I always chuckle to myself when I hear bands like Green Day labeled as punk. To me that's like calling Bon Jovi or Limp Bizkit metal bands. An offshoot? Sure. But the real deal? No. When you say punk, I tend to think of bands like Social Distortion, T.S.O.L., and D.I.. I think a better genre description for Green Day would be "hey fever pop". Pop because when you boil it down, they are a powerpop band. Hey fever because of Billie Joe's tendency to sound like he is singing through his nose. Five years ago Green Day made a major comeback with what many consider the record of their career with American Idiot. Aside from the kooky Michael Mooronic politics of the lyrics, the songwriting showed the band at the topper most of the popper most, finely honing their songwriting skills with catchy melodies and sing along choruses. So expectations were really high for the follow up.
We now have the following up in our grubby little hands and we can answer the question: does it live up to the strengths of American Idiot? The answer isn't simple. On some fronts it is a worthy successor, but on others it comes across as a warmed over rehash. Being generous, I would say it picks up with AI left off, but on the other side of that coin, it doesn't show any growth as songwriters. In fact, while it is an enjoyable album, but when listened to it back to back with AI, it sounds a little like they were recorded at the same time and these were the tunes that didn't make the cut the first time around.
Is it a worthy album for the Green Day faithful? Definitely. Most diehard fans will love this album and they very well may pickup new fans with it, but the real question remains: does it live up to the promise of AI and take things to the next level? The simple answer to that is complicated: It does in some ways, but misses the mark in others. To me this album is a bit like the Beatles going from Sgt Pepper to the Magical Mystery Tour. Taking on its own, it's a strong effort, but taken in context of the history it has to live up to, it's not outstanding. On the other hand, The White Album, did come next, so I haven't lost all hope. The bottom line is that 21st Century Breakdown is a good edition to Green Day's catalog, but not an excellent one.
