First of all, I've been listening to Green Day since the time before Dookie and didn't like the last couple of albums...

American Idiot is one of the worst songs on this album and it's a pretty good song. If you're basing your decision on whether or not to buy this album based on that song, you're making a big mistake.

Jesus of Suburbia, Holiday, and Boulevard of Broken Dreams are all completely different songs and take a different approach from their previous albums. Is this album less "punk" than their older stuff? Yes, it is. But, if you want to hear songs like Dookie, listen to Dookie. Get upset with a band when they take a step backward, not when they take a huge step forward and put out an album like this.

Call it maturing, artistic growth, whatever else you want to call it. This band has changed and it's a change for the better. I was a little hesitant to buy it but it was on sale so I picked it up 6 days ago with some other albums. I decided to listen to it first and I haven't listened to anything else since then. I haven't even listened to the other stuff I bought last week. This album is that good and everyone I know that has listened to it agrees with me.