Green Day “21st Century Breakdown” (single)
Somewhere between “Walking Contradiction” and “American Idiot,” Green Day went from being a group of pseudo-squatters to a stadium-sized band writing rock operas. And, despite the generally underwhelming American Idiot, I can’t criticize the band for anything other than making its fourth consecutive hit or miss album. Other people liked it, and as it’s widely accepted as their “comeback” album, and has sold damn near 10 million copies worldwide, I’d be absolutely dense if I thought that my opinion echoed that of anything but a minuscule minority. But that aside, what’s there to do after recording such a well-accepted politically-leaning rock-opera? Record another as its successor.
A few days ago, when Spin was given an exclu-clu-clusive listening session of a few tracks from Green Day’s forthcoming 21st Century Breakdown, the immediate reaction posted on their site read, “In the six songs, Green Day keep their punk urgency and lyrical angst, but expand their ambition. They use dramatic musical shifts reminiscent of Queen, and Who-like classic rock guitars.” The article continued by focusing on the title track, “Green Day’s most epic song yet. With the quiet-verse, loud-chorus dynamics of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ this five-minute cut builds from harpsichord and Edge-like guitar fills to assaultive drums and arena-filling barre chords. Armstrong’s lyrics about his peers are as urgent as the music: ‘My generation is zero / I never made it as a working class hero. Dream America, dream / Scream America, scream.’”
While their repetitive assessment has some truth to it, I’d argue that the Edge comparison doesn’t have a leg to stand on and that there’s just as much Cheap Trick in the song as there is the Who. The Queen influence is dominant though—actually, for the last minute or so, if you hear anything but Queen, I’d argue that you’ve never really heard Queen. “21st Century Breakdown” is a daunting track that sounds just as suitable for play on your local classic rock radio station as last year’s AC/DC album, and with the exception of a brief drum homage to “Longview” half way through there’s little in the song that remains of the Green Day of old. The shift towards becoming a band big enough to fit the shoes that Dookie afforded them has taken well over a decade, but they’ve finally done it. Whether or not their music is any better for it, well, there are probably another 10 million people out there who would argue against me on that as well.
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“21st Century Breakdown” Lyrics
Born into Nixon, I was raised in hell, a welfare child where the teamsters dwelled. The last one born, the first one to run, my town was blind by refinery sun.
My generation is zero. I never made it as a working class hero. 21st century breakdown, I once was lost but never was found. I think I’m losing what’s left of my mind to the 20th century deadline.
I was made of poison and blood, condemnation is what I understood. From Mexico to the Berlin Wall, homeland security could kill us all.
My generation is zero. I never made it as a working class hero. 21st century breakdown, I once was lost but never was found. I think I’m losing what’s left of my mind to the 20th century deadline.
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.
My name is no one, your long lost son. Born on the 4th of July. Raising the bygones of heroes and cons left me for dead or alive. There is the war that’s inside my head that questions the results and lies. While breaking my back til I’m damn near well dead when enough ain’t enough to survive.
I am an agent, a worker, a pawn. My debt to the status quo, the scars on my hands are a means to an end, it’s all that I have to show. I’m taking a loan on my sanity for the redemption of my soul. Well I am exempt from this tragedy and the 21st century fall.
Praise, liberty, the freedom to obey, it’s a song that strangles me. Well, don’t cross the line.
Oh, dream American dream, I can’t even sleep from rainstorms til dawn. Oh, bleed America bleed, believe what you read from heroes and cons.
I listened to the track, and I think it’s badass. It seems that you don’t cherish their entire catalogue as I do, but it’s all a matter of taste. I’ll be the first to tell you that some of it has been better than others, but Green Day’s speedy LP “insomniac” and the well produced “Nimrod” are two desert island records for me. What draws me to GD more than any other stuff that has ever hit the radio was that they were real punks that came from a real punk scene and they released 2 albums on the indie label Lookout! records before “selling out”, but their music, as concienciously simple as it may be, has a real appeal to me, the same way that Queens of the Stoneage have depth in their simplicity. And if nothing else, you’ll never walk away from a Green Day record and say “those were corny, cheesy lyrics”, unlike some other former “punk” bands, aka The Offspring (“give it to me baby, uh huh uh huh!). Green Day are to me what the Rolling Stones are to alot of older people. This sums it up for me: The Beatles are to Nirvana as The Rolling Stones are to Green Day. I think that Nirvana made punk mainstream, but since Kurt didn’t want to carry the tourch any further, Billy Joe picked it right up.
Indeed I do not… though if pushed to it, I think that Dookie and Insomniac are two of my favorites from that era. After that, they lost me.
