Hey, it’s September! Great month! Not a month to sleep through! Nevertheless, the meme lives on. In 2004, Green Day released the bittersweet ballad “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” which became a top-10 pop hit and then a recurring annual meme. Now, we get to hear how that song began.
This year, Green Day’s two biggest albums are turning 30 and 20, and they’re doing lots of anniversary stuff for both LPs. On their current stadium tour, Green Day are playing both Dookie and American Idiot in full. They already released their 30th-anniversary Dookie reissue, and their expanded edition of American Idiot is coming next month. Today, they’ve shared three of the reissue’s bonus tracks, including their demo take on “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”
The “Wake Me Up When September Ends” demo isn’t exactly a revelation — it was always an acoustic ballad — but it’s always kind of fun to hear rougher versions of that band’s extremely slick tracks. Alongside that demo, Green Day have also shared the previously released “American Idiot” B-side “Governator,” which has Mike Dirnt on lead vocals and which is inspired by about the most obvious thing possible, as well as their VH1 Storytellers version of “St. Jimmy.” Hear all three tracks below.
The American Idiot 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is out 10/25 on Warner. Also, Billie Joe Armstrong’s long-running, newly revived side project Pinhead Gunpowder just announced the new album Unt.
