Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
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Free Music Notes for 21st Century Breakdown
Free Music Review: Listen once, listen twice, and listen to the lyrics
Hit: 5 Stars
First impression (1st time listening): what happened to Green Day? This is not Dookie! They've gone mainstream! I don't like this CD!!!!!
BUT... 2nd time around: hmmm... I can groove to this.
3rd, 4th time: Wow this is their best album so far!!!! I love this CD!!! I love Green Day!
OK, so what I'm trying to say is that this album needs time to be digested. It is a pretty new sound for Green Day, especially if you are content with Nimrod and Dookie. But the music grows on you. Green Day has moved from a reckless punk rock type to a more sophisticated and deeper style, while still preserved the rebellious air of punk rock.
BEATLES INFLUENCES, anyone? For some of the songs I think Green Day were clearly influenced by the Beatles, from the style of singing, the composition of the song lyrics, and the complication of music. This album reminds me a lot of Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart Club's Band.
From the reckless teenagers in Nimrod and Dookie, Green Day has grown up, for the better. Their sound is more mature, their composition is more complex, and dude, you gotta listen to the lyrics. There are so many levels of meanings and complexity hidden inside the lyrics, and the subject matter is of something much larger than simple teenage rebellion. They sing of a concious mind who are aware of what's happening around them, what's wrong with society and the country as a whole. For the person who say this music appeals to 12-17 year olds: I don't think 12-17 year olds can clearly understand the subject matter they're presenting.
I listened to the CD every day now. I'm so glad to see my Green Day growing up (even though I'm still listening to all of their old stuff). ?Viva La Gloria? [Little Girls] is the new theme song for my life now (yes, I have my own theme song :-)). Rock on Green Day, and I'll see you in LA!
Free Music Review: Welcome Back, Green Day - Great Piece of Recording
Hit: 5 Stars
"21st Century Breakdown" is not exactly a breakthrough album. It's more of the same Green Day that we know so well. Not better, not worse. Just au point.
It follows the same recipe that made "American Idiot" an instant classic that sold more than 6 million copies according to RIAA, making it the second most successful record of the band's career, surpassed only by their fantastic debut, "Dookie" (which is over 10 million copies in the US). According to Billboard this week, the band is headed to top the charts in their week of release as more than 650,000 units were shipped to retail stores this week, probably anticipating a great demand from fans. In this tough times for the music industry, taking the #1 spot is a remarkable feat, and talking about Green Day, it's more than deserved.
The band still carries a great influence from the icons of punk rock, the Sex Pistols (and maybe a little Clash) in their sonority. In "21st Century Breakdown" none of the multi-music tracks ("21st Century Breakdown" and "American Eulogy") exceeds 6 minutes in length, in contrast to "American Idiot" tracks "Jesus of Suburbia" and "Homecoming", both 9+ minutes.
Except for a few ballads ("Last Night On Earth" and "21 Guns"), songs that begin as ballads and then turn around to the other direction ("¡Viva La Gloria!" and "Before the Lobotomy") and a mere introduction ("Song of the Century" also heard in the introduction of "American Eulogy"), this album is a punch in the ear after another, sang and played with all the possible rage that can exist. The band is adult, but it behaves like a rebelled teenager. Just the way we like it.
A breeze in the middle of so many "Boom Boom Pows", "Poker Faces" and other similar junks that kill us day after day. Welcome back, Billie Joe, Mike and Tré - we really missed you.
