21st Century Breakdown came out like two weeks before I graduated from high school. Brings back some very fond memories. The title track was always my favorite, but there are a bunch of great songs on there. I am especially fond of the middle third of that record (the Charlatans & Saints section, I believe is what they called it).
That album came out the year my daughter was born. I had fallen off of listening to them and didn't listen to it and still haven't
I considered that and I've always hated how long it is but it's at least a little more creative. Know Your Enemy is like the easiest song they ever wrote
Age wise: American Idiot came out when I was 14. It was the album that blew my mind and made me a music lover. 21st Century Breakdown came out when I was 19. I would drive around and sing along with every word. That explains why American Idiot is The One for me but looking at each objectively I just think I'd put seven or eight AI songs ahead of anything from 21CBD. Onto the next debate, I can't stand Know Your Enemy. Music videos were still a thing in Australia when Know Your Enemy debuted and I waited in front of the TV for ages until it came on. That song seemed so uninspired and forgettable it immediately tempered my expectations for the album, which is the exact opposite of what a lead single should do and is also exactly what Oh Love and Father of All have done for me too. Bang Bang less so but it didn't exactly get me excited. I consider the run from Dookie through AI absolutely perfect. International Superhits is probably my most played album of all time. Green Day is probably (still) the best live band on the planet, at least in the stadium division. I'm happy with that and anything else they do that I can find some enjoyment in will be a bonus.
Last four albums are their weakest, but still enjoyable. 21CB is a good record despite being bloated, I’ll skip around on it but most of it is solid
I still absolutely love 21st Century, I also have a lot of nostalgia for it because I saw them on that tour for the first time and it basically blew my 14-year old mind I know it's not a popular opinion but that album has 18 tracks and there isn't one I could think to cut
Just finished listening to 21stCB in full for the first time in months and I love it just as much as the day it came out. To this day it still feels so fresh, so full, and so complete. They went bigger and more bold for this album and I genuinely believe it absolute worked out in their favor. On a different note, I've listened to FOAM a ridiculous amount of times since it was released and I'm genuinely very excited for the album. I know this is a pretty controversial and somewhat unpopular opinion, but I love the vocal . I love the lyrics. I love the sound. I love the song. It's both so different yet feels like a lot of the more garage rock stuff like FBHT and The Longshot with a relatively fresh take on the Green Day sound. Feel free to disagree (not being sarcastic, just expressing my love for the song and anyone that disagrees is every bit as valid as me, is no less of a real fan than myself, etc.) [Side note, despite living in the US for such a long time already, I'm still trying to improve my English. Don't be too harsh on my spelling/grammar]
"Oh Love" is so much worse than "Know Your Enemy" (or this new song, which I like better than both). There is nothing interesting about it, and it just plods along and repeats for five minutes for absolutely no reason. The only positive thing about it is that it was the first taste of the trilogy and it dampened my expectations to such a degree that I wasn't really surprised when Uno was largely boring.
Oh Love is worse than Know Your Enemy but only because it’s so long and slow. Cut that song in half and it’d be one of the best songs on the trilogy. (Also cut the trilogy in half, or more)
I don’t know which is the better song, but I hate KYE so so so much. For a band that wrote Jesus of Suburbia- KYE is so lazy. Not that Oh Love is even a good song, but I think I like it better.
i find it weird to hold its lack of complexity against it. like, it's not "jesus of suburbia" but you get that kind of stuff on the record anyway with "21st century breakdown." the lead single from american idiot was the title track after all