Board 8 > Rank the Tracks Week 91: Green Day's American Idiot (+ Paranoid results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, December 4 at 8:00 AM EST - though I have recently been leaving them up for longer, so just try to vote by that afternoon
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.

Green Day - American Idiot track list*:
1. American Idiot
2. Jesus of Suburbia
3. Holiday
4. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
5. Are We the Waiting
6. St. Jimmy
7. Give Me Novacaine
8. She's a Rebel
9. Extraordinary Girl
10. Letterbomb
11. Wake Me Up When September Ends
12. Homecoming
13. Whatsername
*several of these tracks are paired in the digital track listing

Current Cycle:
12/04: jcgamer107 (Ween - Quebec)
12/11: ChichiriMuyo (Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual)
12/18: BlueCrystalTear

Future cycle (dates subject to change if anyone new signs up before 11/27):
n/a: MetalmindStats (skipping this cycle)
12/25: HBJDubs
1/1: Raetsel_Lapin
1/8: BlueCrystalTear/darkx/neonreaper
1/15: Steiner
1/22: Snake5555555555
1/29: Jesse_Custer
2/5: RyoCaliente/VeryInsane/FoolFantastic
2/12: ZaziGuado
2/19: firefdr
2/26: Johnbobb
3/4: Steiner/ChichiriMuyo/Great_Paul
3/11: VeryInsane
3/18: FoolFantastic
3/25: Seanchan
4/1: Johnbobb/ZaziGuado/jcgamer107
4/8: Giggsalot
4/15: RyoCaliente
4/22: darkx
4/29: Snake5555555555/Raetsel_Lapin/Seanchan
5/6: neonreaper
5/13: Great_Paul
5/20: jcgamer107
5/27: Giggsalot/MetalmindStats/Jesse_Custer
6/3: ChichiriMuyo
6/10: BlueCrystalTear
6/17: HBJDubs/firefdr

Like previous weeks, you can still vote in the other thread for a bit longer:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80241290

Here is BCT's comments on the choices this week:
"Merry Christmas, everybody! Yeah, I know I'm saying that early, but that's the theme here: As the one doing the week leading up to Christmas, I thought it the perfect time to get a holiday album in. I haven't kept it secret who I was choosing: Three artists from our lifetimes associated with the holiday.

Lindsey Stirling - Warmer in the Winter
We haven't done nerd culture's favorite violinist yet, so I thought that since she's one of few artists who has dedicated holiday season tours year in and year out (fantastic show btw), I should include her. This album is FUN, both the traditional carols and the original, lively stuff. Worth a listen regardless. And, c'mon... it's Lindsey Stirling.

Michael Bubl - Christmas
Imagine classic Christmas songs with modern production yet still a classic crooner voice. That's this album. No further explanation needed.

Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas
I've never heard this album in full, but it's carried by Mariah's signature song, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (funny how someone can have a top 10 hit every other month for a decade, yet have their signature song be a Christmas tune), so the rest of it leaves me intrigued. But because that song is played to death every year for good reason (it's certainly less annoying than certain other Christmas songs), I can't not nominate the album it's on. And why not end this post with that song x3?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAkMkVFwAoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7F4ZHddrU8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw3PhhSfcQg

As previously established, I'm not the biggest fan of pop punk, but it's hard to deny the strength of Green Day's two signature albums. Four songs from American Idiot sit solidly near my all-time top 1000 range - if there is one problem with this album, it's that three of those four sit at the front. Other than that common issue (and it's not like any of the others are bad), American Idiot is a striking work that finds a perfect balance between the band's pop punk history and the elevated emotions of a rock opera. I have faint memories of this receiving a lot of backlash at the time (I was 11 when it came out, so I wasn't completely tuned into the music scene), but it's hard to think of another album that better captures the spirit of the aughts in retrospect considering both the musical style and lyrical themes.

My ranking:
Jesus of Suburbia
American Idiot
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
St. Jimmy
Holiday
She's a Rebel
Are We the Waiting
Letterbomb
Extraordinary Girl
Give Me Novacaine
Whatsername
Homecoming

Holiday
Homecoming
Letterbomb
Whatsername
Jesus of Suburbia
St. Jimmy
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Give Me Novacaine
She's a Rebel
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Extraordinary Girl
Are We the Waiting
American Idiot

What a god damn classic.

