End to the angst open to the heartbreak
'Wake Me When September Ends' was written by Billie Joe Armstrong in part about his father's passing away, as well as about the atrocities of September 11th. The video, a nine minute long epic is Green Day's biggest and most expensive yet. It's incredibly heartfelt and emotional, the imagery only adds to the poignant lyrical content, but as the fourth single following 'American Idiot', 'Holiday' and 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' all eyes are upon the biggest band in the world to see whether this song takes itself a little too seriously.
This is beautifully orchestrated, and it captures Green Day's growth from bratty Gilman Street punks to this generation's equivalent of arena rockers; it's delicate, and the biggest ballad on the album. It's poignant and not messy or soppy at all, but as this single contains both album and radio versions of the song, you can see that this track fits better amongst the rest of the rock opera that is American Idiot. As a single this song doesn't quite have the kick the previous hits did, but perhaps that's part of Green Day's mass appeal today; they are open to a whole new audience now and this single will do nothing to shake their position as the world's biggest band whilst they explore more of what they can do with this newfound artistic licence to rewrite the punk rock rule book.