Green Day: American Idiot Meaning

Song Released: 2004

American Idiot Lyrics

Don't wanna be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new media.
Hey can you hear the sounds of hysteria?
The subliminal mind fuck America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't...

1. anonymous

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   Oct 16th 2007 !⃝

   I keep hearing people say it, but I think this song is just about the influence of the media in the beliefs of Americans, not specifically anti-Bush.
2. x_lily_x

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   Oct 4th 2007 !⃝

   I think it's about them trying to tell the world that, even though they are American, they don't follow the same beliefs as the president, and are uniting against him.
3. anonymous

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   Aug 8th 2007 !⃝

   Wow, I am so glad I am not american. I am british, but I fear that soon britain too will be subjected to what I call the 'bush therepy' ie media taking over, compulsary conforming, etc.
   american idiot is a good way of portraying what a lot of young people feel about the current government and society, how they do not want to be 'idiots' and be swept up in the media hysteria rubbish.
   
   down with george bush is what I say (but at least tony blair is gone. gordon brown will probably not be quite so chummy with mr. president).
4. anonymous

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   Jun 22nd 2007 !⃝

   When Billie Joe says, "Well, maybe I'm the Fag*ot America"
   The word "fag" or in this case "fag*ot" doesn't always mean "GAY". I mean If someone makes me mad I say, "YOU'RE SUCH A FAG!" It means more like... "What's wrong with you?"
   But I think that's what Billie Joe means by that, like maybe He's a Fag*ot because he doesn't agree with America.
   The song is basically a rant.
5. anonymous

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   Jun 13th 2007 !⃝

   I think this shit means that George W. Bush is a mother fucking bitchy ass president. Also the line "One nation controlled by the media" means that every one is being confused,controlled, and fooled by the media which is television and radio ALL AMERICANS ARE IDIOTS BY BELIEVING IN THAT BITCHY PRESIDENT
6. anonymous

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   Apr 27th 2007 !⃝

   Simply I just think Green Day finally decided to say what they thought was going on with the US society. A nation controlled my the media basically means that we suck & don't know how to judge things ourselves & we rely on EVERY FUCKING ONE ELSE!!!! plus George Bush sucks.
7. anonymous

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   Mar 19th 2007 !⃝

   It is about Billie Joe telling kids to not grow up and be "american idiots" by doing drugs and choosing wrong paths through life. I think it also has to do with George Bush being re-elected.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
8. anonymous

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   Mar 18th 2007 !⃝

   Me thinks this is mostly Billie Joe's way of telling George Bush that he's a dick, and he can fuck off cause he's a shitty presidant.
9. Angelmisty

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   Mar 16th 2007 !⃝

   It's about Bush being a asshole bastard
10. anonymous

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    Mar 7th 2006 !⃝

    fair enough I agree with the top section of this site, in that the album -especially the title track 'american idiot' is taken a left wing approach to american foreign policy and political agenda, however it is also part of the mainstream as it fits into popular culture. In this way greenday are supporting a capitalistic lifestyle, a lifestyle that they themselves fall into. The moment we step outside our doors we take part in this consumerism society. american idiot is simply perpetuating a false consciousness that the media is portraying. It is capitalising on a sensitive social issue that a lot of people feel strongly about. It is no better or worse than that it antagonises. It is simply another cog in this wheel of corruption. and fair enough, after all they have no obligation to change anything.
11. cherryxbliss

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    Dec 16th 2005 !⃝

    Also, as the opening to the story that American Idiot tells, it's about how there's this society, this culture, that basically sucks, and how the youth of America are growing up with this stuff, and are going to turn out horrible in their adult lives because of it. We meet one kid who wants to rebel in the next song on the record, "Jesus of Suburbia".
12. anonymous

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    Nov 26th 2005 !⃝

    The name of the song relates to Billie Joe not liking that George Bush was re-elected to be president and what Geroge Bush was doing by keeping the soldiers over in Iraq.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. anonymous

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    Nov 2nd 2005 !⃝

    Yeah, the title pretty much says it all. It's a song of rebellion (or at least critisism) against what's becoming the status quo in the U.S.A.
    I've also heard the line "maybe I'm the Fagg*t America" is a reference to rumors about Billie Joe's sexuality. Don't take this as a fact, I just heard it somewhere.
    It could also just mean that he's not "part of the Redneck Agenda" and part of the segment of the population that does not adhere to the rules of the mainstream, a group of people sometimes accused as being un-American, Communists, or in ruder terms, f*gs.
    
    The line "everybody do the propaganda/ and sing along to the age of paranoia" is about how the mainstream media exploits our fears to sell headlines and how much of what we hear or see is really propaganda aimed at swaying our opinions. It's also sort of implying a band-wagon approach to life, how everyone just does something because everyone else is doing it, which is yet another thing this song criticizes.
14. I_LUV_GD

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    Sep 24th 2005 !⃝

    The title refers to the state of the United States at that point in time. It speaks of a nation controlled by the new, biased media, and how the singer is not part of a "Redneck Agenda" discontent with how things are going. It was released during the 2004 presidential campaign, where George W. Bush was re-elected

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