St. Jimmy
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Jesus of Suburbia
American Idiot
Holiday
Homecoming
Are We the Waiting
Letterbomb
Extraordinary Girl
Whatsername
Give Me Novacaine
She's a Rebel

1. Jesus of Suburbia - Maybe my favorite Green Day track. So much great stuff in here.
2. Letterbomb - What an underrated banger.
3. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
4. Wake Me Up When September Ends
5. Extraordinary Girl
6. Holiday
7. American Idiot - This would probably be higher if we were rating the Broadway Cast version. Great harmonies in there.
8. Whatsername - This would DEFINITELY be higher if we were rating the Broadway Cast version. A much better build-up to the finale.
9. Homecoming
10. St. Jimmy
11. Are We the Waiting
12. Give Me Novacaine
13. She's a Rebel

This is like top 3 albums of all time for me

Snake5555555555 posted...

What a god damn classic.

I cannot agree any harder! I hadn't listened to this in years and it was "holy fuck, I forgot how good this is!"

What's funny is that while I love this album, I'm not otherwise much of a fan of Green Day. I've enjoyed their various singles/radio hits but never did a deep dive on them, despite being a fan of pop punk (blink, Sum 41, etc.) The follow up to this, 21st Century Breakdown, didn't grab me; I've listened to it but damn if I remember anything about it.

And I never listened to their earlier stuff at all. So, after listening to American Idiot, I finally did a listen to Dookie. Hard to get too critical from one listen, but I'll say that it didn't grab me. I recognized 5-6 songs from radio play but even with that, I can't say I was too impressed overall.

tag/bump

why did green day double-up these tracks? is it to reinforce the rock opera nature of the album?

SeabassDebeste posted...

why did green day double-up these tracks? is it to reinforce the rock opera nature of the album?

I keep finding mixed answers - it probably does boil down to its nature as a rock opera and as a response to early digital sales.

i don't listen to many albums, especially front to back repeatedly. this album is definitely an exception, one of my favorite of all time (out of an admittedly limited pool), so here i am.

13. Homecoming
12. Are We the Waiting
11. St. Jimmy
10. Extraordinary Girl
The four I dislike. There are parts to like from most of these, but overall they have parts that kinda suck too much. Homecoming might be the toughest, since it actually has like 2-3 legit awesome sections but buried in a load of ugly stuff. Extraordinary Girl is the least offensive of the "bad" songs, but pretty mediocre to me with arguably the least upside.

9. She's a Rebel
Catchy and upbeat and inoffensive; I like the chorus of it a decent amount. Best part of this is "She sings, the revolution, the dawning of our lives" hook of the chorus.

8. American Idiot
Angry, catchy, great stuff.

7. Whatsername
Real simple, lyrical piece to close out a weaker second half of the album. Has a timeless sound to it.

6. Give Me Novacaine
Fun middle-of-the-album track; I enjoy the "floaty," almost tropical sounds and love the way the chorus goes from heavy downbeats and rising tension to the easy, melodic resolution of Give me novaca-aine.

5. Holiday
Simple and awesome. Love the riff, the verses, the melody. This song and American Idiot most encapsulate the "punk sound" of the album to me.

4. Letterbomb
This song "rocks" the hardest on this album. I'm not huge on the chorus, but the opening verses and , and especially that middling Where will all the martyrs go when the virus kills itself are near-chills level. I keep thinking that I'm overrating this song because it comes in the middle of a bunch of mediocre/bad songs but it only gets better when I repeatedly listen to it - it's a standout from beginning to end.

3. Jesus of Suburbia
Feels like Green Day's version of Bohemian Rhapsody. I like/love about 90% of it and for a song that's this long, ambitious, and varied, that's incredible.

2. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
It's just so accessible, almost an ideal pop-rock type of song. Could do without the lengthy outro though. I was entering this album thinking that this might be likely one of my top songs, but I put off listening to it for a while. But the moment it actually hit, so, so good.

