Being up-front with the audience
Sound Salvation Army is generally a pretty positive place; that’s why it’s kept a fairly consistent updating schedule in the year and a half or so its been around. We write about what we like, so we like to keep writing. That’s not entirely the case today.
Remember these guys? They weren’t embarrassed by their limited musicianship, the fact that none of their songs had more than four chords, and the closest thing they got to insight was, “Disaffected 20-somethings like to jerk it and are bored.” Or, “Life in the slums is depressing.” Well, apparently they’ve matured. Sort of.
Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown is virtually the same album as American Idiot, the opus from three years ago that made them the biggest band in the world (again). They sound and are structured virtually the same, broken down into “suites” or sub-sections that tell a story (but not really) of characters living on the fringes of society and railing against the mainstream. Which, of course, is exactly what the band is now.
This time around they’ve done it by convincing themselves that they are the Who. Its all built upon huge, windmilling guitar riffs and more bigger everything. Musically there’s nothing really new here, aside from a bit more piano and acoustic guitar. Its fine, really, but that’s not what’s important.
The real issue is that they seem to have started buying into their own hype, feeling the need to repeat the last trick that vaulted them to the top of the industry. Its something they haven’t resorted to in the past and that could be why it comes out smelling so wrong this time around.
21st Century Breakdown is replete with milquetoast “protest” music that rails against the vaguest sketches of the corrupt and immoral in modern society but doesn’t have the stones to actually construct a real and substantial explanation of why they’re so angry. That’s demonstrated in the early offing with first single, “Know Your Enemy.” The tune is catchy enough, a mid-tempo pop rock number that offers twice as many guitar solos as any other Green Day song ever (two!) and vague platitudes of standing up to “the vast majority” and “the demons of the soul.” There’s a thick sense of irony in the too-often repeated refrain of “Do you know your enemy?” — the band themselves never really seems to establish who their message is aimed at. At least with American Idiot the listener was able to infer Bush/Bush II were the targets. With the latter’s administration now banished to the fringes of the U.S. political system it seems like what little fury Green Day can muster is either a day late or clumsily misdirected at the major structured religions. If your goal is to create a story-based concept album centering around young adults and how the church can corrupt and destroy them, you’re kind of venturing off on a fool’s errand; we’ve already got Separation Sunday and topping that is going to be damn near impossible.
So forget the half-baked conceits of modern days and let’s harken back to better ones when three punk rock geeks from the 90’s punk mecca of Berkley were satisfied with just being Green Day and not with creating the biggest brand in modern music.
I remember in 1992/3 hearing my sister listening to Kerplunk!, their second LP, and being intrigued by it. I snuck into her room to tape the CD onto a cassette and I listened to it constantly. Reading, playing video games, shooting hoops in the driveway; Stephen King’s Richard Bachmann novels and The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past still conjure faint whispers of “No One Knows” and “Christie Road.” That was this band’s real accomplishment, as far as I’m concerned.
But I’m an equal opportunity fan of their older material. Their second through fourth albums were more or less flawless (the sixth too). There are gems throughout the band’s history that are worth a second look, especially now that their more bloviating tendencies are so starkly on display.
Green Day - Going To Pasalacqua [3:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Green Day - One For The Razorbacks [2:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Green Day - Westbound Sign [2:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Green Day - Walking Alone [2:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Green Day - Waiting [3:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Green Day - JAR (Jason Andrew Relva) [2:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadNo disrespect: they’re still one of my all-time favourite bands of all-time, thanks especially to the impact their music had on my formative youth. But seriously you guys, the Foxboro Hot Tubs album? So much better than this.
I wanted to like this. But yeah. I’ve already got American Idiot. I think people were just so surprised they had that in them that critics gave it positive reviews. But this is just lame. When they ask “Do you know your enemy?” I want to ask back “Do YOU?” And they should just go ahead and make their second guitarist an official member.