LOS ANGELES — Green Day's multi-platinum album "American Idiot" was once just an idea, floating about within the walls of Hollywood's United Recording studio (then known as Ocean Way Recording). Were it not for a sharp-eyed technician, the album might have disintegrated in that same room amid a blaze of infamy.
"There was a piece of wire that was exposed on an extension cord, and on Day 1, we almost burned the building down," said Rob Cavallo, who produced the 2004 album alongside the band. "Our drum tech said, 'Oh, my God. Fire! Fire!' We went running in there from our lunch and caught it just in time."
The album lived on, and four years after "Warning" failed to meet commercial expectations, "American Idiot" put Green Day back on top with 16 million copies sold worldwide to date. An album wholly disillusioned with the idea of American superiority, Billie Joe Armstrong's words were made more urgent by the punching drums beneath him, which the pristine sonics of United Recording helped shape.
