Green Day -- 21st Century Breakdown: Drum Transcriptions Paperback – July 1, 2009

The long-awaited new album from Green Day is the logical progression from "American Idiot," which means both good things and bad things. On the one hand, the songs are far more complex and evolved than their 90s hits. On the other hand, they are lyrically and structurally pretentious. Here's the breakdown of the "21st Century Breakdown":1. Song of the Century: N/A. This isn't a song, just an opening poem kind of thing with distorted vocals. It's not bad for what it is.2. 21st Century Breakdown: 7/10. This is a rhapsody, like "Jesus of Suburbia," but shorter. It's good, but not nearly as clever lyrically as "Jesus of Suburbia." The comparison is fair because this also seems to be a character-oriented montage.3. Know Your Enemy: 6/10. This is the first single on the album, and also the only straight-ahead rock/punk song. It's too repetitive and relatively lazy to be considered that good.4. ¡Viva La Gloria!: 9/10. This is one of my favorite songs on the album. It has a nice opening piano piece, and it breaks into a high energy rock song. Gloria becomes the St. Jimmy of this album in further songs.5. Before the Lobotomy: 6/10. This is the third piecemeal song on the album. This time, there are quick hits sandwiched in a soft song. The execution could have been a lot better.6. Christian's Inferno: 4/10. This one isn't bad, but again, another disjointed song. The verses are very distorted, and the chorus is perfectly clear. I'm giving it a 4 because it seems like an idea that wasn't fully fleshed out.7. Last Night on Earth: 6/10. Here is where the Beatles influence becomes obvious. It's kind of catchy, but it's unoriginal and not nearly as moving as it should be. It feels forced, fake, pretentious, etc.8. East Jesus Nowhere: 7/10. It's different from anything Green Day has done, and it's pretty good. It's not very captivating though; I think because of all the interspersed quiet voice. It's one of the many cases on this album where too many ideas were thrown together at once.9. Peacemaker: 9/10. This is probably my favorite song on the album. It's original, good musically (fiddle?), lyrically, just well done all around, but missing what it would take to be an excellent song. It should be a good radio single.10. Last of the American Girls: 5/10. The lyrics subtly deal with a different kind of issue than what one would normally get from a punk song, still righteous in its own right. If this were an enjoyable song, it would get a higher score.11. Murder City: 6/10. This song has catchy parts, and it's not broken up, which is good, but it still feels like filler.12. ¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl): 9/10. This is just as good as the other "Viva La Gloria," maybe even a little better. It's original and well done.13. Restless Heart Syndrome: 6/10. All comments from "Last Night on Earth" apply to this one.14. Horseshoes and Handgrenades: 8/10. I think this is the only song with explicit language, what got the album booted out of Wal-Mart. Considering that it's not really necessary to have it, I think they should have compromised their "artistic integrity." It's a good rock song, but a little too much distortion on the verses, and the lyrics are a bit lazy.15. The Static Age: 6/10. This song sounds a bit like "Church on Sunday" from "Warning," which wasn't a very good song from which to borrow. It feels like a filler song.16. 21 Guns: 8/10. This is definitely the most memorable song on the album. Unfortunately, it's also far too pompous and insincere. I'll go into further detail on the closing comments, but this song exemplifies both the good and the bad of this album.17. American Eulogy: 7/10. This should really be the closer considering that the opening is in the same vein as "Song of the Century," but whatever. The first chorus is annoying, and this is yet another piecemeal one. It does get better toward the end. There are a lot of ideas here that didn't come together quite right.18. See the Light: 7/10. This is a good song, but it feels a little anticlimactic. Considering "Whatsername" had the same issue, I guess it was an okay way to go.Overall, this album is pretentious. It's like "American Idiot" conscious of its own greatness and trying to hammer its greatness into its audience. It's not as pretentious U2, but getting there, and keep in mind, this is Green Day. Green Day is a band that started with pop-punk girlfriend songs and made it big with a song about smoking pot and masturbating. When they try to take the moral high ground, and complex theatrical structures, it feels very forced. I have to give them credit for putting a lot of effort into the songs though. This does sound like an album that legitimately took five years to make.

Loves the music

I was absolutely, sinkingly disappointed in this album when I first listened. Shades of 1970's music (which is fine if you like that sort of thing; I don't). More rock, less punk; but I promised myself to listen through three times straight before I posted a review. The more I listened, the more the lyrics became clear, and depths of complexity began to show themselves. I had hoped for an album which I could play straight through without skipping a lot of songs, and this does it. It's a long album: 18 songs I think, and most of them are singles-quality.A few notes: I didn't even notice the "Christian and Gloria" theme for quite some time. The lyrics are somewhat hard to understand at first, and I listen in the car, so reading the liner as it plays is not really an option. Finally, while waiting for someone in a parking lot, I got to read the titles and lyrics and realized that there was an operatic quality to this album, like American Idiot. Now, I come from the age of Pink Floyd's The Wall, and was exposed to Tommy during my teen years. I love the idea of a whole integrated collection of songs which make a story. In the early '80's, I spent hours imagining what Pink looked like (Pink the character in The Wall, not the pink-haired diva)and imagining what it all meant. I'd love to see a Green Day movie, with Jimmy or Christian, which would play at the midnight movie for decades.Secondly, the sound of the album is often scratchy and sometimes sounds like it was recorded at the bottom of a well. I know this is intentional, but it was really bothersome at first; seemed to be used too much. Oddly, now I don't even notice it, but I play it louder as I've come to know the words. Billie Joe fights the establishment with his lyrics, and this album is no exception. The lyrics are well thought out, if not somewhat repetitive in places(I agree with the reviewer who states that _Know Your Enemy_ is one of the weaker offerings), but definitely gives listeners the famous Green Day attitude. Again, if you don't get the first time, give it a couple more tries and I think you'll be hooked on an album you can listen to without interruption...

