Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, drummer Tré Cool and guitarist and backing vocalist Jason White. Green Day is one of the world's best-selling groups of all time, selling over 75 million albums worldwide. They are best known for releasing the song "American Idiot" on September 20, 2004, which can be found on their album "American Idiot". American Idiot quickly became popular around the world and created a lot of artificiality because people believe it is anti-American due to its title and harsh sarcastic comments throughout the song. However, if you pay attention to the lyrics, you might see that in many ways the song is highly patriotic. Green Day began in the town of Rodeo, California, just 15 miles north of Berkeley. There, ten-year-old Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Pritchardin met in the school cafeteria. Neither of them had had a good family life. When Billie Joel Armstrong was ten years old, her father died, fragmenting her family. Armstrong found comfort in his new friend and in music. He used music as an escape from everyday life. Dirnt was born into a drug-abusing family, and was soon adopted by his Native American mother and father, who divorced when he was seven. When his mother moved north when Dirnt was 15, Dirnt moved in with band member Billie Joe Armstrong. The hard life these kids had to face growing up made them very aware of serious political issues and what is happening in the world, and this shows in their music. The best known member of Green Day is Billie Joe Armstrong mainly because he composed all of Green Day's songs......middle of paper......daily life. Green Day really makes us reflect on our daily lives and makes us dig deep to see if we ourselves are letting the media tell us what kind of person we should be. We are all guilty of losing ourselves or trying to change ourselves to try to fit in better socially at some times in our lives, whether at school, work or personal life. We are constantly trying to be accepted by our peers in order to feel loved, and it is sad that we go to the extreme of changing who we really are just to seek this acceptance without even realizing we are doing it. I feel like some people found this song offensive because it's very direct, harsh and honest. There's no need to beat around the bush with the message portrayed in this song. Billie Joe Armstrong is telling us that we are a brainwashed generation and that we are turning into complete idiots because of it.