“My generation is zero.”

As you may or may not know, I am a huge Green Day fan. And I have been since Dookie, never waivering. I basically “grew up” with them. When I discovered them I got their older albums, Kerplunk! and 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and loved them even more. I’m not a fair-weather fan; if I like something, I like it regardless of if its trendy or popular or hardcore or “cool.” So even when they were releasing awesome ‘under-the-radar’ albums like Nimrod and Warning I was a fan (and by the way, my favorite album is Insomniac).

I think in recent years they’ve really exemplified the main reason why I always liked them, and that is they just don’t care. They are who they are, they make the music they make, and they just really don’t care if you like it or hate it. They have nothing to prove. They love their fans, but disregard the haters. If you say they aren’t “punk” enough because they write ballads and “rock operas”, they don’t care. If you say they’re sell-outs, they don’t care. They keep on keepin’ on. And I myself have that same way of thinking- love me or hate me, this is me. Ever since their days at Gilman Street, they’ve kept it real and just been themselves, growing and evolving like humans do. One thing I hate is when a band releases record after record of the SAME SHIT. I don’t mean that you can tell its them by their sound, or that the songs have similar themes or chords, I mean literally the same songs redone, over and over and over. People change, people grow, people mature. From ‘Longview ‘to ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, thats growth, reflection and getting older. They don’t have to be on the fringe of society, they don’t have to be too cool for radio play. Fuck you if you don’t like it, you know?

I met Billie Joe and was present for an interview with him (and Jon Pareles of the Times/Rolling Stone) at the New York Times’ sponsored TimesTalks in January of 2005. It was a fascinating interview and afterward, as a total bonus, I got to meet him and get my ‘Waiting’ 7″ pink marble vinyl signed. During the interview he talked about how he felt about the state of the country and the world, and how it drove him to write American Idiot.

I adored American Idiot because it was so different. They really branched out and went for it, doing something that they could’ve been crucified for had it not been executed correctly. But it was. And now they’re back with 21st Century Breakdown.

I’m always apprehensive when a band I like this much comes out with a new album. I sorta feel like its me putting the album out- the anxiety of how its going to be recieved, the internet buzz before its released, etc. I heard good things even before it came out. They had played small “surprise” gigs where they played the album and everyone praised it. So I got the special edition CD and book at Best Buy… and I too love it.

If you watch the Beatles Anthology, you’ll hear George Harrison say something that was thought for a long time by many people, and that is that Rubber Soul and Revolver could’ve been part one and part two, or even a double disc. Well, even though Green Day is adamant that this album is NOT American Idiot part two, I feel it totally could be. American Idiot was the anger and rage, and this album is sort of the desire to have hope and recover from that, but still enraged and angry at whats been happening since American Idiot. I can see how they could totally be part one and part two. If you listen to American Idiot and then 21st Century Breakdown, I think you’ll see what I mean.

The album isn’t produced by longtime Green Day producer Rob Cavallo, but instead is produced by Butch Vig, who’s a  member of the band Garbage and an amazing producer in his own right. And as a Garbage fan as well, I can hear that the guitars on some tracks sound very Garbage-like, but not to the point where you think Butch Vig took over.

So here I am throwing in my two pennies on Green Day’s new album, 21st Century Breakdown. By no means is this a professional review, its just my opinion, and my favorite lyrics from each song.

