21st Century Breakdown or American Idiot?

[gd86arg]

AI ! !

[-Billiejoezee-]

My love is equal but differently.

[Rachel Nimrod Armstrong]

I honesly prefer AI but i love 21stCB aswell sooo AMERICAN IDIOT!!!!!

[Li Sa]

both are good and have nice songs but most of my fav songs are from AI ... so AMERICAN IDIOT

[St. Vicky]

American Idiot - it has a story and is deep - it changed my life

[jos_whatsername]

first of all ... i LOVE both of these albums.

yes, i LOVE 21st century breakdown.

but i LOVELOVELOVE american idiot

its just.. i love EVERY single song soo much, all the emotions i get are just

extraordinary. i also dont skip a single song on AI, but i do on 21st CB.

American Idiot is just a masterpiece

its the best record ever made and no one, not even green day themselves, can

do it any better (as far as we can tell right now!!) .. its just complete for me.

i really love every song, the rythms, the melodies, the lyrics.

i dont ever get enough of this record

this is just my opinion.. it doesnt have to be yours..

[lastnightonGDA]

American Idiot because I can listen to that album all the way through and love every second. If I listen to 21st Century Breakdown I usually skip a few [see the Light, Know Your Enemy, Last of the American Girls, 21 guns(it's just too overplayed), Christian's Inferno] and the rest are only good. Not amazing (excluding American Eulogy). American Idiot has Jesus of Suburbia, holiday, american Idiot, letterbomb, whatsername, st jimmy. So many amazing songs. And also that American Idiot's story line is pretty clear while I'm still a but puzzled on exactly what is happening in 21st Century Breakdown....

[Axel]

So are we just excluding the other 6 albums like they don't exist?

[lastnightonGDA]

So are we just excluding the other 6 albums like they don't exist?

nooooo

21st Century Breakdown and AI are just easily compared.... and their both rock operas

[foxboro1234]

I will always love American Idiot, it is amazing..but 21st Century Breakdown is just such an awesome work of art so it wins my vote.

Hi everyone, i'm new here to GDC and i decided to start a new thread to start myself off.

I think no-one had created this yet... (i hope)

Anyway people have been debating on which album is better, American Idiot or 21st Century Breakdown.

In my opinion, American Idiot is better because all of their songs are just outstanding and unlike 21st Century Breakdown, don't have songs that you just don't want to listen to.

But that's my opinion, i want to know yours!!!

[forget_me_nots]

American Idiot. No question at all.

[21Heart_Grenades]

I'm with you Burnout98, I'm always hyped up to listen to AI. But that's not the only reason why I like it. I also like it because it comes from real experiences( not that 21CB doesn't) but it relates to me in the way that he sings about his dad, because my mom died, too, when I was 7. So, when I hear songs like "Letterbomb", "Wake Me Up When September Ends", and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", they just really relate to my life, ya' know. But that's why I like the album better than 21CB, but I still like listening and singing to 21CB songs. Peace!!!

[allieebarbour]

I think American Idiot is a little easier to listen to, but 21stCB is still an incredible album to listen to.

[Annie, get your gun]

AMERICAN IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OhTheGuilt.]

21st CBD, because for me It was the album of maturity.When AI came out I was young and stupid and I never really appreciate that.

[musso_kn]

I love both albums. I'm really not sure which I prefer, but I voted for 21CB because it doesn't quite get the praise it deserves.

[localinsomniac]

American Idiot was a monumental album for the band. Maybe bigger than Dookie, depending on who you ask. It launched Green Day back into mainstream popularity after a decade of fading into relative but gradual obscurity. Seemed to churn out one hit (title track, Boulevard, Holiday, September, JoS) after another. Even the deeper cuts (Letterbomb, Whatsername, St. Jimmy) are some of my all-time favorite Green Day songs.

21st Century Breakdown, to me, was a reaction to the critical acclaim heaped upon its predecessor; the band had a ton of pressure on itself -- a lot of it self-imposed -- to duplicate that success. It was to American Idiot as Insomniac was to Dookie. There didn't seem to be any way for Breakdown to live up to the expectations that were set over the five years it took to write, record and release the record. Besides that, I just don't think it was as good as American Idiot as an album. I'll never complain about having too many new songs to listen to, but they could have easily trimmed some of the fat off this one. LotAG, Peacemaker, KYE and 21 Guns don't really do it for me like some of the other tracks.

[iScottie]

Both of them are excellent albums. I do agree with the consensus of how 21st Century Breakdown does not deserve enough praise.

With that being said, I still have to go with American Idiot. It was the album that I immediately fell in love with. It motivated me to learn to play the guitar, fall in love with the rest of Green Day's work, see the musical, and have a new outlook on certain things.

