Green Day earn the yellow jersey

It finally happened. We have a new leader in the clubhouse. Green Day has stripped the yellow jersey off the Followill brothers delivering the best album of 2009 with 21st Century Breakdown. The yellow jersey earns you a lot of things not the least of which is pole position in the Wrangler’s six CD changer’s slot one. Not only is 21st Century Breakdown stronger then the guys 2004 rock opera, American Idiot, I believe it’s the record of the year for the following three reasons:

LONG LIVE THE ALBUM
Often my 8 year old will put on his shorts or shirt backwards. When I correct him and tell him his clothes are on backwards he usually just looks at me as if to say, “who cares? If it doesn’t bother me, what does it matter?” My static answer to his indifference is usually something about how the clothes are made to be worn a certain way and that’s why they put the tag in back, etc.

When I loaded 21st Century Breakdown into my computer and put it onto my Shuffle, I somehow put the songs in reverse order for my playlist. 21st Century Breakdown is just the sort of album where once you know the material having the songs backwards will drive you crazy and for that, I’m thankful. In a lot of ways I think digital music has allowed too many young people to begin looking at music the same way my son looks at his shorts and shirts. If the songs work for them in any order what difference does it make? Thankfully Billie Joe Armstrong and the gang still understand that the music makers put things in a certain order because they’re meant to be listened to that way. For this reason, 21st Century Breakdown should only be judged as an album. Of the few thousand people I’ve told to buy the new record, my marching orders have consistently been to listen to the entire thing (18 tracks, 1.1 hours) six times straight through before passing judgment. I challenge anyone to do that and not think Green Day have truly found higher ground as a band. The way the songs fade into each other is seamless, and the rock opera effect means most of the tracks are more sections than they are songs. In other words if you don’t like a song, wait 15 seconds and you just might. 21st Century Breakdown is true proof that Billie Joe is a world-class conductor with both the pen and the baton. Long live the album!

CREATIVE RANGE
For Green Day fans where 21st Century Breakdown separates itself from American Idiot is the band’s newfound range. Wow. Consider the following:

On track 7 “Last Night on Earth“ the band sounds like the Beach Boys slinging Sunkist.

Track 8 “East Jesus Nowhere” has all the steel-toed stomp of Marilyn Manson at his finest, and just as much ballistic blasphemy.

Track 9 “Peacemaker” sounds like Dick Dale on a long board or something Tarantino would have been listening to when he was still renting videos.

Track 14 “Horseshoes and Handgrenades” starts with the lyric “I’m not fuckin’ around!” and means it for the entire 3:14 all the way to the “G-L-O-R-I-A” shoutout to Van. This song will be the cause of some leatherneck running into his locker before practice and a few speeding tickets.

Track 15 “The Static Age” sounds like the Go-Gos if they were a punk band. This is the one for the convertibles and movie soundtracks this summer. Cue the music video in your head; this bubble gum punk will have even the bumpiest faces believing they can get the girl.


And through all this they still manage to dispense some undeniable Green Day in the three song arch between Track 3 and 5 with “Know Your Enemy,” “Viva La Gloria!” and “Before the Lobotomy.” These songs are filled with the machine gun guitars and cartoon violence we’ve come to expect from the boys as they hit their prime as a band. And for the record any chance to scream “Whisky shots and cheap cigarettes!” at the top of your lungs is a good thing in my book.

If that wasn’t enough, Green Day reinvent the rock ballad once again with Track 16 “21 Guns.” This thing is some damn infectious you won’t be able to get it out of your head. And you won’t want to. Should be a big song for them this summer.

THE AMBITION OF THE ARTIST
I love that somewhere in Oakland Billie Joe Armstrong still sits down and writes an album about Christian and Gloria. I love that he divides the record into three distinct acts. I love that he starts with the stories. I love that the band is working with an experimental theater group to bring parts of American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown to the stage. It’s all about the art with these guys, and in a world increasingly filled with suits and science we could all use a little more art.

So please go out and pick up the new Green Day, listen to it six times, and thank me later. You’ll be surprised how good it feels to listen to an album that still understands why the tag goes in the back. I’ve dressed Green Day up in yellow for the three reasons above, but whether you have them in front of your pack or not, rest assured you’ll enjoy the raucous ride that is 21st Century Breakdown.