As Green Day’s American Idiot cycle came to an end in 2006, the band found themselves treading unfamiliar waters: they were, as frontman Billie Joe Armstrong noted, no longer the underdogs. While 1994’s Dookie thrust them into the spotlight a decade prior, their 2004 career-changing seventh studio album presented a new level of superstardom that required careful onward navigation. Where would they go from here? “We’re like a boxer who’s fought his way up and is now the champion,” Billie Joe considered. “We’ve got to stay in good shape or else we’re going to get our asses kicked!” The trio’s decision to take their time on album number eight, then, was deliberate, resulting in their longest-ever gap between records. American Idiot took them up to December 17, 2005 and allowed...
