Musicsnob1, Keep in mind that in my original post I never said if I had seen American Idiot or not. I did in fact see it. However, I don't think that you can really call me out on doing so or not when I never really mentioned either way if I had seen the show or not in my original post.
I do think that Tommy was dramatized in god knows how many formats prior to the musical hitting Broadway that its' target audience already knew the story and then some. I do think that had the orchestrations been different and had it been produced ten years later the fanbase would be very different. But, that is neither here nor there.
American Idiot has a lot of songs that were played almost non stop since the album came out and they are ones that people really got to know.
I think that American Idiot does have a very loose plot but a plot nonethelss and one that is hard to follow. I went in there knowing what happened and knowing the full story, and I think that seeing it onstage helped to make clear a couple of points that I was having trouble figuring out before
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear"
Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll