By the 2000s, Green Day had come dangerously close to being labeled as the dorky dads of pop-punk. They may have pioneered the genre with the release of Dookie in 1994. But the various genre-hopping they did on each album left many of their hardcore fans disappointed or stopped listening altogether in favor of more interesting acts like Blink-182. To ensure the band’s success, Billie Joe Armstrong chose not to take the lead.
If they had their way, the majority of their next album would be the same drawn-out schtick they had been doing since Dookie. The band had spent so much time not making the kind of music that made them famous. Cigarettes and Valentines were meant to be the true return to form. It was only for some sneaky bastard to waltz into the studio and leave with the tapes.
Instead of simply re-recording everything, Armstrong believed they needed to start from scratch. “What they had laid down was far from their best work.” They needed to aim higher now that bands like Sum 41 and New Found Glory were following them. However, one day off in the middle of recording sessions allowed Mike Dirnt to create the foundation for what would become “Homecoming.”
Armstrong was dealing with court proceedings and drummer Tre Cool was meeting with divorce lawyers. “Dirnt composed a pitiful song called ‘Nobody Likes You‘. He could have played the entire thing for laughs. Still, Armstrong knew there was something in Dirnt’s song that they hadn’t explored before.
While goofing around in the studio, Cool and Armstrong came up with their 30-second songs to complement what Dirnt had already made. They string them together for ‘Homecoming’, eventually expanding it to nine minutes. “Despite not taking him seriously, Armstrong realized that creating a pop-punk rock opera could be the way forward.”
“Fans regarded ‘Homecoming’ as the album’s grand finale after tying everything together with ‘American Idiot’.” He precedes the bittersweet track ‘Whatsername’. When it came time to perform the song, Armstrong was diplomatic in assigning lead vocals to everyone.
As ‘East 12th St’ comes to a close, Dirnt screams in with ‘Nobody Likes You’ before slamming into Cool’s ‘Rock and Roll Girlfriend’. It sounds like both a 1950s rock and roll jam and the theme song to some X-rated reality show about rock and roll domestic life. Whereas Cool and Dirnt have previously only appeared behind the mic for comedic purposes. Their presence breaks up the monotony of the piece, eventually leading to the anthemic chorus that closes the song.
With the lead vocal door broken down, Armstrong would end up using the rest of the band as co-vocalists half of the time. It was with Dirnt returning to sing songs like ‘American Eulogy‘ from 21st Century Breakdown. Almost every non-singing musician has lead singer envy. But sometimes letting the other guys sing can be a blessing in disguise.
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