Green Day

Years from now, when you want to remember how totally fucked up the world was in 2004, look no further than the fact that even Green Day felt compelled to write protest songs. The real shocker with American Idiot, though, is that what could have been a train wreck -- over-the-hill punk-pop trio does rock opera about how the Bush presidency has ruined the country -- ranks as the best album the SoCal band has made in years, thanks to a renewed fire in the band's belly and a willingness to extend itself musically on epic tracks such as "Jesus of Suburbia."

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