My new article is up at ForcesofGeek. This time, I’m talking about Green Day and making more jokes about my own life. As these columns go on, I’m getting further and further away from what they were originally supposed to be. Such is life!

So while “real” punk held no sway over me, American Idiot sort of became my religion when it was released in 2005, right as I turned 15.

It’s hard to pin down exactly what about it touched me so deeply: the half-baked political ideas, the never-ending hooks, the recurring characters and musical motifs…  Whatever the reason, I listened to that album at least once a day for over a month. There was a brief but vivid period in my life where the opening chords of “Jesus of Suburbia” were more important to me than any human relationship. Sometimes I would sit by my CD player and just replay the first two minutes of that song over and over again.

You could say I was something of a fan.

Check out the full thing, and decide for yourself if the Jawbreaker reference in the title increases my punk cred or just makes me look stupid.