Green Day 21st Century Breakdown
by Justin Gaines
Staff Writer
It’s funny, but at the beginning of the decade you wouldn’t have found anyone willing to use “genius” and “Green Day” in the same sentence. Sure, the California pop-punk band could always be counted on for regular, ridiculously catchy, “punk” albums and certainly knew how to write memorable, if intellectually lightweight singles, but that’s all anybody really expected from a band that came to fame by songs about masturbation and suburban angst.
Then came Sept. 11, which was undeniably the defining moment of the young century. To say that the events of that day changed everything would be a gross understatement. Suddenly fear was the order of the day, as well as the rationale used by our elected officials to justify actions that never would have been approved otherwise. Each new report of torture, extraordinary rendition, elevated threat alerts and pre-emptive war only added to the frustration and suppressed rage of a growing segment of the population. Who would have thought it would be Green Day that gave voice to those feelings and carried the banner of resistance with their epic 2004 release American Idiot? Who the hell expected to hear a punk rock opera in the first place, let alone one that was every bit as effective as a pop album as it was a cultural/political manifesto? American Idiot made a lot of people sit up and take notice of Green Day with a new appreciation.
It also set the bar incredibly high for the band’s eventual follow-up, which wouldn’t arrive for another five years. Sure, we had the live set Bullet in a Bible and the garage rock Foxboro Hot Tubs side project, but that only partially slaked fans thirst for a true follow-up to American Idiot.
That follow-up has finally arrived in the form of 21st Century Breakdown, easily the decade’s most anticipated album. 21st Century Breakdown is a punk rock opera every bit as epic and dramatic as its predecessor. The album, a three-act saga, focuses on Christian and Gloria, a young punk couple coming to terms with America in the 21st Century. In case you were thinking that without Bush and Cheney these punks shouldn’t have any worries, 21st Century Breakdown quickly kills that assumption. Hope and Change may be the order of the day, but Christian and Gloria aren’t seeing much of either in their 21st century lives. That’s oversimplifying things a bit, and the story deserves some serious study, but all the conceptual elements in the world can’t help an album if the songs aren’t any good.
Fortunately, Green Day proves to be more than up for the challenge. 21st Century Breakdown has some of the band’s best singles and is extraordinarily well written. The album, like American Idiot, practically channels the Who at their opera rocking best, and this time around borrows a page (or two) from Queen. Adding the grand orchestration and dramatic flair to Green Day’s up-temp pop/punk makes for an unforgettable combination. If it’s not the made for shouting along lyrics, it’s the insanely catchy melodies; either way the album hooks you immediately and lets singer/guitarist Billie Jo Armstrong’s story start to sink in and the rhythm section of Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt – probably the best in punk – hammer it home.
21st Century Breakdown offers a nice range of songs, from punk anthems “Know Your Enemy” and “East Jesus Nowhere” to furious rocker “Christian’s Inferno” to Armstrong doing his best John Lennon on “Last Night on Earth”. The ability of individual songs to stand on their own is where a lot of rock operas break down, but that’s not the case here. The songs on 21st Century Breakdown definitely benefit from the greater context of the album, but you can isolate just about any track on the album and have a completely effective single.
Naturally, there will be fans of the band’s earlier material that just aren’t going to appreciate Green Day’s more political and theatrical approach. These fans should still find plenty to love about catchy as hell singles like “Know Your Enemy,” “Viva la Gloria” and “East Jesus Nowhere,” but there’s no doubt some fans will be jumping ship after this one. Honestly, it’s their loss. Green Day has become one of the most important bands in pop music, and the fact that they did it on the back of two such intelligent and accessible albums makes their success quite deserved.
Label: Reprise
Lineup:
Billie Jo Armstrong – Guitar/Vocals
Tre Cool – Drums
Mike Dirnt – Bass
Track Listing:
1. Song of the Century
2. 21st Century Breakdown
3. Know Your Enemy
4. Viva la Gloria!
5. Before the Lobotomy
6. Christian’s Inferno
7. Last Night on Earth
8. East Jesus Nowhere
9. Peacemaker
10. Last of the American Girls
11. Murder City
12. Viva la Gloria? (Little Girl)
13. Restless Heart Syndrome
14. Horseshoes and Handgrenades
15. The Static Age
16. 21 Guns
17. American Eulogy
18. See the Light
Online: www.greenday.com
HRH Rating: 10/10