American Idiot is 20 years old this year, and Green Day has celebrated by dropping a treasure trove of goodies for fans.
Today, the punk rock legends have released the 20th anniversary deluxe edition of the iconic album, including a never-before-heard ‘alt’ version of the defiant title track, which went to number three in the UK charts in 2004.
The new old version of the song sounds familiar when the memorable riff kicks in, but this remix has totally different lyrics, as well as ditching the guitar solo for an alternate outro.
‘Don’t wanna be an American idiot/ Don’t wanna be the inside affiliate/ Information age is full of static/ And everyone is in a f****** panic,’ Billie Joe Armstrong sings at the beginning of the newly unveiled demo.
The chorus is jarring too, with the frontman belting out: ‘Don’t wanna be in with the it crowd/ I’ll always be the one cast out of/ The legions of the idiot side.
‘Don’t wanna be the one pretending/ Every story has a happy ending/ For that’s enough to argue.’
The last few words were the only ones to stay for the finished song, with the actual chorus going: ‘Welcome to a new kind of tension/ All across the alien nation/ Where everything isn’t meant to be okay.
‘In television dreams of tomorrow/ We’re not the ones who’re meant to follow/ For that’s enough to argue.’
The potential Glastonbury headliners – completed by drummer Tre Cool and bassist Mike Dirnt – have given fans a peek at how one of their biggest tracks was formed.
A lot of the other demos on the new collection sound very similar to the versions fans know from the finished album, although there are still some real treats.
One of the hidden gems of the entire collection – which also includes past B-sides, bonus tracks, and a few live versions of the album – is Lowlife, an early version of Dearly Beloved.
It only appeared on the actual album in an unrecognisable form as part of Jesus of Suburbia, but fans reckon it’s one of the band’s best tracks here.
‘Lowlife is the best song,’ wrote @Foque__ on X, while @Colton_0816 added: ‘After to listening to the demos I’ve got to say that lowlife is an amazing song.’
And @nxthyb pointed out: ‘The piano in the Lowlife demo is veeeeery similar to Viva La Gloria… noticed it instantly.’
There’s more too – Cluster Bomb, which later became Letterbomb, sounds like something straight off 2000 Warning! with its more stripped back production.
The demo of Homecoming feels like all altogether different song at first, as the group are clearly having a lot of silly fun.
There are still hints of what was to come in the 10-minute track, with Nobody Likes You appearing in a much heavier form before its more recognisable reprise.
The second half of the song, with the East 12th Street, Rock and Roll Girlfriend and We’re Coming Home Again ‘movements’, appear almost unchanged in the full demo.
However, a couple of the smaller sections have full demo songs of their own, including Everyone’s Breaking Down (which was cut down and changed for We’re Coming Home Again), and Just Another Year (Homecoming).
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