Green Day
21st Century Breakdown

THE REVIEW

A step forward, or a misstep. What Green Day has done is a bold move, perhaps too bold, as it turned out to be an almost complete failure from a musical standpoint.

Many will painfully miss "Dookie" and "Insomniac," and perhaps even "American Idiot" when listening to what the wild punks from Berkeley have produced in 5 years of work. The album is produced by Butch Vig, known for masterpieces like "Nevermind" and "Siamese Dream," yet the work he did is lacking in various areas. Perhaps it's market pressures, perhaps a personal quest, but "21st Century Breakdown" is a cut-and-paste teen pop record, with only a shell of punk rock, the outer casing. The wild and rebellious punks who told a ship to go to hell at Goat Island, who engaged in mud fights with spectators at Woodstock, who screamed to the tune of Basket Case's 6 chords, now decide to release a more classic and commercial album, inspired by the Who and the Clash, with a constant shadow of the early Green Day likely left in to prevent old fans from going into despair. Without comparing it to "Dookie" (arguably the best Punk Rock album after the Sex Pistols' "Nevermind the Bollocks" and Offspring's "Smash"), let's say that in "American Idiot," though it was sold and commercial, there were good ideas (notably the title track, Holiday, and the relatively obscure She's a Rebel), while this album falls into an almost impressive flatness. There are no poorly placed 2-3 chords that make you go wild, there's no more that pop-punk that symbolizes carefree attitude. This "21st Century Breakdown" is a more elaborate album that, while good, does not convince.

The album falls into the Concept Album category (as did the previous "American Idiot") and tells the story of a young couple, Christian and Gloria, through the chaos of the new century. The lyrics deserve praise because they fit perfectly with the sound (though the latter is lacking). The CD marks a clear departure from others due to many more experimental features, such as the introduction of keyboards in some tracks (keyboards in punk?!?!?) which radically change the band's style, from a pop-punk with hardcore elements to a melodic, experimental punk-rock with pop undertones. Few songs carry energy within them (not to mention the energy of '94, nearly absent), but many refer back to rock from the past and are deep and reflective. Yet I still think that creating deep and reflective songs isn't Green Day's calling.

Part 1: "Heroes And Cons" (6.5)

This is the part that contains the most classic songs from the CD. Almost all the songs start as Ballads, but only one ends as such, namely the concluding "Last Night On Earth".

After the initial "Song Of The Century" we move on to the title track, which starts slowly and a bit like a "Ballad" before transitioning in the second half to a fairly energetic and very "classic rock" song. 6.5

"Know Your Enemy" is probably the song that most echoes the Green Day of "American Idiot" on this album. But I'm not biased. The song is a collage of many old Green Day songs (the beginning is copied from Nine Inch Nails' 1,000,000). Rating: 6

"!Viva la Gloria!" follows in the footsteps of the first in terms of structure but is already a bit nicer. Rating: 7

"Before The Lobotomy" ditto. 6.5

"Christian's Inferno" surprised me. It's not Green Day, but that dark bass melody is spectacular. Rating: 7.5

"Last Night On Earth" is the first true ballad of the CD. But it doesn't convince, it's too classic. Rating: 6.5

Part 2: "Charlatans And Saints" (7)

"East Jesus Nowhere", a song that finally breaks the mold and harks back to the old times (it's still a shadow but this time more pronounced). The pace is nice and the song is catchy. Rating: 7.5

"Peacemaker" managed to do the impossible. A very fast song that, however, evokes no excitement and leaves everyone indifferent. Too pompous and compact. Rating: 6

"Last Of The American Girls". What is there to say? Rating: 6.5

"Murder City", one of those songs that feels heard before. But underneath, it's the most convincing of the album. Beautiful, rating: 8

"?Viva La Gloria?", classic yet experimental for Green Day. Cute, rating: 7

"Restless Heart Syndrome", it doesn't convince me. The solo reminds me of "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams". Rating: 6

Part 3: "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" (6.5)

It begins with the song that gives this 3rd part its title. It feels very Clash. Rating: 6.5

"The Static Age" doesn't convince me at all. Rating: 6

"21 Guns". We are faced with a song that's hard to review. The song itself is very beautiful, but there's something about it that doesn't convince me. I don't know. Rating: 7.5

"American Eulogy". I don't know? Rating: 6

"See The Light" doesn't seem like much, but it's nice as a conclusion. Rating: 6.5

If we were to analyze the songs one by one, I wouldn't say that the songs are "bad", but in the overall CD, they are quite monotonous and repetitive, with a few exceptions like "Murder City", "21 Guns", and "Christian's Inferno". I'm not comparing it to 1994 because it would be an abyss, but it all assumes a too pop atmosphere, not just the record but also Green Day's environment (even featuring pink skulls at concerts like Avril Lavigne, are we crazy?), so there is not only a change of sound but also a change of style. But they don't care. The money is there, the girls adore them, and they can afford to happily ignore negative comments. I believe we'll never see a "When I Come Around" from them again.