The evolution of Green Day is quite remarkable. They were basically a punk revival band when I saw them in concert some fifteen years ago. I liked their stuff, but I would never have thought them capable of producing work like 2004’s American Idiot and this year’s 21st Century Breakdown. These two albums are particularly remarkable at a time when it seems most major, commercially successful artists have little interest in producing albums, that is records that work as coherent wholes, and are more than collections of potential singles interspersed with filler.
American Idiot is easily one of my favorite albums released in the past five years (though I think I’ll pass on the musical). I haven’t reached a final judgment on 21st Century Breakdown, but it’s also quite good. The title track begins:
Born into Nixon I was raised in hell
A welfare child where the teamsters dwelled
The last one born and the first one to run
My town was blind from refinery sunMy generation is zero
I never made it as a working class hero21st Century Breakdown
I once was lost but never was found
I think I’m losing what’s left of my mind
To the 20th Century Deadline
Here are the full lyrics, and a live performance.