#9: Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
This is the most recent album to have come out to appear on this countdown and it appears here for one simple reason: I really really like it.
Maybe it's the memories. Maybe it's that I bought this cd at the Virgin store in Hollywood during our Alabama to California to road trip and listened to the entire thing while waiting in traffic. Or listened to it while traveling back through Arizona.
It does take me back to listening to the story contained in the songs, the follow-up to American Idiot. Though not as in a second chapter, but in Green Day doing yet another concept album.
I don't feel it's necessary to write a super long blog post about this album because I feel anyone who is going to comment is going to say the same thing: "I lost track of Green Day when they did American Idiot and now they just aren't even the same band anymore."
And you know what? I feel really sorry for anyone who is stuck on a band's past and is not willing to give something they put tons of effort into making a decent shot. (If you have listened to it and didn't like it, that doesn't pertain to you. It's the ones who dismiss it before even listening to it that I was referencing). Sure, it contains more elements of "pop" then any of their previous releases, but I honestly don't think I want guys their age still acting and writing like the "punks" they were when Dookie is released. They are really talented musicians and the way the songs on this release flow together and mix in a vast array of sounds is purely amazing.
When music history is written years and years from now, I firmly believe Green Day will be placed up there with Queen, Guns & Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers and other legends as one of the greatest bands of all time. And this cd will be one that, if no one had heard before, they are sorely missing out.
For a more well-worded review of this cd (a 5 star review no less), please check out this post from Mike at This Song Starts a Craze.
My mom and I love Green Day. I got this for her as an impromptu gift and she jams to it. And I think it's great that they keep evolving and changing. There aren't that many artists that do.
ReplyDeleteLove this band. Love this album. I think Green Day gets too much flak these days for being fantastic at what they do. The irony, however, is that when you go back to Kerplunk!, you can already see Green Day toying with power-pop and classic rock twists that become full blown on American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown. Excellent choice, and thanks for the shout out!
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