“Don’t want to be an American idiot.
Don’t want a nation under the new media”

Do you remember September 2004? I certainly do. It was when American punk rockers, Green Day, released their eagerly awaited seventh studio album, ‘American Idiot’ and sung the above immortal lyrics from the title song. The album peaked both in the UK and the USA as well as a variety of other countries and is possibly the band’s most popular album. The original concept of the album; a rock opera, inspired by bands such as The Who. The story followed three different characters, one who joins the army, one who moves to the big city and the final character who stays sitting in suburbia and throughout the album the characters stories intertwine.

The album was a hit (with young rebel teenagers such as myself raising anarchy from the rooftops!) and the band found themselves in complete control of the rock world for a good few years. What I was unaware of until pretty recently was that the album was turned into a musical, also called ‘American Idiot’ and is said to be in the vein of The Who’s ‘Tommy’ and ‘Quadrophenia’.

The musical was written by the band’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer (‘Spring Awakening’), consists of 23 Green Day songs and was premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre last September. By this point you may have already thought of another musical which is pretty much filled with music by another ‘rocking’ band…. that’s right, say it… ABBA and ‘Mamma Mia’ which last year was a global blockbuster starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried.

Now for the connection, Tom Hanks (yes, Woody and Prof Robert Langdon!) was a producer for Mamma Mia through his Playtone Company and rumour has it that he wants to do it again with ‘American Idiot’.

Interesting thought there really, Green Day on the big screen in all their ‘revolutionist’ glory. I could see it happening, as long as it doesn’t make a pastiche of their work. All that worries me is that ABBA has been able to transcend generations with their bubbly pop and therefore made ‘Mamma Mia’ the family masterpiece it was for all to feast their eyes on. But what about Green Day, what about those rebellious teenagers sitting in their bedrooms listening to the ‘Day on their iPods, is anyone else really going to care (or understand)?