Free Music Review: A Stunning Rock Opera
Hit: 5 Stars
No one expected American Idiot, not only did it receive appraise from critics and fans alike, it also gained the band the respect they never had before. With such a monumental achievement, American Idiot's successor was left with high expectations. So now, five years later, here they are with a bold, precocious rock opera as complex as the times that form it. Not only is 21st Century as ambitious as American Idiot, but also surpasses the standards of modern rock with dazzling melodies and song craft along with Billie Joe's lyrical prowess. The album has the politically charged energy of American Idiot, but there are also songs with a deeply personal atmosphere, like the piano-adorned ballad `Last Night on Earth'. Across all the 18 tracks, the rage-fueled `Know Your Enemy' and the tuneful anguish of the grand title track sum up the theme of the album. Not only is the government doubted, but faith in religion as well; `East Jesus Nowhere' is a bold, memorable anthem that questions the belief of the blind followers. The songs work individually, but the album as a whole revolves around Christian and Gloria, a young couple unsure about their future, but completely aware of their present: a confusing world where the wreckage of the post-Bush disaster is left to clean up, the unemployment rate climbs higher every day, and the American dream is failing ambition. Christian is the tempestuous rebel who scorns the world, while Gloria is the optimistic idealist who tries to change it. Both are cast out by society and have nowhere to turn but to each other. They tie together the story that combines disillusioned youth and global tension to make the cohesive, epic rock opera that will stand the test of time. 21st Century Breakdown is a rare kind of album, one that not only accurately depicts the modern world that we live in but also defines it.Free Music Review: Matches The Powere of its Predecessor
Hit: 5 Stars
Green Day since American Idiot, if I'm honest, have fast become my favourite band around at the minute. I may be someone who jumped on the hype bandwagon when American Idiot was released, but it was certainly an album worthy of the praise it received. It made vast political statements whilst portraying the true energy and intensity that you would expect from a band such as this. A number of the best songs on the album, the ones that really had a message to portray, really set apart Green Day from any mainstream band of the time that album was released. It shot the band to the level of superstardom so no matter what their next album was always going to fall under the critical shadow in comparison to American Idiot.
Following American Idiot and meeting the massive expectations set by the standard of its predecessor, 21st Century Breakdown was going to be a challenge. Luckily the challenge won through and although it's not as good as American Idiot, it's certainly just as enjoyable to listen to and as thought provoking. This doesn't contain the lengthy songs like the ones you would come across in American Idiot, but the transitions from the loud bursts of energy from such songs as Know Your Enemy and East Jesus Nowhere to the ballads such as Restless Heart Syndrome and !Viva La Gloria! work really well to continue to rock opera style of its predecessor.
It's a really fantastic album and manages to keep you wanting to listen and actually manages to tell a story throughout each song which is an utterly fantastic concept maintained by Green Day. If you're a fan of the band then this is certainly an album you should have in your collection.
My Top 5
1. 21st Century Breakdown
2. Know Your Enemy
3. ?Viva La Gloria? [Little Girl]
4. East Jesus Nowhere
5. Peacemaker
Free Music Review: My Album of the year so far
Hit: 5 Stars
First off lets get this out of the way, I am NOT a Green Day fan, never have been. I have always thought they were OK, I wouldn't change the station if a Green Day song came on, but I've never bought a Green Day Album before either. I really liked "Time of Your life" (probably not even the right title) but that was the one stand out in a "eh..its alright" set of songs. I am more Fan of Rush, Metallica (well until Jason walked, since then..eh... ), Dream Theater, Nightwish, Queen on the whole.
All that said this Disc absolutely ROCKS! This is the Disc that puts GreenDay on the same level as the greats of modern rock music. I wouldn't have picked it up but someone who's opinion I trust said its different its not like the rest, you have to take a shot. Well here I am and this is great stuff.
My 18 month old daughter even likes it, I was playing it in the car while I was driving around with her last weekend. She threw her hands in the air, wiggled back and forth, kicked her legs, giggled, smiled; this is her happy dance to music in the car seat. Its a good sign that its good music when she does this dance. In general she's a Metal, Hard Rock Fan!
The Disc it self hangs together well, since its a concept album, a rock opera, there are repeated themes and riffs throughout that glue the whole thing together. This is a tricky task to bring off, never mind bring off well, which this disc does. Most bands toss the good stuff up front, and then hide the filler music at the end of the disc, but on a disc like this it all has to be good end to end. Green Day makes it happen in great fashion of this effort. In this class of albums I'd put it in the same realm as Dream Theater's "Metropolis pt2".
Go Buy this Disc!