September 21, 2004. Barry Noble Wakeman, American naturalist and educator passed away. The Communist Party of India People’s War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India merge to form the Communist Party of India. And, Green Day released one of the greatest punk rock concept albums known to mankind: American Idiot.

American Idiot is Green Day’s seventh studio album. This “punk rock opera” as some fans call it, tells the story of Jesus of Suburbia, a lower-middle class anti-hero and the events that shape his transition into adulthood, including 9/11, the Bush Jr administration, the Iraq War and the illusion of the American Dream. What’s truly amazing about this album, is the way it came into being. The members of Green Day were working on an albums titled Cigarettes and Valentines, when all of the master tapes were stolen. Starting over from scratch, the band created the politically charged American Idiot instead.

I didn’t discover this album until the summer of 2005, after moving from VA to GA to be with family. This later proved to be a terrible decision, which led me down an path of depression, anxiety, and at one point, homelessness. The first song I connected with was “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”: I watched the music video on TV while staying at a motel. Seeing the video and hearing the song changed my life forever. I put a few dollars aside and bought a copy of American Idiot, and listened to it over again.

American Idiot has served as the inspiration behind much of my writing and artwork. It’s very existence is inspirational: it was born after everything else was taken from the band, which is something I can relate to. This album is part of the reason I wrote the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series, and the continuation of the Valentine series (Green Day is Val’s favorite band after all!). The album inspired a Broadway play by the same name, which I was fortunate enough to see while Billie Joe Armstrong himself was featured in it as Saint Jimmy! After all these years, it’s still my favorite album, and Green Day is still my favorite band.

If you’ve never heard American Idiot, you HAVE to listen to it.