A breakdown of Green Day’s ‘21st Century Breakdown’: 1: Song of the Century Nice way to start the album, with a voice-only track of Billie Joe Armstrong singing like a good school boy telling his nursery rhyme. I won’t rate a starter song, so let’s move on to the next song. 2: 21st Century Breakdown The song is nice, and has a good chorus. The songs progresses into a bridge section and closes at that. Innovative song-writing style here. Very great quality killer-slicing music. But it isn’t the way American Idiot or Boulevard strikes you and etches itself. Verdict: 4 ½ /5 3: Know your Enemy Been hearing this one for quite a while thanks to VH1’s endlessly repeating music videos. The songs has a good hook, and you’ll find humming to this tune in no time. No wonder they did a video for this rather than the title song. Superb song. Verdict: 5/5 4: !Viva La Gloria! Note: the exclamations in the title aren’t a typo. That’s the name of the song. It’s basically a sweet sounding ballad about celebration that breaks into a Green Day paced punk thrashabout. Nice tune, I must admit. It is a great way to continue the album’s build-up. Verdict: 3½ /5 5: Before the Lobotomy The general theme followed in this song is some kind of pain/separation/emotion. The song is again, soft at first and then breaking into hard hitting chords. More innovative song-writing. Nothing more strikes me as now, so this makes it to average. Verdict: 2/5 6: Christian’s Inferno This starts with a beat, then the anthemic chorus, complete with headbanging and riffing. It’s enjoyable when the chorus arrives. I guess this is a song showing general confusion during a situation of some sort. But not upto the mark. Verdict: 2½ /5 7: Last Night on Earth Nice verses start the song, but it has a pretty predictable tune to it. Somehow I never noticed the heavy use of pianos in verses until I heard this song. Yes, the pianos are there on many songs and the ones on this are sounding soothing and tranquil. Good idea bringing this song in this place, a little stop sign after getting off the highway. Verdict: 3½ /5 8: East Jesus Nowhere I find myself nodding my head to this song. The beat is strong. The chorus sounds somewhat similar to a sort of mix of their Dookie songs (especially Welcome to Paradise), but is fairly enjoyable. The ending is cool too, with a fade out that fools you into a last bar of the riffs. Verdict: 3½ /5 9: Peacemaker Fresh sounds hit my ears, with some clean strumming that sounds like country music on steroids. Yet again, a well placed song in this part of the album with the newer sounds and softer style. But the song isn’t even fairly fun or memorable. Verdict: 2½ /5 10: Last of the American Girls Bass hits you, and they never seem to have enough of getting the slow verses being hi-mid equalized. The hard hits aren’t that much but the chorus is again their weapon. I liked the chorus of this one a lot for its lyrics. This one might have potential for charts. Verdict: 4/5 11: Murder City Woohoo! The song is a roller-coaster, not just chords and riffs like the usual. This is something like their famous punk anthem formats. Fun song. Verdict: 3½ /5 12: ?Viva La Gloria? This is a sadder version of the first one I presume with lower keys of music being played. Interesting lyrics make this for some sing-along entertainment too. Must listen on the album, this and its former twin. Verdict: 3½ /5 13: Restless Heart Syndrome I was looking forward to this song. It amused me to hear the title and lyrics, and the music is nice enough to make this memorable. I would give this a good rating. Another must listen on this album. Verdict: 4/5 14: Horseshoes and Handgrenades Now that they’re done with the softer ones, they come hit us hard with the line “I’m only ****ing around.” Sure you are, with this punch of punk power. ‘Horseshoes and Handgrenades!’ It probably means that the thrown projectile has always been our preferred choice of weapon, be it 2000 or 1600 AD!! Verdict: 3½ /5 15: The Static Age Again, softer verses harder chorus, but this is more radio friendly kind of hard. Bridge structures reappear on this song for a change. Technically well-done, as are all songs on the album. Verdict: 3/5 16: 21 Guns It’s a salute to soldiers losing their lives in war, with Billie saying “It’s not worth dying for” probably directed at the US soldiers in Iraq. The theme from here is general death. I can’t pick out something bad, nor can I say anything extraordinary other than its written well. It’s just a good song for the album’s concept and is continuing its run. Verdict: 3/5 17: American Eulogy This follows the death song and is therefore obvious. It continues in a similar tune, and breaks off into what you’d least expect. Wow. It gives a great break at this point of the album, after almost 45 minutes. But it could have been well under 3 minutes. The song again changes into a different tune, but is eventually quite unnecessary. Verdict: 2½ /5 18: See the Light This is the closing song about making the final journey. It perhaps shows a kind of impatience and he just wants to get there as soon as he can. The song has a standard structure, no real hooks, mostly recycled tones and tunes. Frankly, it is getting boring with the repetitiveness with an hour of Green Day. Verdict: 2/5 SO IN THE END…. The album is supposed to be a rock-opera, meaning it has a story on which the songs are interconnected and therefore acts like some sort of movie/play/opera as the name suggests. Therefore the songs are such that they come in that particular sequence. There aren’t many good singles off this one, as there were American Idiot, Boulevard and Holiday from the last album. But I wont argue, the songs are pretty much listenable, not disgusting like the new Static X album ‘Cult of Static’. So given the format and the quality of the songs, FINAL VERDICT: 7½ /10 If you’re a thorough Green Day fan, you’ll freakin enjoy this. It’s worth a listen to one of any musical interests, because it’s the one of the best things we are getting this year, so do try it out. I’m sure everyone will have his/her own favourites off this album. Not grand as they thought 18 songs would be, somewhat tiring, but at the end of the day, this is true spirit of hard rock. My picks: • 21st Century Breakdown • Know Your Enemy • Both the Viva La Glorias • Last of the American Girls • Restless Heart Syndrome Cheers, plz do give ur opinions by replying to this post...tell us how you liked it.
