me that, if you have the guts to do it, then you can make it happen. When you have a hunch that it\u2019s time to make a big statement, musically, and it gets acknowledged, it\u2019s the best feeling ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tIn the years since its release, American Idiot<\/em>\u2019s stature has only grown. Green Day has frequently harnessed <\/em>the album\u2019s urgent political energy since, including for this year\u2019s Saviors<\/em>, and American Idiot<\/em> became the basis of the Tony-winning 2009 musical of the same name. Its songs remain staples of the band\u2019s concerts, and Green Day has made headlines in recent years by revising the title track\u2019s lyrics to address former President Donald Trump. This year, the band will perform American Idiot <\/em>\u2014 as well as another of its seminal albums celebrating a milestone anniversary, 1994\u2019s Dookie<\/em> \u2014 in full on The Saviors Tour of North American stadiums.<\/p>\n\n\tOn the eve of that tour, which kicks off overseas in late May, Armstrong admits, \u201cI haven\u2019t really acknowledged how proud I am of that record in a long time.\u201d Below he talks more about American Idiot<\/em>, being inspired by the New York bands of the early \u201900s (and not so much by the period\u2019s pop-punk), and why he still considers rock music to be \u201cthe underdog.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\tTake me back to 2003, and Green Day\u2019s headspace when you went into the studio to record American Idiot<\/em>. After the \u201990s and Warning<\/em>, did you see American Idiot<\/em> as the start of Green Day 2.0?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWhen we did Warning<\/em>, we were definitely trying to do something different from [our] sound than we\u2019d ever done before. It was a little bit more folky, a lot more acoustic guitar. That was foreshadowing for what would end up becoming American Idiot<\/em>. We had a studio that we were going into every day in Oakland called [Studio] 880, and we just started to experiment in there. We were like the inmates running the asylum for months. Then we came upon doing a concept record that was right in the middle of the George Bush administration and the war in Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\tTo what extent when you went in were you planning on this being a more political record? Or did that emerge organically during your sessions and your experimentation?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWhen I wrote the song \u201cAmerican Idiot\u201d is when. It was just such a bold statement \u2013 bolder than I had ever said before politically. When we started [recording], we just talked about the song and we were all on the same page. It felt dangerous and risky and fun at the same time, if that\u2019s even possible. We all agreed that this was the right way to go. And then with that came songs like \u201cHoliday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n