American Idiot was one of the strongest releases from a punk rock band I’d ever seen. Radio, tv, internet, my fifty-year-old step-dad’s car; there wasn’t a single place you could turn and not hear American Idiot being played. The album hit #1 across every Billboard chart known to me, won a Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2005 and sold over 10 million copies worldwide. I can’t imagine how many copies in total were downloaded or burned from friends.
21st Century Breakdown is poised to repeat much of this success. Leading off with the strong single, “Know Your Enemy” (which I was hoping would be a Rage Against The Machine cover the first time I saw the track list), no doubt pre-orders are looking good. But after listening through the album more than a dozen times, I don’t believe it will have the same lasting quality that American Idiot has enjoyed.
Breakdown is an extremely tight album. There are no filler tracks. No “Part 2s” of anything. It’s smooth from one track to the next. But this “smoothness” is what hurts the album, in my opinion. Idiot had, what I like to call, ‘breakout’ tracks; tracks that add dynamics to the album as a whole.
For instance, there was the almost ten minute “Jesus of Suburbia”. A song of that length, with no wispy, Floydian-like instrumental sections, demands your attention. Nothing on Breakdown tugs at your ear like that. Then, amidst all the power chords, sing-alongs and cymbal splashes, there was the very-quite-loud-quiet Nirvana-esque formula of “Wake Me Up When September Ends”. Again, demanding attention with just its volume changes alone.
These dynamic peaks are all missing on Breakdown, all of the songs kind of run together after a while.
Despite the above, if you’re a fan of Green Day, or modern punk rock, I do recommend 21st Century Breakdown. It’s quality work, from start to finish, something that can’t be said about much lately. And unless you’re studying the lyrics (which would’ve made this a completely different review), it won’t demand too much of you to enjoy it. But overall, I don’t think it tops American Idiot.
Breakdown can be played through and easily ignored as background music. Powerful, well written and well performed background music, mind you. But without the breakout songs, there’s no challenge in listening to the album.
Rating: 4 out of 5 rolls of painters tape.
Comment Questions:
1. Have you heard any songs from 21st Century Breakdown yet? If so, what did you think of them?
2. Do you prefer your music to be easy? Or do you like when music demands your attention?
6 comments:
1. I have heard a few songs, I and just thought "meh."
2. As a musician, I appreciate music more when it challenges my ear. I like to hear loud and technical things, and I also love instrumentals like the band Explosions in the Sky.
I'm probably not going to buy this album, because I disagre with what you had to say about American Idiot. Prior to AI, I was a big Green Day fan, but when the album came out and exploded, I felt like they were trying too hard to establish their legacy.
Before that, the Green Day legacy was short, catchy songs that didn't give a hoot about what anyone else thought. But AI demanded attention from everyone and I think corporation ended up destroying what that album meant to me.
Just my two cents... I'm more geared up for the return of Blink-182!
Haven't heard anything of the new album. AI never got a hold of me like Dookie or Nimrod... I still go straight to those if I wanna listen to some Green Day.
The album's certainly very well accomplished, and the lyrics are generally outstanding, but it does lack the punch that previous albums have had. American Idiot managed to be a concept album while maintaining the singles aspect of their previous material. I don't feel like this has done that, and after a few full listens I don't know how much I'm going to come back to it.
I really like your review. I've heard the album play through and I really enjoyed it because it was kind of easy to listen to. I loved American Idiot immensely so I wasn't expecting anything to be able to top it, so I think you've nailed this album perfectly.
Great review, Alan! I've only heard two songs off of the album, and I can't say Know Your Enemy really did it for me. American Idiot was a pivotal album for me when I was a freshman in high school, and Green Day's American Idiot tour was the first concert I went to. American Idiot is a piece of brilliance in it's entirety, and I have no idea how Green Day could even attempt to top it. Your review confirmed my preconceptions about this album: it's good, but not as good as the previous release by Green Day.
You know what...I feel like some American Idiot now. Thanks, haha.
I've never heard a Green Day album all the way through, though I was considering buying American Idiot since I liked the singles from it. To answer your second question, I like my music to have a bit of both - I want to be able to have it as background music when I need it, but also be interesting enough that I can really concentrate on listening to it and not be bored. In my opinion, The Killers hit that balance really well, and Green Day might too if I ever got around to buying their CDs.
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