Exactly 10 years today we heard the "American Idiot" single for the first time. I remember driving to work that Tuesday morning patiently waiting for the premiere on a local radio station. It came on shortly before 8am just as I was getting in to work and I remember rushing inside the building so I could write up this post about it.

I remember first thinking the song felt repetitive, but I was beyond excited to finally hear a new Green Day song. It was one of the first new songs the band had released since 2001's International Superhits.

A few days before the premiere a short clip was posted on the official site and we heard the first two lines of lyrics.

After it's debut the single would go on to to reach #1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, #5 on Mainstream Rock Tracks, and #61 on the Billboard Hot 100. A week in to its release saw the single hit #3 on iTunes. It was a successful release and a nice preview of the success that would come later when the full album and it's next single "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" would be released. The "American Idiot" single was eventually certified platinum for having over one million sales in the US.


Here's the artwork for the single