American Idiot is structurally solid. It has great transitions and paints an excellent story over the course of thirteen songs. We see how this character, The Jesus Of Suburbia, a person that many people can relate to in some way, shape, or form, struggles to find himself. It's a long and difficult journey and process for him in many aspects. It's only through losing himself that he is able to find himself.

21st Century Breakdown is not as structurally sound as American Idiot, in my opinion. Yes it is a rock opera, but we are not on this one-way journey with Christian and Gloria, the two main characters of this album, like we are with The Jesus Of Suburbia. 21st Century Breakdown takes us all around the world and shows us all of the problems that are going on and how much our society has changed - for better and for worse. I don't see why everybody gives this album such negative criticism because it really is well-written.

[Kisaki]

I like both but I choose American Idiot. It was the first GD album that I heard.

[iRun]

21st Century Breakdown.

Don't kill me but I feel as if, Extraordinary Girl, She's a rebel, and Are We the Waiting really bring down AI.

[Chelsee Angevine]

If you don't say American Idiot, it's either because you don't like how popular it got (despite its brilliance) or you have listened to it so much (because it's brilliant) that you momentarily like the change of pace from 21stCB. Like, American Idiot is pure genius. It's beyond opinion... It's fact. It's perfection. It's heavenly. I had visions of BJ in my toast after I listened to that album. 21stCB is great, don't get me wrong, but you can't compete with the prophetic essence that is the album, and the era, of American Idiot. End of story.

[WhiteTim]

If you don't say American Idiot, it's either because you don't like how popular it got (despite its brilliance) or you have listened to it so much (because it's brilliant) that you momentarily like the change of pace from 21stCB. Like, American Idiot is pure genius. It's beyond opinion... It's fact. It's perfection. It's heavenly. I had visions of BJ in my toast after I listened to that album. 21stCB is great, don't get me wrong, but you can't compete with the prophetic essence that is the album, and the era, of American Idiot. End of story.

Or maybe someone just simply didnt like AI

I wasnt a fan of AI until last year other than JoS BOBD WMUWSE but now I love every track except for Letterbomb. I can't explain why I was like that with the album it was the first GD cd that I didn't love straight away

But I listened to 21st the first day it came out and loved it first listen tho i'll never try to say it's a better album than AI cause for everyone may be different

[ceedee]

21st Century Breakdown.

Don't kill me but I feel as if, Extraordinary Girl, She's a rebel, and Are We the Waiting really bring down AI.

I sort of feel the same, and would agree, We are The Waiting is a weak track in and by itself, but in the context of the album it really works, for me it gives St Jimmy even more of an exslosive effect when it comes on, almost as if 'We are the Waiting" is the 'calm' before the storm (St Jimmy)

Extraordinary girl is pretty much universally accepted to be the weak leak on the album, She's a rebel is not too terrible.

American Idiot was a monumental album for the band. Maybe bigger than Dookie, depending on who you ask. It launched Green Day back into mainstream popularity after a decade of fading into relative but gradual obscurity. Seemed to churn out one hit (title track, Boulevard, Holiday, September, JoS) after another. Even the deeper cuts (Letterbomb, Whatsername, St. Jimmy) are some of my all-time favorite Green Day songs.

21st Century Breakdown, to me, was a reaction to the critical acclaim heaped upon its predecessor; the band had a ton of pressure on itself -- a lot of it self-imposed -- to duplicate that success. It was to American Idiot as Insomniac was to Dookie. There didn't seem to be any way for Breakdown to live up to the expectations that were set over the five years it took to write, record and release the record. Besides that, I just don't think it was as good as American Idiot as an album. I'll never complain about having too many new songs to listen to, but they could have easily trimmed some of the fat off this one. LotAG, Peacemaker, KYE and 21 Guns don't really do it for me like some of the other tracks.

QFT

The only things I don't agree with is Last Of The American Girls and Peacemaker, them 2 tracks really do 'do it' for me, especially the Latino feel of Peacemaker.

[Chelsee Angevine]

Or maybe someone just simply didnt like AI

I wasnt a fan of AI until last year other than JoS BOBD WMUWSE but now I love every track except for Letterbomb. I can't explain why I was like that with the album it was the first GD cd that I didn't love straight away

But I listened to 21st the first day it came out and loved it first listen tho i'll never try to say it's a better album than AI cause for everyone may be different

YOU DON'T LIKE LETTERBOMB?!

It is my favorite off AI.

Does. Not. Compute.

[WhiteTim]

YOU DON'T LIKE LETTERBOMB?!

It is my favorite off AI.

Does. Not. Compute.

It's okay but not a big fan of it I don't hate it but I usually skip it if im not listening to AI in full