Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

I was such a big Green Day fan in the day. And per follower janis!'s request, I did a retrospective on them a long while back. I pretty much tipped my hand on how I felt on all their records via that post - but I'll try to go into more detail on the individual ones when I get to them. I think everyone knows their style, so I won't get too much into that. What the casual fan may not remember or know - Green Day took a really long break before this record. If memory serves me correctly, it was 5 years after 'American Idiot' to this drop. The band had also been taking it on the chin from casual fans, saying their music wasn't as "raw" and as great as their earlier works. That they'd focused too much on politics. While I typically hate when bands get into the political game, I didn't feel their music was any less punk or hard then it was a decade ago. Maybe not as good, but still had that signature Green Day sound. Lyrics aside, the music was still there. Now, when I first got this album, I listened to it three or four times and couldn't have been more annoyed. I don't really even know why. The music, the album - it seemed so poor to me. Lazy and sloppy. I felt like five LONG years would have given me this immediate reaction as though they just made 'Abbey Road' or something. Completely unfair. I set it aside for a month or two - and I came back to it. And when you objectively listen to this, it's actually quite good. Better than good even. Better all around album than 'Dookie' in many ways. Now don't get me wrong - nothing will ever overthrow that as my favorite album by them. But top to bottom, they really are doing more with this album. They are more than just 3 chords and fun lyrics on this album. They are doing so much more. Genre wise, still punk/alt rock - but they mix it up - which makes it a nice listen. There are a couple tracks I still skip - but all in all, it's solid. Solid enough I'm going to listen to it all day today. Don't go that far, but check it out today.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Song of the Century
2. 21st Century Breakdown
3. Know Your Enemy
4. ­Viva la Gloria!
5. Before the Lobotomy
6. Christian's Inferno
7. Last Night on Earth
8. East Jesus Nowhere
9. Peacemaker
10. Last of the American Girls
11. Murder City
12. ¿Viva la Gloria?
13. Restless Heart Syndrome
14. Horseshoes and Handgrenades
15. Static Age, The
16. 21 Guns
17. American Eulogy: A. Mass Hysteria/B. Modern World
18. See the Light

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Restless Heart Syndrome
2. Last Night On Earth
3. 21 Guns

FINAL RATING:
3.5 out of 5 stars

Green Day - Insomniac

A really long time ago now, I did a little Green Day introspective. From that, you may recall my adoration for older Green Day albums. When it was time to review an alt rock record today...I was just strumming through my list. I contemplated doing some other bands today - then I came across this album. It's literally been forever since I listened to this start to finish. I bought this right away when it came out in 1995. I was so high on the Dookie album I figured anything put out by them as a follow up had to be just as solid. Well back when I was all of 12 years old...this didn't quite satisfy my music palette. I thought this was a bit of a let down. Yeah, I know - shameful. As I'm older and I listen again, I really appreciate the sound. It's just like Dookie, except maybe a little less pop and a little more heavy rock than punk. And it rocks your socks off at different points. It's only 2x platinum in the states, which tells me a lot of you guys probably don't know about this. You may have listened to the popular tracks and didn't figure it was worth the purchase. Well - you're wrong! I checked Best Buy, and it's only 7.99! It's so incredibly worth that price! That's almost like going to Half Price Books or something and picking up up used. Highly recommend. The cover art is fun, and the booklet opens up into a larger poster. Even though I didn't love the record, I loved displaying that poster when I was a kid. Kick it old school today and pop this in. And listen to it one more time. You'll be surprised.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Armatage Shanks
2. Brat
3. Stuck With Me
4. Geek Stink Breath
5. No Pride
6. Bab's Uvula Who?
7. 86
8. Panic Song
9. Stuart and the Ave.
10. Brain Stew
11. Jaded
12. Westbound Sign
13. Tight Wad Hill
14. Walking Contradiction

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Brain Stew (toss Jaded in there since it came out as a double single)
2. Walking Contradiction
3. Stuck With Me

FINAL RATING:
4.25 out of 5 stars

Green Day - Dookie

As much as I may talk about how much I love rap, mood music etc, etc...boy do I love the alternative rock revolution from the '90s. I've been jamming hard on this genre lately and it's amazing to me how great the music was - and how lucky folks in my age bracket were to grow up listening to this type of tuneage. Similar to Smash, this was the 2nd album I ever owned, and still am in love with it to this day. Green Day has since gotten fairly political and their albums are still really good - but I don't think they have the smash to your face that Dookie does. I'll of course eventually review their entire discography, but this is probably my favorite album of theirs. Insomniac was better than people give it credit for - and the only one I really don't like is 'Warning'. I say this a lot, but if for any reason you haven't heard this record - please, I beg you, go get it. I promise you'll enjoy this cd start to finish. Go right now, to any store that sells music - and buy it. Put it directly into your car cd player, and listen to it. Even if you've heard this 1,000 times already - put it back in. You'll remember just how awesome it is. There is no doubt that this will get your through your Tuesday in style!

TRACK LISTING:
1. Burnout
2. Having A Blast
3. Chump
4. Longview
5. Welcome To Paradise
6. Pulling Teeth
7. Basket Case
8. She
9. Sassafras Roots
10. When I Come Around
11. Coming Clean
12. Emenius Sleepus
13. In The End
14. F.O.D.
15. All By Myself (Hidden Track)

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. When I Come Around
2. Burnout
3. Longview

FINAL RATING:
4.75 out of 5 stars