Green Day Explains How New Album ‘Saviors’ “Bridges the Gap” Between ‘Dookie’ and ‘American Idiot’

Green Day is gearing up for their 14th studio album, Saviors, to drop on January 19. But in the meantime, the band is celebrating two important milestones: Dookie is turning 30 and American Idiot is turning 20. Recently, Billie Joe Armstrong, Tré Cool, and Mike Dirnt sat down with 102.1 The Edge to talk about how the new album “bridges the gap” between two of their most beloved works.

“I think that this record is sort of the best of everything that Green Day has,” said Armstrong when asked if Saviors is considered American Idiot Part Two. “[It’s] the 30 years of experience that we have, kind of come together,” he continued. “Whether it’s something from Dookie or American Idiot, I think somehow we were able to bridge the gap in making something that is like an essential record for us.”

The singles from Saviors—“Look Ma, No Brains!” and “The American Dream is Killing Me”—echo American Idiot, but in a way that doesn’t feel tired or overdone. Additionally, as Armstrong noted, “The American Dream is Killing Me” was written a few years ago with the political climate in mind.

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“‘The American Dream Is Killing Me’ originally was written about three or four years ago, so it’s technically the first song on the record,” said Armstrong. “But for [2020 album Father of All Motherfuckers] we didn’t want to go political because it was so obvious. It was such low-hanging fruit because we had just terrible politics and terrible division in the United States.”

The band shelved the song until it felt right to release it. “This time, we brought it out and it felt like it was the perfect time for it,” Armstrong continued. He explained that they strayed from their political roots for a bit because they didn’t want to “be like another pundit on CNN, finger-pointing,” he said.

“But political songs,” Armstrong added, “It takes a lot of heart to do that. I think if you keep doing it for the sake of doing it, just because you’re angry, then you take the heart out of it. Then it just becomes part of what everyone is complaining about. So it takes those special, inspired moments to really have a moment like ‘The American Dream Is Killing Me’.”

Green Day is going out on tour in 2024 in support of the new album, and also to celebrate the 20th and 30th anniversaries of American Idiot and Dookie. For support in the U.S., the band is bringing the Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, The Linda Lindas, Nothing But Thieves, The Hives, Donots, The Interrupters, and Maid of Ace in the U.K.

Tickets are available via StubHub, where orders are 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s FanProtect program. StubHub is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images for Harley-Davidson

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