1. Wake Me Up When September Ends
When I first heard this song, I already really enjoyed its clean, soft, simple melody and mournful, nostalgic tone - even if I found parts of it cheesy with some wonky lyrics and frustrating off-rhymes (rests/lost?) Well over a decade later, after a major September breakup, losing a parent, and a September wedding, this song has never left my mind. it's kind of impossible to me not to have this one at the top.

insert my usual pop-punk commentary

will try to get through a listen this time

1: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
2: Are We The Waiting
3: Give Me Novacaine
4: Jesus of Suburbia
5: Letterbomb
6: Holiday
7: Whatsername
8: Wake Me Up
9: American Idiot
10: She's a Rebel
11: Extraordinary Girl
12: St. Jimmy
13: Homecoming

bump

bump

A great artist with an uneven album. The highest highs it hits are so amazing, but plenty opf tracks drag the album as a whole down. There are two song ovewr nine minutes? Ugh. Sometimes this album makes me ask "is this really Greenday?" I just don't know how you can open on an absolute 10/10 banger and follow it up with a 9 minute slogfest. Still, the top songs make it worth it.

1 American Idiot
2 Holiday
3 Boulevard of Broken Dreams
4 Wake Me up When September Ends
5 Lettterbomb
6 She's a Rebel
7 Jesus of Suburbia
8 Extraordinary Girl
9 Whatsername
10 Homecomming
11 Give Me Novocaine
12 St. Jimmy
13 Are We the Waiting

Evening bump. I can't type much about the album, but I'd like to at least say this much:

General Comment: I love this album & actually briefly considered putting it in as one of my nominations as a popular compromise, but someone else picked it. Yay!

Boulevard of Broken Dreams: One of my favorite songs. I love this track and I'm so happy that we didn't pair it with Holiday as one giant track... Holiday is fine, but I do *not* enjoy having to sit through it to get to the track I really want to hear.

Black Sabbath - Paranoid results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
FoolFantastic (2)
Seanchan (2)
hotdogturtle (4)
neonreaper (6)
plasmabeam (6)
ZeroSignal (8)
BlueCrystalTear (10)
ZaziGuado (10)
firefdr (12)
Giggsalot (12)
HBJDubs (12)
lordjers (12)
Johnbobb (14)
MarkS2222222222 (14)
VeryInsane (14)
Snake5555555555 (18)
Raetsel_Lapin (22)

General Album Comments

FoolFantastic: A firm example of less being more, Paranoid is densely packed with hits that helped pave the way for heavy metal as a genre. Even if metal has since pushed the boundaries of hardness, there remains an undeniable coolness to these tracks.

neonreaper: Black Sabbath's first album established the heavy metal genre and the doom metal sub-genre at the same time. Paranoid came out less than a year later. IMO it's their best album, it's probably the easiest to digest and rank. I know some of the albums that came out after are a bit more refined and consistent. I was thinking to do something Ozzy, was considering Blizzard of Ozz but I just felt like we needed to do Sabbath. And this one is such a Side A album (I love side B for sure, though) that I feel like it would be easiest to fit into the holiday week.

Giggsalot: In some ways this should be one of my less favourite albums in Sabbath's classic run. It's less doomy and atmospheric than the debut or MoR, and less ambitious than Vol. 4 and SBS. It's almost their pop record. But holy shit, this is just banger after iconic banger. Listening to it in full for the first time in ages reminds me how completely absurd the tracklist is here - side A in particular could basically function as a greatest hits of early heavy metal. Sabbath are the best hard rock band of that era by a mile, and this album is probably the best single piece of evidence as to why.

HBJDubs: Very memorable, though none of the tracks really reach an elite status for me. On the flip side, none of them are duds, so props to this album being highly accessible

Seanchan: Just a really solid album with no bad songs. You've got the 3 big classic rock radio hits and then 5 more good songs.

I will say, my reaction to Planet Caravan was totally different depending upon how I was listening. On my first listen, via earbuds, I was digging its change up style. Second listen was done via car stereo and all the road noise just drowned out all the more subtle parts of the song. Third listen, back on my normal earbuds, and I was like "no, actually this IS a good song!" Just goes to show the equipment and environment really matter when listening.

8. Rat Salad (Track #7)
Score: 29 (Average Rank: 7.29/8)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Snake5555555555, plasmabeam, Giggsalot, ZeroSignal, neonreaper, VeryInsane, Seanchan, BlueCrystalTear (#8)

BlueCrystalTear: Not bad, just... it has nothing the lyrical songs don't already do better.