1. Song of the Century – Just a :58 second, scratchy-sounding clip of Billie Joe singing acapella. Its heard again later on in ‘American Eulogy.’
2. 21st CenturyBreakdown – The title track starts the album off on a good foot. Great song, with excellent lyrics like “My generation is zero/I never made it as a Working Class Hero” and “Video games of the tower’s fall/Homeland security could kill us all.”
3. Know Your Enemy – The first single. More a of a rock-n-roll anthem, I really like this song, it reminds me of older Green Day songs with Billie’s signature jibberish yelling (“Well gotta know the enemy, roh -eh!”) in there. “Bringing on the fury, the choir infantry/Revolt against the honor to obey.”
4. ¡Viva La Gloria! – By far one of my favorite songs on the album. I love the chorus and the melody. Then again, give me a song that starts with violins and kicks into heavy guitars and I guess I’m a sucker for it. An awesome song I’ve had on repeat for days. Best lyric: “Eternal youth is the landscape of a lie/The cracks in my skin can prove as the years will testify.”
5. Before the Lobotomy – A good song, and the lyrics are clever, but not one of my favorites. I can’t get into it yet, but that will probably change the more I listen to the album. “Well, it’s enough to make you sick/To cast a stone and throw a brick/When the sky is falling down/It burned your dreams into the ground.”
6. Christian’s Inferno – Great track. Love the guitars on it. “I am the atom bomb/I am the chosen one.”
7. Last Night on Earth – Has to be my favorite track. Incredibly Beatle-esque. A love letter with music, its really a beautiful song; beautifully written both musically and lyrically. The kind of song every girl wants written about her. “With every breath that I am worth, here on Earth/I’m sending all my love to you.”
8. East Jesus Nowhere – A song slamming how phony religion can be, inspired by Billie’s attendance of a friends child’s baptism. “Put your faith in a miracle/And its non-denominational/Join the choir we will be singing/In the church of wishful thinking.”
9. Peacemaker – Another absolute favorite. Sounds inspired by Jewish guitar/Klezmer music and also (to me) a bit of Mexican/Spanish guitar playing at the same time to me. “Vendetta, sweet vendetta/This Beretta of the night/This fire and the desire/Well, Shots ringing out on a holy parasite.”
10. Last of the American Girls – A song Billie wrote for his wife, Adrienne. Definitely in my top 5 songs on the album. Again, a song every girl would want written about her. Adrienne is an environmental activist and does a lot of work with Habitat for Humanity and other groups like that, and this song is a tribute to her undying punk rock activism. “She’s on a hunger strike for the ones who won’t make it for dinner.”
11. Murder City - I like this song, it seems like classic Green Day to me. “I’m wide awake after the riot/This demonstration of our anguish/This empty laugher has no reason/Like a bottle of your favorite poison.”
12. ¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl) – Again, a favorite. A little bit rockabilly guitar, a little bit 1920’s jazz piano, a lot of awesomeness. “Little girl, little girl, you dirty liar/You’re just a junkie preachin’ to the choir.”
13. Restless Heart Syndrome – Not a favorite. I think it slows down this section of the album. Again, its definitely a great song, but I feel like it should’ve been more at the end. But they didn’t ask me, did they?
    
14. Horseshoes and Handgrenades – Another awesome track. “Maybe you’re the runner up/But the first one to lose the race/Almost only really counts in/Horsehoes and hand grenades.”
15. The Static Age - The lyrics are very good, remind me a lot of The Clash, or maybe its just the Coca-Cola reference? The Clash said in ‘Straight to Hell’: “Lemme tell ya ’bout your blood, bamboo kid/It ain’t Coca-Cola/It’s rice.” In this song Green Day says: “Billboard on the rise in the dawn’s landscape/Working your insanity/Tragic a’la madness and concrete/Coca cola execution.” I’m probably stretching a bit there but the political aspect of Green Day’s last two albums remind me a lot of what The Clash did in terms of making people think,  fighting injustice through lyrics and creating awareness.
16. 21 Guns – Love it. The falsetto Billie Joe does in this song really changes the whole feel of it, I’ve seen him sing it live and he doesn’t do it quite the same. Kinda a shame because it really makes the song! “When it’s time to live and let die/And you can’t get another try/Something inside this heart has died/You’re in ruins.”
17. American Eulogy – Bassist Mike Dirnt sings part of this song. Its not one of my favorites, but again, the lyrics are great. “The class war is hanging on a wire/Because the martyr is a compulsive liar.”

I hope my silly little review encourages you to listen to this album, if you haven’t already. I think its one of their finest works to date, I love the “grown-up” Green Day.