Green Day - Jesus ofSuburbia

Fri 6th Jan, 2006 in Music Reviews

There are now two expressions in the Made Up Encyclopedia of Rock Quotes.

Entry #1: Doing a Kid A.

This refers to the detour Oxford band Radiohead took following the critical and commercial lauding of 1997 album OK Computer. Following an extensive tour, the band locked themselves in a studio and did the unthinkable… released a slow, moody, brooding, virtually guitar-less album (2000’s Kid A). Some thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, others thought it was simply crap. Regardless, it was a bold move.

Entry #2: Doing a Green Day.

That’s right, it’s entered the rock vernacular now. Green Day’s 1994 album Dookie sold a squillion albums and made them the hottest rock band in the world. Following a string of not-so-commercially-successful (but still each worthy of applause) albums – Insomniac, Nimrod, Warning – and a greatest hits collection (International Superhits!), Green Day’s career seemed almost dead in the water, forever to be remembered for a hit single about masturbation and that slow song that was in the final episode of Seinfeld.

But Billie Joe Armstrong and his punk rock men returned in early 2004 with the George W. Bush-bashing American Idiot LP, won over a new generation of kids, sold another squillion records and reclaimed their crown as the world’s biggest rock band.

Jesus of Suburbia is, staggeringly, the fifth single to be lifted from the album, and the nail in the American Idiot coffin following recent Sydney and Melbourne stadium shows that put the album’s massive tour to bed for good. And what a way to go out – the 9-minute epic of Jesus of Suburbia is hailed by Armstrong himself as the band’s finest moment, and it’s not far off. Far from the three minute pop blasts of American Idiot and Holiday, Jesus of Suburbia is an impeccably crafted opus, with sections specifically designed for pumping fists in the air, waving cigarette lighters, and going nuts jumping up and down on your bed.

Amazingly, the track strays little from the tried and tested Green Day formula – sure, the production is flawless and Armstrong’s voice has never sounded so stadium, but Tre Cool’s trademark powerhouse drumming (gloriously showcases on Suburbia by way of several mini drum solos) and Mike Dirnt’s aggressive bass playing are here. The track painstakingly tells the tale of our hero – the Jesus of suburbia – who lives

“on a steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin
 in a land of make believe
 that don’t believe in me,”

while taking too many drugs and defiantly wasting his life

“there’s nothing wrong with me
 this is how I’m supposed to be”

before angrily turning his back on his town

“I leave behind
 this hurricane of fucking lies”

and depressingly ending up alone

“There ain’t nowhere you can go
 running away from pain
 when you’ve been victimized
 tales from another broken home”.

It’s that epic.

The single is backed with live versions of the bombastic rocker We Are The Waiting – a modern update of We Will Rock You, which loses some of the trademark Green Day snottiness but justifies their current position of playing to half the world a night and St. Jimmy; standard pop-punk fodder the way only Green Day do it.

Jesus of Suburbia is possibly the most essential track from the American Idiot era. Completists will want this for the live b-sides, but curious observers should simply shell out for the album have they not already. Is there anyone who doesn’t own it yet, though?