Green Day's new full-length studio album came out yesterday and I gotta say, its pretty damn good. Fans of the Dookie/Kerplunk! won't be pleased, but would you really want to listen to 30-something-year-old millionaires sing about boredom and discontent? Instead, this album follows in the footsteps of Warning and American Idiot with the blatant social criticism. Green Day teamed up with reknowned producer Butch Vig (drummer for Garbage, producer for Nirvana's Nevermind and Smashing Pumpkin's Siamese Dream) to put forth an album worthy of praise if not for the messages, then at least for the over-all quality of a majority of the songs on the album.
Providing a loose narration of the thoughts and lives of a young American couple in post-millennial (and post-Bush) America, Green Day addresses warfare, religion, and mass-consumerism, while at times screaming for revolution and action against indifference, or the man, or whatever it is we're supposed to rebel against. That's the problem: 21st Century Breakdown is not American Idiot pt. 2. As such, the various messages tend to be a bit confusing when you blend them all together. This is no longer an apathetic America that allows politicians to do what they please, or an angry America rising in arms against an unfair and unpopular president. Instead, we are a country in transition. The America today is very different from the America four years ago, and will be very different four years from now.
That said, the message provided by 21st Century Breakdown can be a bit unclear. Personally, I look at it as a political album that doesn't really name a main antagonist (like the last album did), but instead points out all the things wrong with American society. In that sense, its not so confusing as much as its broad in criticism and musical style. Speaking of which, the album is very Green Day musically, but pushes the envelope as far as what they have done with their style. You have the title track that is reminiscent of Baba O'Reilly and Bohemian Rhapsody, Peacemaker which uses exotic chord progressions (for Green Day at least), Christian's Inferno which reeks of angst and aggression (the most since Insomniac), Last Night on Earth which is a love ballad...you get the idea. However, you can almost make a game out of recognizing familiar riffs and hooks from previous hits on some of the songs.
Okay, so my overall opinion: 21st Century Breakdown is diverse, energetic, and unapologetic. The production quality is unrivaled (great job Butch!) and its actually nice to hear more piano and instrumentation from a pop-rock trio known for bar chords. Lyrically, it can be confusing and at times predictable, but overall Billie Joe does a great job giving us picture and emotion of the story he is trying to relate. 4 out of 5 stars. Well done guys!
They may be older but they still rock!
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