There’s something about 21CB that I just can’t put my finger on. For an album that seems so big and relatively ambitious, it seems largely forgettable? It’s fine I guess?
21CB rules. Some great stuff on it Trilogy is easily the low point. Insomniac Warning AI Dookie 21CB RevRad Nimrod Kerplunk 1039 Trilogy
21CB is pretty good. It just had the hard task of following up American Idiot. Although it could have been a bit shorter.
I know I like 21CB for the most part, but I don't really return to it a lot. I've always kinda viewed it as trying to recreate the magic of American Idiot but not quite getting there
21CB is a pretty good Green Day album, but I think American Idiot is one of the best and most important rock records of all time so those were some big shoes to fill. Probably shouldn't have gone for a second stab at a rock opera because it'll always be their second-best rock opera. Title track is one of their top 10 songs. Billie Joe also says the n word on Mass Hysteria, which I always forget until it takes me off-guard during a listen.
Will listen to it every once in a blue moon and be blown away, but not one of their records I go back to very often.
I like almost every song on 21CBD. The problem is I don't love any of them. The album needed, like, two absolute stunners. If one was the lead single, it would have kept Green Day's momentum going (even after a five year break). Instead the lead single was their worst song to that point which killed a lot of the hype I feel. Like, I could not have been a bigger fan at the time and Know Your Enemy just fell so flat for me. I knew then their time at the top was over. And now when I listen to the album I think if you replace that and, say, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, with two top-tier Green Day tracks I'd look at the album as a classic. Instead it's just a good, fun, catchy record.
I agree with your analysis but also I completely love both Know Your Enemy and H+H so... haha Also, Coverups set:
Just did my first re-listen of all of their albums, for the first time since 2005. Of course, Dookie/Nimrod/Warning have a steady cycle... but, damn. Sadly can't stomach anything post-American Idiot. I understand what they were trying to do, they did great on that album. I really didn't and don't like it... and they'll just never be "Green Day" after that for me. Dookie Nimrod Warning . Insomniac Shenanigans Kerplunk 39/Smooth . . American Idiot . . . 21 Century Breakdown Uno Dos Tré Revolution Radio
Lol I did actually put Uno above it because I don't listen to either, but I love Stay The Night and like it more than anything on Rev Rad I'm pretty much in the 'if I'm gonna listen to Green Day it's American Idiot and everything before' boat too I get the urge to listen to 21CB sometimes and like always forget I skip so much on it that it feels like I wasted my time
I had a dream that they released a surprise new album today. All I remember was that it was 12 songs and the cover reminded me of Punk in Drublic
Revolution Radio is what restored my faith in this band. I pretty much stopped listening to them altogether after the trilogy. It's literally their best work since American Idiot and deserves to stand alongside their work from Dookie-AI.
21st Century Breakdown is ... a mixed bag. There was literally no way a band could ever follow up an album with as much success as American Idiot and meet the expectations: but the album we got ended up being pretty underwhelming. Some tracks are pretty decent such as the title track, Before the Lobotomy, East Jesus Nowhere, and American Eulogy (despite that one lyric), but some others are meh (Murder City, Static Age, Horshoes & Handgrenades, Christian's Inferno, Last Night on Earth). It is also too long lol.
I like The Static Age . Also, Last of the American Girls is super underrated. 21CB doesn’t hold up overall to me, though. Especially the back half. If I could make it a shorter record, Neglecting the story behind it, I would go: Song of the Century 21CB Viva La Gloria Before The Lobotomy Last Night On Earth Peacemaker Last of the American Girls Murder City Static Age See the Light IDK about order.
In order of what I listen to most: International Superhits Dookie Nimrod Warning Insomniac American Idiot the rest (most of which I haven't listened to more than once or twice, if at all)