Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown

Watched them perform last night on SNL. Was not impressed. I thought both songs were pretty dreadful.

I kind of liked American Idiot, but I don't think I feel like wading through "American Idiot 2."

I miss when these guys played three-chord songs about jacking off. They seem so humorless now.

Lennon_Cobain wrote:

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

You can tell Butch Vig produced this one.
I like how it is not too compressed, it is easy on the ear!

Is it just me or is The Static Age very similar to Church on Sunday?
I still love the song.

Another note...if 21 Guns is released as a single it will be huge!

I think "21 Guns" will be the next single. My rationale for this is the sticker on the outside of the CD:

"The New Album Featuring Know Your Enemy & 21 Guns"

These album stickers are usually good indicators of which tracks will be released as singles (at least the first few singles).

I heard Murder City on Sirius today for the first time

21st Century Breakdown should've been the first single, love this song and it is way better than Know Your Enemy IMO.
Just like American Idiot was the first single for the album of the same name.

Likewise I am hooked now.

I'm starting to get over this American Idiot part 2 talk.
To me it is a different album, it is like people calling Quadrophenia Tommy part 2.

My son bought it last week and after a few listens, I like it. The first time was a little confusing as which song ended and the next one began. But many of them seem to start off slow or compressed then tear into the song.
Favs so far are; (both) Viva la Gloria's, Horseshoes and handgrenades, Murder city, and East Jesus nowhere.

they all seem to sound like something I've heard before but it is still good.

stopped listening to them 10 years ago..wont listen to this

boroff89 wrote:

Oh my. I am going to apologize in advance for probably sounding like a dick in responding to your post. This is the exact mentality that is running this country into the ground. You want Green Day to fit into a nice, neat little box and produce the kind of music that first introduced you to them. You give them no permission to grow or to grow up. I pity people who engage with the world at 40 years old in the same way they did when they were 21. People like that haven't even bothered to live their lives. Seriously, you want the 40-year-olds singing about jerking off and farts? Really?

Green Day was a good band before American Idiot. Now they're a great band. They are making music that matters. They are branching out and growing as musicians and as human beings. There is nothing contrived about what they are doing. They see how fucked up things have become and feel obligated to comment on it. And thank goodness for that. American Idiot is a masterpiece. 21st Century Breakdown is in the same ballpark. It's filled with songs that convey poignant and profound social commentary. As depressing as that commentary might be, people need to hear it.

well said....and this can also be said of the people who are stuck in 1995 regarding pearl jam

slightofjeff wrote:

boroff89 wrote:

Gonzo1977 wrote:

Okay, I've given this a couple of spins and I'm really not digging this album at all. I really do not understand how the offices of Rolling Stone Magazine all getting all stiff and hard over this album. It's really not that good.

Green Day sounds like a band trying desperately to be something they are not.

21st Century Breakdown -Like "American Idiot"- sounds forced. I give them alot of props for trying to do something different and change up their sound, but in the end the album loses it's flavor really quick and comes off as very generic.

The best songs are the ones that remind you of the Green Day of old, and not this lame ass "Genesis- prog-rock-look how much we've progressed as songwriters" bull crap trip that they've been on as late.

Green Day was a great band for making quick punky radio friendly songs about boogers, farts, and spitballs. Dookie was an honest record by an honest band...this one is just the product of over indulgence and is probably the biggest pile of over rated Dookie you'll hear all year.

Oh my. I am going to apologize in advance for probably sounding like a dick in responding to your post. This is the exact mentality that is running this country into the ground. You want Green Day to fit into a nice, neat little box and produce the kind of music that first introduced you to them. You give them no permission to grow or to grow up. I pity people who engage with the world at 40 years old in the same way they did when they were 21. People like that haven't even bothered to live their lives. Seriously, you want the 40-year-olds singing about jerking off and farts? Really?

Green Day was a good band before American Idiot. Now they're a great band. They are making music that matters. They are branching out and growing as musicians and as human beings. There is nothing contrived about what they are doing. They see how fucked up things have become and feel obligated to comment on it. And thank goodness for that. American Idiot is a masterpiece. 21st Century Breakdown is in the same ballpark. It's filled with songs that convey poignant and profound social commentary. As depressing as that commentary might be, people need to hear it.

The problem with Green Day, however, is that this "growth" is completely manufactured.

"Hey, people hate Bush now! Let's make an entire rock opera about how much he sucks!" Enter American Idiot, which I thought was OK, if overindulgent.

Then, "Hey, people liked our last rock opera about how much Bush sucks. It made us a lot of money. Let's make another one!"

So fucking transparent.

And don't even get me started on why in the hell Billie Joe has decided to try and look like Robert Smith's bastard son. What the fuck is that about?

I like Green Day, and always have, but I just find them to be exhausting nowadays. The reason most people liked Green Day was because they served as an escape from heavy music. They were all farts and boogers and such. Listening them sing about their heavy political commentary these days is akin to going to see a Will Ferrell movie, and it turns out to be a remake of Sophie's Choice.

It's like the punk kid next door who spent the summer making armpit noises and whacking off, and then goes to one semester of college and decides to lecture you about the world. Fucking snot nosed little know-it-all fucker. I hate that fucker.

Green Day is free to evolve all they want. And I am free to think they suck now.