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Green Day's American Idiot: Hammersmith Apollo, London ***

Nick Hasted, The Independent, 5 December 2012

THE ROCK OPERA first grappled with by Pete Townshend and Ray Davies at the end of the 1960s, as rock's growing thematic seriousness and their own straining ambitions seemed to demand a grander canvas than three-minute pop, was often dashed on the rocks of their hubris.

Total word count of piece: 388

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