Still enamored of the concept of the concept album more than four years after AMERICAN IDIOT, Green Day unveiled its rock-opera sequel, 21ST CENTURY BREAKDOWN, in 2009. Like its predecessor, BREAKDOWN wholeheartedly embraces the iconic punk-pop act's shift to a stadium-filling sound, while also remaining loyal to the San Francisco-based trio's progressive sociopolitical outlook. Even with a president in the White House that outspoken frontman Billie Joe Armstrong supports, he still finds plenty to rail against, with much of BREAKDOWN alluding to the earlier Bush years of the new millennium, particularly the surging, Queen-like title track.
Aiding Armstrong and his comrades in their sonic attack against conservative authority is renowned producer (and Garbage member) Butch Vig, best known for helming Nirvana's NEVERMIND. Completely in sync with Green Day's grand vision, Vig helps to create the huge spaces for the band to construct their anthems, as best heard on the resonant anti-war tune "21 Guns." Unabashedly unsubtle and lifted by passionate restlessness, BREAKDOWN succeeds as AMERICAN IDIOT Mark II, proving that Green Day has no intention of scaling back its intriguingly ambitious approach.
- Format: Vinyl
- Genre: Rock, Punk
Track Listing:
A1 Song Of The Century
Act I - Heroes And Cons
A2 21st Century Breakdown
A3 Know Your Enemy
A4 ¡Viva La Gloria!
A5 Before The Lobotomy
B1 Christians Inferno
B2 Last Night On Earth
Act II - Charlatans And Saints
B3 East Jesus Nowhere
B4 Peacemaker
B5 Last Of The American Girls
C1 Murder City
C2 ¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl)
C3 Restless Heart Syndrome
Act III - Horseshoes And Handgrenades
C4 Horseshoes And Handgrenades
C5 The Static Age
D1 21 Guns
D2 American Eulogy
D3 Mass Hysteria
D4 Modern World
D5 See The Light