7. Hand of Doom (Track #6)
Score: 57 (Average Rank: 5.71/8)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): plasmabeam, hotdogturtle, VeryInsane, Seanchan (#7)

BlueCrystalTear: Might've been higher if it were a minute shorter.

6. Electric Funeral (Track #5)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 5.53/8)
Biggest Fan(s): Snake5555555555 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin, HBJDubs, hotdogturtle, MarkS2222222222 (#8)

neonreaper: Great song but maybe misplaced on the album. Also just feel like the end could stand to be re-recorded, it sounds better live and that's saying something haha.

5. Planet Caravan (Track #3)
Score: 72 (Average Rank: 5.06/8)
Biggest Fan(s): VeryInsane (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): lordjers, Johnbobb, firefdr (#8)

neonreaper: Such a great trippy tune.

4. Fairies Wear Boots (Track #8)
Score: 92 (Average Rank: 4.29/8)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ZaziGuado (#8)

3. Paranoid (Track #2)
Score: 117 (Average Rank: 3.35/8)
Biggest Fan(s): VeryInsane, firefdr, MarkS2222222222 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#6)

2. Iron Man (Track #4)
Score: 130 (Average Rank: 2.94/8)
Biggest Fan(s): plasmabeam, neonreaper, BlueCrystalTear (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#7)

BlueCrystalTear: That opening is exactly what I think of when I think of classic heavy metal. There's a reason for that.

neonreaper: This was a song I loved as a kid, my dad really liked Paranoid and played the album a good bit. I might think War Pigs is the better song in many ways, but, my heart is with Iron Man. Still working the horror film style of song writing, they came up with a great tragedy along with one of the all-time great riffs and overall song layout.

1. War Pigs (Track #1)
Score: 169 (Average Rank: 1.82/8)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, lordjers, Giggsalot, ZeroSignal, ZaziGuado, Johnbobb, HBJDubs, hotdogturtle, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): VeryInsane (#5)

neonreaper: Not just a song condemning war, but also a song that addresses the allure of power.

Bump.

There's not a single bad song on this album, and there's enough pace-changers to make it a thoroughly engaging listen from top to bottom despite it nearly totaling an hour in length. There are definitely themes and even recurring characters; I heard St. Jimmy and Whatshername mentioned in other songs, an intentional concept that Billie Joe and Tre Cool (who was the other guy?) spun to make this album cohesive. Even if some of the political commentary wasn't accurate, some of it was. And then we have the singles that weren't quite part of the storyline, the timeless songs that stand out.

Honestly, ranking this is tough. #1 and #2 could have reversed order, as could #3 and #4. #5 to #9 could be in ANY order, and #11 and #12 could be flipped. That should show you how damn good everything is; really, the only one I didn't like as much was "St. Jimmy" but that's not to say it's bad. It's just less my thing than anything else.

1. Wake Me Up When September Ends
2. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
3. Give Me Novacaine
4. Jesus of Suburbia
5. American Idiot
6. Whatsername
7. Are We the Waiting
8. Homecoming
9. Extraordinary Girl
10. Holiday
11. She's a Rebel
12. Letterbomb
13. St. Jimmy

Posting to remind myself to finalize my list and submit tonight.

oh shit it is saturday isnt it

1. Jesus of Suburbia
2. St. Jimmy
3. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
4. Homecoming
5. Letterbomb
6. Holiday
7. She's a Rebel
8. American Idiot
9. Wake Me Up When September Ends
10. Whatsername
11. Are We The Waiting
12. Give Me Novacaine
13. Extraordinary Girl

I legitimately hate ranking any song on this album low, I love them all too much

1. Homecoming
2. Jesus of Suburbia
3. Give Me Novacaine
4. Are We the Waiting
5. Wake Me Up When September Ends
6. Whatsername
7. Letterbomb
8. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
9. American Idiot
10. St. Jimmy
11. Shes a Rebel
12. Extraordinary Girl
13. Holiday

Pretty great album. Im a sucker for a set of songs that tell a story, so a whole album of storytelling is extra nice. Ive always felt Holiday didnt really fit in the story, but thats a minor nitpick. None of the songs are bad, which makes it flow pretty well. I listened to this a TON when I was a teenager, Homecoming and Jesus of Suburbia in particular. Turns out I still enjoy it.