Ever since American Idiot, Green Day have often tried to replicate the success of their hugely popular rock opera. Their latest release was in the form of the back-to-back album trilogy, Uno, Dos and Tre which boasted some great songs on each album but was let down by some toned down middle of the road songs that lacked the punky edge the band had on many of their early albums. 21st Century Breakdown was released five years after American Idiot and the band were still riding on the success of that album and wanted to capitalised on its success. This album is pretty much 'American Idiot II' in its pompous delivery and bloated length (18 tracks in total). It's by no means a bad album and I still go back to it many times as it has some fantastic songs ('East Jesus Nowhere' and '21 Guns' are some of the best the band have put out lately). Billie Joe Armstrong's vocals and guitar melodies still remain impressive and Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool offer great support as well. However, many tracks just come off as forgettable and you overlook them after listening to them. It's an ambitious album that should be given a listen if you're a Green Day fan (especially if you love American Idiot) but don't go in expecting this to be on par with it or any of their early albums like Dookie or Warning. Still better than Uno, Dos and Tre though.

As a big Green day for many a year, I have watched the band grow and indeed develop both their music and maturity within their music. From the early punk days where music was heavy, thrashing and down right great, the music slowly changed, with many saying Warning being the turning point. Since then we have seen the album American Idiot and today 21st Century Breakdown.Firstly, is this like American Idiot...answer yes, but there are changes. The emphasis from the early days has shifted from the music to the lyrics itself. From listening to this album you can tell BJ Armstrong has spent many hours at these lyrics and it does show. Deep meaningful lyrics are played in more meaningful music, with bursts of the old Green Day still there.So what is the album itself like? The overall impression I had before this album, is how does it take 5 years to write an album, but from listening to this it is very clear. The lyrics are carefully chosen and the music has been layered perfectly on top, with some good old Green Day passion and bursts from the past. Other people have mentioned the drumming from Tre and I do totally agree that more emphasis has been placed on the drums in this album than previous albums.So why not the five stars? Don't get me wrong this is a fantastic album, but I feel the album does lack proper ballads. The songs are great but the chords of American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia and Boulevard of Broken Dreams have been lost in some aspects of the album, leading to calmer songs with bursts of chords that we all know and love from GD.This as many other people have already said, is a hard album to review, as I do now class Green Day as a Rock Band and not a Punk Group, but the maturity that the music has developed and materalised over the 5 years is amazing. I don't feel however this will be their last album, but I wouldn't be surprised if we only saw one or two at the most more from them.This is a fantastic album, no mistakes about it, the lyrics are what make this album, with the heavy guitar and drumming in places which will keep the older Green Day fans happy.A brilliant album from a World Class Band!

For me this is the album that has moved Billie Joe to William Joseph musically and the good news for me he appears to have grown up at the same speed as me, although I am not into wearing eye-liner.The album is what an old vinyl LP was, - a journey, a well crafted musical journey through the story that BJA is telling (about a guy called Christian I think) - and telling it well. At times there are few hooks in there that seem to suggest somebody has been listening to The Waterboys along the way, and then that old punk twang gets thrown in so as not to let you drift away for too long.For me the stand out song is "Before the Lobotomy"; a carefully crafted intro, - a lovely hook "I was only dreaming etc" a bit of good old Green Day wham bham, a hint on a Irish jig and then bag into that hook, - superb! Next best is East Jesus Nowhere but I am sure you will find your own favorite.To me this is better than American Idiot (which was not half bad), - and does what Dookie did all those years ago; makes me smile and I want to play the songs over again, the extra bonus this time around is that my 10 year old son also really likes this. Thanks guys your best album so far.

If you thought Green Day couldn't possibly follow the success of American Idiot, think again! This is an outstanding album. The songs immediately seem familiar as it's that classic and unmistakable Green Day sound. Like American Idiot, it follows a story - a young couple 'Christian and Gloria' through the mess and promise of politics, war and the establishment.The songs are catchy and once inside your head , will be reluctant to leave. I'd recommend this to anyone. It may take 2 or 3 plays to get the gist of the lyrics as they are not as clear and defined as on American Idiot, but the music will be a hit from the first play.This special edition is very clever - it comes as a 'book' with fill colour pages of artwork and all the lyrics (apparently in Billie-Joe's handwriting) and the CD is cleverly inserted inside the back cover.

If I had just bought the MP3/CD on its own, I would have given it 5 stars; I can't fault the music and it is one of my favourite albums of all time (definitely Green Day's best). But while playing the record itself it feels as if very little thought went into it. It's a huge opera and the fact that there are two disks is very pleasing to me but the music doesn't flow very well. The album itself is split into three acts, with each one having its own distinct motifs and inspirations, but these don't translate to the record; I would have preferred to switch sides in between acts, and not halfway through. But the most disappointing part of all was between the tracks 'Last of the American Girls' and 'Murder City'. If you listen to the album on an iPod for example, you probably won't notice that they are two different tracks as they flow into each other extremely well. On the album however, this is where side two ends and side three begins (i.e. a new record) and having to switch the records just took away from the feel of the album (listen to these tracks to get a better understanding as to what I mean).Overall the album is fantastic and I love having the physical copy of the vinyl, but unless you're a fanatic like me, stick to the MP3 or CD version.