21st Century Breakdown

I remember when the last Green Day album was released. Monday 20th September 2004 was the first day of Fresher's Week. Back in those hazy days I lived in Woolton Hall in Fallowfield and remember strutting down to Sainsburys to purchase my copy of American Idiot. I'd already seen Green Day the summer before; this had prorbably been one of the last opportunities anyone had had to see GD again before they achieved a 'renaissance' with what was a very accomplished Grammy award winning concept album.

I think Green Day fans fall into two camps - those who were fans before 2004 and those who have become fans afterwards. I must say I liked the new experimentation on American Idiot and the opportunities it afforded the band to produce an ever more expansive live show (I've seen them twice since, once at the MK Bowl, and they were fantastic on both occasions). However, like many I long for a return to the Insomniac days of angst and three-chord driven punk energy.

I don't have a lot of time for those who say that Green Day 'weren't punk' in the 90s. Anyone who expects 90s punks to sound like their 70s counterpart seriously misunderestimate the evolution of music. Insomniac was a dark, disturbing album based on issues such as drugs, panic attacks, depression and boredom. 'Masturbation' has become the watchword for Dookie-era GD - the truth is that it was merely 'alluded to' on one song on album. No, GD of the 90s was proper punk, not quite as hardcore as Rancid - but with just as many credentials and passion. Both bands grew out of the California punk circuit. Yes, Green Day played to 5 kids, they carried their own amps around in a van and sang about everyday life. They did it the proper way.

GD had always been political. 2000s 'Minority' was a sign of things to come and by the time American Idiot came around I was happy because I had always been impressed by their ability to stay ahead of the game at a time when Sum 41 was churning out second rate versions of GD songs from 5-7 years previously. The new grandiose statements and Springsteen-influenced ballads and pianos fitted perfectly with BJ's skills as a show man - a modern day Freddie Mercury and a man whose energy on stage went some way to explaining why his rounder frame had seemed to disappear.

Over the last week I have been listening to 21st Century Breakdown. The last GD material I'd listened to was their alter-ego offering 'Stop drop and roll' (Foxboro Hot Tubs). Although in a chugging 50s garage rock style, this record offered a hint that the insomniac days were returning. However, what we get with 21BD is a more ambitious, dare I say it *better* version of AI. The pianos and melodies are there a plenty. As talented as GB and BJ may be, I can think of few other artists who sport as many creative influences - Clash, Springsteen, Beatles - they're all here. In fact, one song - Horseshoes and Handgrenades sounds *far* too similar to Main Offender by the Hives. Nevertheless I certainly think that the lyrics put GD into a league of their own and are better than AI:

American Eulogy, part a) Mass Hysteria

Red alert is the color of panic
elevated to the point of static
beating into the hearts of the fanatics
and the neighborhood's a loaded gun
Idle thought leads to full-throttle screaming
and the welfare is asphyxiating
Mass confusion is all the new rage
and it's creating a feeding ground
for the bottom feeders of hysteria

American Eulogy is my favourite song on the album - probably because it reminds me of a more ambitious 'Westbound Sign' from Insomniac. Looking at it this way and considering the range and lyrical improvements that have been made you would expect it to be a much better album than 1995s. I don't think it's quite as simple as that. 21BD is a great album, it will become a great addition to the back catalogue and will once again confirm GD's position musically - nevertheless, I think that it will still leave old fans unsatisfied. GD have built a new genre for themselves - 'stadium punk', the days of small sweaty moshing to Platypus (I have you) or Jaded seem to be over. Bands grow up, I just home that when I see them for the fourth time in October that they find time for these early punk classics, because what I'm hearing today, however great it is, just ain't punk, despite the lyrical quality.