American Idiot
by Green Day
  • Record Label: Reprise
  • Release Date: Sep 21, 2004
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. The Guardian
    60
    American Idiot is a mess - but a vivid, splashy, even courageous mess.
  2. Drowned In Sound
    60
    An album that doesn’t sell us short on the pop hooks of albums past, but one that also delivers a healthy dose of politics to the mix without sounding like a six-legged cliché-riddled embarrassment.
  3. Blender
    60
    Concept or not, American Idiot is still decent fodder for a mosh pit, a luagh and a sob session. [Nov 2004, p.136]
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  5. Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
    58
    There's no economics, no race, hardly any compassion. Joe name-checks America as if his hometown of Berkeley was in the middle of it, then name-checks Jesus as if he's never met anyone who's attended church. And to lend his maunderings rock grandeur, he ties them together with devices that sunk under their own weight back when the Who invented them.

Awards & Rankings

98
#98 Best Album of 2004
3
#3 Most Discussed Album of 2004
4
#4 Most Shared Album of 2004

User Reviews

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User Score
8.9

Universal acclaim- based on 829 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 757 out of 829
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 829
  3. Negative: 50 out of 829
  1. patc
    Oct 3, 2004
    10
    its got it all. great album.
  2. CRL
    Jul 26, 2011
    7
    No one saw this coming. Green Day makes a rock opera, and then that rock opera becomes one of the greatest of the decade. This album neverNo one saw this coming. Green Day makes a rock opera, and then that rock opera becomes one of the greatest of the decade. This album never lets up from the scorching prelude that is the title track, to the emotionally charged ending.… Full Review »
  3. RonaldOVOXO
    Mar 9, 2012
    10
    One of the best albums of the 2000-2009 decade. This album was a classic and it still is. I dont listen to it as much as i did in 2004 ****One of the best albums of the 2000-2009 decade. This album was a classic and it still is. I dont listen to it as much as i did in 2004 **** still the best album since Nirvana's Nevermind… Full Review »
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