While it's no Dookie, American Idiot is pretty friggin good - definitely Green Day's 2nd best album. There are several great singles here, which partly made up the soundtrack to my senior year of high school. I think the only things that kept me from becoming more than a casual Green Day fan, is that a lot of their songs sound really similar, and Billie Joe occasionally includes lyrics that sound like they were written by an emo middle-schooler. Still, his vocals & the trio's musical chemistry cannot be denied.

1) Wake Me Up When September Ends - In the 2nd verse, when the full guitar riff & drum groove come in for the first time - that's probably the best moment on the album. I had a pretty rough time towards the end of this September, and was thinking about this song a lot.
2) Whatsername - I hadn't heard this one before but damn
3) American Idiot - I think I might like Canadian Idiot better...
4) Holiday
5) Boulevard of Broken Dreams
6) She's a Rebel
7) Give Me Novocaine
8) St Jimmy
9) Letterbomb - Well the opening lyrics didn't have to be so ACCURATE geez
10) Extraordinary Girl
11) Jesus of Suburbia
12) Homecoming - Well that was long. Lol the saxophone.
13) Are We the Waiting

This is one of those albums where I enjoy every song, so it was a tough one for me to rank. The top 4 were especially difficult to order. I wouldn't consider myself to be a big Green Day fan, but this is definitely in my top 5 favourite albums.

1 Homecoming
2 Letterbomb
3 Give Me Novacaine
4 Jesus of Suburbia
5 Wake Me Up When September Ends
6 American Idiot
7 Boulevard of Broken Dreams
8 Extraordinary Girl
9 St. Jimmy
10 Are We the Waiting
11 She's a Rebel
12 Whatsername
13 Holiday

1. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
2. Holiday
3. Are We The Waiting
4. American Idiot
5. Jesus Of Suburbia
6. Wake Me Up When September Ends
7. Letterbomb
8. Whatsername
9. Give Me Novacaine
10. Homecoming
11. St. Jimmy
12. Extraordinary Girl
13. Shes A Rebel

The last really great Green Day album

That's it, I'm adding "Rank the Tracks" to my highlight list so I stop missing these topics. (I may or may not do the current one)

Put me among the list of people with high school nostalgia for this album. A rare album that received three listens from me this week. I think I could have ten different orders of these tracks with ten different listens.

1. Whatsername
2. Jesus of Suburbia
3. Homecoming
4. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
5. Letterbomb
6. She's A Rebel
7. American Idiot
8. Wake Me Up When September Ends
9. Give Me Novacaine
10. Holiday
11. Are We the Waiting
12. St. Jimmy
13. Extraordinary Girl

1. Holiday
2. American Idiot
3. Give Me Novacaine
4. Jesus of Suburbia
5. She's a Rebel
6. Extraordinary Girl
7. Letterbomb
8. Wake Me Up When September Ends
9. Whatsername
10. Homecoming
11. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
12. St. Jimmy
13. Are We the Waiting

Just a phenomenal album from start to finish. A tough one to rank because there's no bad songs, plus I've heard it enough to appreciate at least a part of every song. It pains me to rank Boulevard that low but this is just a very strong album.

felt weird yesterday at the gym when i heard holiday but it didn't lead into boulevard of broken dreams :(

SeabassDebeste posted...

felt weird yesterday at the gym when i heard holiday but it didn't lead into boulevard of broken dreams :(

I can only assume that you broke out into singing Boulevard out of reflex. Some girl gave you the what a weirdo look. Then you made passing eye contact with some dude on the cable machine who nodded in silent approval.

neonreaper posted...

insert my usual pop-punk commentary

will try to get through a listen this time

won't be able to

1. Wake Me Up When September Ends
2. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
3. Holiday
4. American Idiot
5. Are We the Waiting
6. Jesus of Suburbia
7. Homecoming
8. Shes a Rebel
9. Extraordinary Girl
10. Whatsername
11. Give Me Novacaine
12. Letterbomb
13. St. Jimmy

Some of these songs felt so familiar that I might as well have heard them before.