Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown (2009)
Ah, 2009. That was a fun as fuck year for me, even if it was filled with a good ol' cup of teenage angst. The first time I listened to this album, about half a year after it came out, I believe it was on the birth of my niece. My sister had just given birth to her first child, and while we were in the waiting room with some socially awkward fuck who kept playing a game on his PSP loud as fuck, I recall my brother saying something about the last AFI album ("Crash Love") being pretty good, but I wasn't interested in much he was saying about music until he told me that he had the new Green Day album on his MP3 player and could let me get a copy. This was, of course, also the day that a ginger kid asked me if there were any other famous Mexican rappers other than Eminem. It was a good day. Anyhow, when I got home and started listening.. I dunno. I didn't feel much about it, despite loving Green Day at the time. I heard "Know Your Enemy" and knew something was off about the band this time around, and it took hearing "21 Guns" (why is the guitar solo just the theme song to "Full House"?) in a "Transformers" movie to make me think "y'know, maybe I should check that album out again" and I still didn't like it.
This album came at a really awkward point in their career: They had just released the smash-hit rock opera album "American Idiot" five years before, and were still riding on the coattails of that release, because people were -still- fucking talking about it even with Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and My Chemical Romance making massive waves amongst teenagers, but here's the thing: Do you follow up your "epic rock opera" album with a regular album or another "epic rock opera" album, and is five years too late? Well, I think in the case of Green Day, five years was the perfect amount of time to let the dust from the previous album completely settle, but if we're being honest, the plot of the last album, like I said in my review of it, didn't matter at all, but in the case of this album.. It doesn't EVEN FUCKING SLIGHTLY MATTER!! Years later and I still have no fucking idea what exactly the cohesive story holding that's supposed to be the glue holding the songs together is supposed to be. Just something about a guy named Christian and a girl named Gloria, and yeah, I picked up that Christian is a narcissist and Gloria is really hopeful for a better future, but these fictional characters and attempts to give them personality, hopes and dreams for the people listening at home is completely and utterly futile, and I'm sure you could potentially piece shit better with some fan theories online, but really, do you even want to? Fuck it. Let's get onto the music.
One thing you have to understand when jumping into this album is that there's really not much shared with the previous album: No nine minute tunes is the biggest change between the two, and while I feel like the previous album had many more memorable lyrics, melodies and guitar riffs, this album really isn't much to scoff at. I feel like the previous album was Green Day hitting it out of park by mistake, and this album, while attempting but not quite managing to replicate some of the magic, is great on its own merits. This album reminds me of a more focused, controlled, and mature Green Day that has some experimentation reminiscent of "Nimrod" thrown into the mix, but occasionally TAKES LE ARROW TO LE FUKKEN KNEE XD when it prides itself too much on "yeah, we're fucking ARTISTS, dad" because the pretentious nature of this album is generally a lot higher than the previous, but it's also arguably more emotional and personal, with a lot of the lyrics on here giving me the impression that the everyday Joe can relate to, as opposed to the seemingly nonstop political barrage that was the last album.
Is it a better album than their previous stadium-filling album? No, not at all, but I don't think they should be compared in any way other than the fact that they both have concepts behind them and a distinct lack of masturbation jokes. You've got some punk-ish (God, I hate specifying "some" when it comes to this band) tunes that seem a bit more restrained than their previous material, some nice little experimental (for them) tunes, some alternative rock tunes, but one thing they all have in common is that they're pretty fucking catchy and generally have a nice, bouncy energy behind them that aims to make your 14-year-old-self as eager to pressure your parents into voting Liberal as you are to ride around in your friend's mom's car as you both skip classes on a joyride to be remembered. Some point the finger at this album (along with a select few others by this band) and say "THAT'S NOT PUNK!!" but it just makes me want to point a finger right back at them and say "You're completely missing the fucking point."
8/10
________________________
Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
Click here to listen to this FOR FREE on Spotify! WOW! HOT DAMN!
Read about this album on Wikipedia! Great stuff to read while on the toilet! Yeah!