I won’t argue with you on the Offspring contrast… they stepped into being novelty punk with the skits and cheeky songs on Ixnay on the Hombre. But not to glorify the guy more than he has been already, I’d argue with your statement of picking up the Cobain’s torch… Kurt & Billy are apples and oranges.
As far as the “exclu-clu-clusive” preview given to Spin, that’s nothing close to a fact. The six-song preview was also given to, and commented on by, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, and Billboard. And a couple of months ago, Alternative Press got the first listen and published an article describing the tracks in detail. That article came out in early January and was leaked last November.
sarca-ca-casm
I downloaded the track and enjoyed listening as well. You Mention that 21st Century is a single. According to all the GD websites it is a two year old demo that was somehow stolen by a hacker. So who even knows if it is the same as the version on the record. I would wait for a single before reviewing a record off of a youtube download of a stolen demo tape. Just my two cents!
Fair enough–at the time of it’s release it was branded as such, thanks for the heads up on the news from the GD site!
I Just Listened to 21st century breakdown and form listening to that. I think the album will be an epic album!!. Remeber in 2004 when everytime u listened to the radio or turned on the tv to much music and you saw green days or listened to green days . holiday, jesus of surbibia, etc. well it gonna happen again. that time is coming where music will be EPIC!!!. enough of this booring old music thats on tv or radiostations right now. green day are bringing it back. Green day are gonna be once again the voice of music. kanye west etc. thinks there the voice of music right now. but no no no green day is in a totally different league.
IAM EXCITED FOR THERE NEW ALBUM
look, i totally loved american idiot, adored nimrod, and am discovering dookie and insomniac. perhaps the fact that i am a reletive neophyte at this whole scene is against me, but green day is such a scream, a gasp for release, such a i have never heard before. they may dis things i hold sacred… no one agrees with any one else perfectly… and it sucks about their mainstream sell out but who else is standing up and saying that this carefully cultured demented tradition world order sucks? i cant wait to consume 21 st century breakdown.
In my opinion, it’s all about speed and (at least) the pretense of authenticity. Dookie had a cockiness to it, a sort of unspoiled youthful product. It was hooky but not corporate. That all changed with American Idiot.
It really, really bugged the shit out of me when I saw a concert vid from the American Idiot tour and saw that Billie Joe apparently no longer even plays the majority of the guitar parts; he has some non-celebrity stand inconspicuously in the back beyond camera view and play literally the entire rhythm line AND the entire solo. Billie Joe can be visibly seen to be playing AIR GUITAR through the solos, and for most of the verses he just lets it hang.
I just about shit. My mouth hung open. It’s not even a difficulty thing, because Billie Joe did fine doing guitar and vocals live for a long time. They just want him to go out and dance like a moron and play air guitar so the tour video cameras can get good, sexy action shots and the emo/faux-punk teenage girls that now represent 80% of their fanbase can ooh and ahh at how dreamy Billie Joe is.
All of this goes on while, as usual, Tre and Mike carry on quietly in the background, nailing every single song perfectly every fucking time, while Billie Joe now slurs his lyrics to the point where it often loses all semblance of musicality. Like a groan, except off key. Gone is the snotty, drawly snarl from the album tracks; he doesn’t even try. He seems simply to be there to sell Coca-Cola and t-shirts.
And now he’s making a friggin’ rock opera? How far can you get from your roots?
Here are my two cents.. I’ll expect change please.
1) I have an opposing view from Chris’ opinion of AI, however I must say he delivered his thoughts tastefully and humbly. We are all entitled to our opinions, its how we convey them that sets us apart from barbarions… Allow me to explain.. Hitler, Stalin, George Bush, had a point of view, unfortunatly for all of us, they pushed their opinion to the world and shoved it down our throats. So thank you Chris for having a respectful opinion without the “F You, my ideas are the Only ideas.. how many of us forget.
2) At the age of 32, I have been with the band since 1039 came out on its first pressing. That was back in the day when Operation Ivy ruled, Rancid and Green Day still liked each other, Bad Religion was still in college but kicking ass on stage. It was a different era. We were all young, dumb, and stupid. Then we grow up. Some of us have kids, we pay taxes, read the news etc.. And our ideas and opinions change. Being close to the same age as the band, I have walked with them through their music. They have always said the things I have needed to hear, when I have needed to hear them. As they get older, and more complex, so do I. I quite litterally can chronical my life to a Green Day script. With that in mind, of COURSE they have changed their style, their lyrics etc.. THEY HAVE GROWN UP!
3) To the new generation of Green Day fans: Welcome! Always stay true to yourself, do not EVER take what someone says as fact, until you have used your own thoughts and ideas to make a decision. Thats what punk music is about. If you do not understand something, ask someone who does. If they do not answer to your satisfaction, ask someone else. That is how you weed out the bull sh**t. This is what Green Day has learned how to do. In the days of Dookie, it was only about Damn THE MAN. Never putting thought to which side of an issue made sense. This is what has changed in their music today, they apply reason, logic, and INFORMED judgement. There is way more to life than getting high and drunk. (not discounting either, just stating that there is more to it than that). When GD started, that was their only inputs, Drugs, Booze, and Love. Listen to 1039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours.
