Green Day, the pop-punk band from East Bay, California, is set to release a new documentary film that revolves around the recording of their 2004 hit “American Idiot.” The album is known for its famous singles, such as “Holiday,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and the title track “American Idiot.” The film is directed 
by John Roecker and it is done in an art house style. “It is a film that inspires,” said Roecker. “It is also a very small film. All it took was a box of tapes and one camera… This movie is like a fly on the wall art house piece.” It will also show a small theater performance that the band took part in after the recording was complete, where they performed the LP in full. They just passed the eleventh anniversary of the album, which came out on September 20, 2004.
Upon release, the album was a smash hit. It sold 267,000 copies in its first week of release and became Green Day’s first number one album in the United States. That figure marked their largest opening sales week. It achieved six times platinum status in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. As of 2014, “American Idiot” has sold 6.2 million copies in the United States. The sales are estimated at 15 million worldwide. The band won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album and was nominated in four other categories such as Album of the Year. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it 22 on their list of “Best Albums of the Decade.”
On March 25, 2009, Green Day released Heart Like a Hand Grenade to a crowd of 400 fans. Now, the film is being released in theaters on October 15. According to Rolling Stone Magazine, John Roecker said, “It is the first time Green Day allowed someone into the studio to film them… This was 11 years ago and the film you are about to see has never been seen. It became a lost film, an urban legend in some ways. Some fans thought it was not real that it was some sort of prank the band and I created. And finally the little film that could is being released.”
2015 has been a big year for Green Day. In April they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and they have been working on their twelfth studio album, which they have five tracks finished for. “I’m going to take it really slow,” lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong said. “I’m just going to make sure every moment is inspired and that we have something that’s really special to us. And right now with the songs that we have, it’s going in the right direction.”
