23/10/23
Song Analysis Assignment
American Idiot – Green Day (2004)
Performance
American Idiot is the first track on Green Day’s studio album of the same title. It was their seventh album and now one of the most well-known. The song itself was released in August 2004 and is now considered one of the band’s signature songs. For the track fairly minimal instruments were used such as vocals, guitar, bass and drums. For the song ‘American Idiot’ lead vocals and guitar were recorded by Billy Joe Armstrong, bass and backing vocals by Mike Durnt and drums by Tre Cool. This song is a very high energy track. With its fast speed and overall loudness, it’s definitely a high energy fueled song. Despite how quickly American Idiot is sung, I can still understand most, if not all, of the words and the singer really manages to use clear diction throughout. I believe this is due to the programmed compressing of the instruments throughout the song, especially when the singer begins each line. The mixing of this song is great, and a remaster was actually released later on where there’s a lot less compression used. The singer does a fantastic job ‘punching’ each word out to fit the sort of angry sound that the instruments are producing. Speaking of anger, that’s what this sound is all about. Pure fury. Rage against America, rage against himself, just irritation at everything. I think the rhythm of the song is a perfect fit for the lyrics and I am extremely impressed by how the band’s instruments, especially the drums, can sound so vexed yet not overpowering the vocals.
Technology
American Idiot was recorded by the studio Reprise Records in studio 890 in Oakland and Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood, meaning both studios were in California. The drum kits were recorded on two-inch tape at the Ocean Way Studio B to produce a nice, compressed sound which were then transferred of Pro Tools to mix them digitally with the other instruments used. It was produced by Rob Cavallo and the band itself, Green Day. American Idiot’s lead engineers were Chris Dugan and Doug McKean. All the tracks were recorded in order of their album place, making ‘American Idiot’ the first song. They recorded their guitars before bass as they heard that was how the Beatles did it, so I believe there was a slight inspiration from the Beatles despite the difference in genres. The guitar has a sort of distorted sound from the overall audio process and the song itself is very compressed and quantized to give the notes a sharp timing.
Music Theory
In regards of tempo, American Idiot plays at a speed of 186bpm which is considered very fast or in music terms, presto. It is in the key A flat major and has a time signature of 4/4 (common time). The key A flat major scale includes Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F and G. This means its pitches include four flats. The song is in standard tuning and the chords and melody are considered quite easy for this song, meaning it’s not too complex to learn and has a more basic melody than most average songs.
Song Structure:
Intro:
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
Verse 1:
Come in with the chords at the end of every sung line.
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db [Ab]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab]
Chorus:
[Db///////] [Ab///////] [Eb///////] [Ab///////] [Db///////] [Ab///////] [Eb///////]
Instrumental:
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab]
Verse:
Come in with the chords at the end of every sung line.
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db [Ab]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab]
Chorus:
[Db///////] [Ab///////] [Eb///////] [Ab///////] [Db///////] [Ab///////] [Eb///////]
Instrumental:
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab]
Solo:
Bridge:
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab]
Verse:
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
Chorus:
[Db///////] [Ab///////] [Eb///////] [Ab///////] [Db///////] [Ab///////] [Eb///////]
Outro:
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab] [Gb]
[Ab/] [Db/] [Gb] [Db] [Ab]
Musical Context
This song is a punk song and possibly even alternative rock. Due to being a rock band, Green Day’s song ‘American Idiot’ has a very rough sound which is only intensified by the lyrics. The song ‘American Idiot’ was written as a protest song, meant to stir paranoia amongst post 9/11 America. It is Armstrong’s complaint against the country for taking away everyone’s individuality. He is saying he doesn’t want to be just another idiot who follow’s America’s every word blindly. This song touches on how America changed after the 9/11 incident and the supposedly purposeful mass hysteria it caused the nation. Touching further on this, the line ‘The subliminal mind-fuck America’ is Armstrong’s attempt to mention how the nation were being manipulated using their hysteria after the terrorist attacks to rid them of their freedom. The song was created during the presidency of George W. Bush and, although not explicitly mentioned, was likely about him being the central ‘American Idiot’. Bush was also known to make common grammatical errors which further proved this title for him. He also led the war against Iraq where he was focused on fighting a country rather than figuring out what had happened with his country and led to 9/11 in the first place. Armstrong had extraordinarily strong opinions on this and presidential actions generally. This is proven true in more recent years when Donald Trump was elected, and Billy Joe Armstrong explicitly stated his discontent. Since it was released, the song has been used as a protest song for many different causes, which Armstrong has states he is fine with. It was written by Green Day’s lead singer and guitarist, Billy Joe Armstrong. He was influenced to write it after hearing the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, ‘That’s How I Like It’ which talked about how proud the singer was to be a redneck, something Armstrong did not agree with.