Sorry for ranting. If i have pissed someone off. GOOD, I like pissed off. If anyone has any interest in yelling, screaming,laughing or whatever at me, you can email me at danfoxh@gmail.com. I can take it.
Dan, that is probably the most mature and reasonable response to a point of view that has criticised something you like that I have ever heard. Kudos.
I’m a little younger than you, and my first exposure to Green Day was a snot nosed kid listening to Dookie and just loving the angst. But you’re right, it was aimless angst, directed at anyone. The band has matured into an outfit that can argue, criticise and rock, all in one album/song/verse.
@J. Carson: There will always be people who feel that a band/artist/actor/politician has sold out, and often there’s basis for that crit. But to base it all on a concert vid, where Billie Joe doesnt play guitar 100% of the time seems a little premature. From what I’ve seen of the tour vids, and bullet in a bible vids, is that GD made more of these shows than just the music, and a more polished performance was a result of that. I dont totally agree with the slurred lyrics part, but if it’s so, he’s hardly the first legend to do a show bombed. And the fact that there were three full studio albums between Dookie and American Idiot, with huge changes in musical format from album to album, doesnt lend much weight to argument that it all changed from Dookie to American Idiot, just like that. Likie Dan said, the band grew up, tried new things, matured and maybe got a little more focus on who they were, or wanted to be as musicians and the voices of so many people.
Its me again. Time for another lengthy rant hopefully with good content, definitely with good intentions.
With the release of 21st Century Breakdown, I thought this might be the place to let loose my opinions of the album. Though I am writing this for the masses, someone may get something out of this, I really am writing it for myself. Sometimes we all just need to write something to clear our heads, you guys are my audience… SORRY IN ADVANCE!
Once again GD did not let me down. As I stated in my previous post, I can script my life to Green Day albums, the same goes with 21CB. The dynamics of this album are legendary. They take you on, in their words from AI, “a subliminal mind fuck” roller coaster journey that changes, turns, flips you around, and does it all over again. It starts out hard and fast, and ends hard and fast, the middle is a free for all of punk rock bedlam. This is one of those albums that you turn off the lamps, turn on the christmas tree lights you still having hanging up on your wall, get the incense going and drift off to another world.
The 70’s was the glory age of Rock N Roll. When you take bands like The Who, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Queen etc, and look at their albums, they may have one or two songs that hit your brain and your heart. GD has managed to do it with one album. Are there songs that I like more than others? Absolutely. When i listen to each song individually, there are a few i dont care for at all. When you listen to the same song, in its original context and order, its somehow makes sense and is now more enjoyable.
Lyrically, they put their balls on the line. As a writer, no matter the medium, we are all faced with that one piece that defines us. That one piece that we “risk it all” and to hell with what anyone else thinks, this one is for you. Its that moment when you finish the piece, that you realize that you actually ARE naked in the classroom (oh come on, we all have had that dream.) When you write that piece your life changes. Its about being honest with yourself, and allowing others to share with you. There is something great about that. Until you have had that defining moment, it is impossible to understand. I think i am still waiting.
I actually listened to every album consecutively since the release. If you listen carefully as the albums progress, they let us in to their minds a little bit, but always keeping us arms length away. With this album, they went all out. Naked in the classroom.
When you look back at life, and stop to realize that you were just a very small piece of reality, yet in the moment, reality seemed to be a very small piece of you. We all had feelings of helplessness that we thought would never end. Would that teasing never stop? Will that girl ever like me? How the hell am I going to survive? Yet if you are reading this post, none of that matters anymore. They stopped teasing because you grew up. She liked you or didnt like you, you moved on. You survived. Small piece of reality. Naked in the classroom.
I have drifted off from the album itself, and more on to what it means to me. Sorry for the long post. As always, if anyone has feedback, I would love to hear it. Email me danfoxh@gmail.com . Several of you responded from my last posting, look forward to more.
Dan
J.Carson billie joe is not playing air guitar during green day’s gig… since Warning Jason White (who also appeared on when i come around video) plays solo guitar and billie joe plays wot i think it’s called rythm guitar you’re right when you say that he could do this on his own but in the end is just something more
hi hope you understand my english!
J. Carson you tell it like it is!
Billie could just do the entire show playing the guitar, I dont get whats the idea of not playing guitar. Also, whats the deal with the black clothing?
meh…well Green Day was about 3 punks who didn´t give a shit about anything, now every time I see a concert on tv or youtube is so programed..