| Artist: Green Day |
| Format: | CD |
Product Details:
rise/maverick
Song Listing
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| Green Day's long-awaited eighth studio album, entitled 21st Century Breakdown, has finally arrived. The album is the best-selling trio's first studio album since 2004's two-time Grammy Award-winning punk-rock opera American Idiot, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, spawned five hit singles, and went on to sell more than 12 million copies worldwide. 21st Century Breakdown is divided into three acts: "Heroes and Cons," "Charlatans and Saints," and "Horseshoes and Handgrenades," and follows a young couple, Christian and Gloria, through the mess and promise of the century so far. Songs include "Know Your Enemy," "21 Guns," "East Jesus Nowhere," "Before the Lobotomy," and "Restless Heart Syndrome." In a recent feature, Rolling Stone called the album "even more ambitious than American Idiot" and "a record of die-hard punk ideals...tightly scripted, continually ascending classic-rock excitement." Singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool have been at work writing, arranging, and recording 21st Century Breakdown since early 2006 and are currently making finishing touches with producer Butch Vig, who is known for his work with Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, and many others. |
Album Notes and Credits
Notes & Personnel Info |
|
| Green Day: Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar, piano); Mike Dirnt (vocals, bass guitar); Tre Cool (drums, percussion). | |
| Additional personnel: Jason Freese (piano). | |
| Audio Mixer: Chris Lord-Alge. | |
| Audio Remasterer: Ted Jensen. | |
| Recording information: Costa Mesa Studio, Costa Mesa, CA; Jel Studios, Newport Beach, CA; Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, CA; Studio 890, Oakland, CA. | |
| Photographers: Chris Bilheimer; Marina Chavez. | |
| Arranger: Tom Kitt. | |
| 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. | |
Producer: Butch Vig; Green Day; Butch Vig |
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Engineer: Chris Dugan; Brad Kobylczak; Andrew Schubert; Brad Townsend; Joe McGrath; Chris Dugan; Brad Kobylczak; Wesley Seidman; Nik Karpen; Andrew Schubert; Brad Townsend; Joe McGrath; Keith Armstrong |
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Compilation Appearances
Associated Artists and Works
| On, Pickin' | |
| U2 |
Technical Info
| Release Date : 05/15/2009 | |
| Original Release Date : 2009 | |
| Catalog ID : 9362498021 | |
| Label : Warner Bros. | |
| Number of Discs : 1 | |
| Studio/Live : Studio | |
| Mono/Stereo : Stereo | |
| SPAR Code : n/a | |
| UPC : 00093624980216 |
Professional Reviews
- "There's some stretching stylistically: Two different songs called 'Viva La Gloria!' open with piano, while the lush, mid-tempo 'Last Night on Earth' and 'Restless Heart Syndrome' ape mid-period Beatles..."
- "Give credit where thrashing, three-chord credit is due....No matter how arrested their style and subject matter, Green Day remain remarkably good at high-blast anthems that burrow directly into the pogo-ing, lizard-brain id." -- Grade: B
- "The album is a call to arms for the digital age, and 20 years into its career, Green Day's ambition continues to dazzle."
(p.114)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "Bold, ambitious and revelling in the chaos of our age, 21ST CENTURY BREAKDOWN is another perfect document of our times."
(p.132)
- "Billie Joe Armstrong isn't afraid to spit out exactly what he's feeling, now matter how nihilistic..."


















