Green Day — 21st Century Breakdown
CD | MP3
Producer: Butch Vig
Reprise Records
Released May 15, 2009
Five years after the release of American Idiot, Green Day returns with its latest studio album, 21st Century Breakdown.
2004 marked a huge change for Green Day. Four years after their last album, Warning, Billy Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool emerged a different band: black hair-dyed, eye-linered, and tie wearing. This new Green Day put down their bongs, took their hands out of their pants, and sung about politics. This met with a mixed reaction. They lost fans who thought they had sold out with their emo traits. They faced some curious older fans who weren’t sure if they approved or not and most interestingly, they welcomed a new, younger fanbase. I admired Green Day for having the guts to try something so different, even though I was not a fan of American Idiot. My main problem with the album was I felt they had lost their energy which was a major facet of their sound. I know album opener “American Idiot” has pace but I felt it had no soul, I felt the agenda got in the way.
21st Century Breakdown however combines the energy and philosophy with good effect. It is split in to three acts to create a kind of rock opera: Act 1 is entitled ‘Heroes And Cons’ and encompasses tracks 2-7 (the crackly Billy Joe lullaby intro not included); Act 2, tracks 8-13, is called ‘Charlatans and Saints’; and Act 3, tracks 14-18, ‘Horseshoes and Handgrenades’.
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