21st Century Breakdown - Green Day

Although in their late 30's, no one can connect with Generation Y's angst like Green Day. The Bush Administration has left the spirit of the country in shambles and Obama is not (yet, anyway) the Superman who could make things go back to the way they were in the Clinton years. In 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day gets angry and goes on the offensive, attacking the government, the religious right and the sensationalist media en mode de Rock Opera. Now, one may think this all sounds similar to American Idiot, but this new effort is a lot better both lyrically and musically.

There is a reason why critics everywhere are calling Green Day the new Who, Rock Opera's pioneers. Billy Joe Armstrong — the guitarist, lead singer and lyricist of the band — is the turn of the century's Pete Townshend, seamlessly weaving the story of two Detroit kids struggling in the post-Bush era. The teen couple named Christian, a semi-neoconservative churchgoer, and Gloria, an emotionally guarded anarchist, begin to change each other and themselves as the world crumbles around them because of the myopic views of religion, the media and the government. On the album's eponymous track, "21st Century Breakdown," Armstrong sings, "We are the cries of the class of 13 / Born in the era of humility/ We are the desperate in the decline / Raised by the bastards of 1969." I don't know about you, but this is the way I feel as a young American. Suddenly, because of the mistakes of these "old heads," we have to live with the plethora of possibilities that could cause Judgment Day? Now, the quacks claiming Nostradamus prophesied the world's end in three years (around 2012-13) sound more and more convincing.

To add to The Who comparison, the music on Breakdown displays so much more depth and variety than American Idiot. The latter album had only two kinds of songs — hard anthems and soft anthems. However, every song on Breakdown is different and, for the most part, exciting. One song in particular, "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" reminded me a lot of The MC5's "Kick out the Jams." If people doubt that Green Day can rock out anymore, I would suggest that they listen to this track. To add to that, another favorite of mine was "Peacemaker" just because there is no way that the Green Day of 2004 could write this song. It sounds almost like Armstrong's playing a Spanish classical guitar, blending a melody that displays both Southwestern/Mexican and North African/Arabian styles. I think it's symbolic in that both these fundamentalist Christian and Muslim ideologies have the same goal in eradicating the infidels of the opposing faiths. This might be a long shot, but maybe you'll notice it, too, if you listen to it that way. And, thankfully, Mike Dirnt (pop-punk's greatest bassist imo) plays much more of a role than he did in the previous album. And I like the motif of static-radio sound producer Butch Vig put on some tracks. It almost sounds like America's conscience is trying to get through to us in our new technological age we've created for ourselves. In summary, Green Day in Breakdown plays the role of both the angel and devil on our shoulders telling us we should feel ashamed of ourselves for letting this happen, and that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.

So here's the ruling, and it's going to sound strange: I like this album but I don't think I'm going to put it on my iTunes. First, I liked American Idiot when it came out a few years ago, but now I think it's kind of lame. Second, I also am not really a fan of Rock Operas in general. Besides for "Pinball Wizard," Tommy can't really keep my attention. And third, and most importantly, I've accepted that the Green Day of Dookie is gone. It's sad, but they've moved on, I've moved on, and so should you. Green Day is not the same band we grew up with. They're now appealing to kids younger than us ... think emo ... think weird hair. Everybody keeps telling me, "Green Day sucks! I liked them when they put out Dookie." Ok. Remember when most of the people reading this were in Kindergarten when that album came out? I don't even want to go into the years between Insomniac and American Idiot, when the only thing keeping Green Day relevant was the Pop Disaster Tour with Blink-182. This doesn't mean that Breakdown is a bad album. The effort the band put into this album, and the quality of the songs they produced makes this a good effort, if not really good. This certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea, and I don't think this is the album we necessarily want for a summer of fun. But I think it urges the American public to examine how much optimism we can afford to feign right now. Although Green Day leaves room for the ubiquitous "hope" in the last track, "See the Light," I think Green Day's true sentiments lie in the rest of the album. As in "American Eulogy," I think the band would rather not "live in the modern world." To reiterate, judge this album on what it was compared to the band's last effort and not on Dookie's standards nearly 15 years old. Are you seriously going to cry over something released when you were under 10 at the time? No. Shut up.

4/5