In the inaugural article of “Left of The Dial,” we will be reviewing 21st Century Breakdown by Green Day! Green Day is a punk band from Oakland, California, consisting of Billie Joe Armstrong on lead vocals and guitar, Mike Dirnt on bass, and Tré Cool on drums. 21st Century Breakdown was their eighth studio album, released in 2009. Like their previous record American Idiot, this is a concept album that carries a narrative through its 18 tracks. Unlike the previous record, where the story was fairly cut and dry, this one is much looser and left open to interpretation. It also splits into 3 acts. As I go through the tracklist, I will explain the plot as I see it, so don’t worry if your interpretation doesn’t match mine.
The record begins with “Song of the Century,” a track just shy of one minute long, drowning in radio static. The only instrument at play is Armstrong’s vocals, which when paired with the distortion of the radio interference, paint an unsettling picture of a world ruled by corruption. The lines “The era of static and contraband, That’s leading us into the promised land,” imply that there’s a danger to this world; that this is a place where rules don’t apply. It reminds me of the city of Neo Tokyo as portrayed in Akira, where the world is constantly at unease and nobody is safe from whatever unhinged danger is out there.
The static cuts out into the piano-driven introduction to the title track “21st Century Breakdown,” which also serves as the introduction to Act 1 of the record. Armstrong drew from his own experience when writing this song. Lines such as “Born into Nixon, I was raised in hell, a welfare child where the teamsters dwelled” and “My town was blind from refinery sun” recall his childhood in Rodeo, California, a dirt-poor town characterized by its location close to the oil refinery plants. It serves as a metaphor for how poorly the middle/lower class is treated by its government, a theme that continues through the song. The first two minutes of the song maintain a moderate pace, then speed up to introduce one of our main characters, who is referred to as “No-One” for the time being. He tells of being born into a world that doesn’t recognize “No-One” as anyone but a face in the crowd. His frustration comes to light with the lines “Praise liberty, The freedom to obey, It’s the song that strangles me, Well, don’t cross the line,” painting his country as an oxymoron of freedom and conformity. After this, the song slows back down with a call to action, for America to dream and scream; to make their voices heard and dare to go against the higher forces and what they say you should be before the radio static kills it off.
With that, we go into the loud and punky “Know Your Enemy.” This is where the lyrics get much more repetitive, like a marching song. The comparison is quite fitting, as this song continues the call to action that began in “21st Century Breakdown” to stand up and fight against the higher powers that try to suppress creativity and non-conformity. I find lines like “Silence is the enemy, Against your urgency, So rally up the demons of your soul” to be quite poignant, as standing up for yourself and making your voice heard is the best weapon against corruption. It can be a difficult task, especially if you’re an introverted and insecure individual, but one person rising up can inspire others and soon, you could have a whole army standing with you.
The next song is “¡Viva La Gloria!,” which begins with a melancholic piano piece introducing our other protagonist, Gloria. She is painted as a figurehead of enduring love, who is willing to do whatever she feels is necessary to protect her beliefs. The piano draws to a close as the drums kick in, the song jumping to life as Armstrong cries out Gloria’s name. She is the beacon of the rebellion, “The saint of all the sinners.” The song documents how she endures the blowback from the higher powers and pushes through the pain and suffering that comes with the territory of rebellion. The narrator, who is likely “No-One,” encourages her to keep fighting through her pain, with lines like “Don’t let the bonfires go out.”
From here, the narrator turns introspective for “Before the Lobotomy.” “No-One” is finally given a name, Christian, as he recalls his life prior to the destruction and ensuing rebellion. There’s a lingering sadness that defines the opening, as a hollow guitar melody accompanies recollections of Christian once being happy and innocent before his dreams were dashed and he subsequently ran away from home, burning bridges along the way. The most potent line from this opening is “Hearts are washed in misery, Drenched in gasoline,” which implies that maybe the bridge burning Christian partook in was literal. As the instrumentals intensify, the lyrics go into more detail about our protagonist’s old life. He was a blind follower of an unnamed faith, as the line “Christian sang the eulogy” implies. Later on, the lines “When the sky is falling down, It burned your dreams into the ground” hint that he had a realization that his devotion to his faith required him to sacrifice his dreams, which sickened him. He then turned to drugs to fill the void in his life, “Whiskey shots and cheap cigarettes,” only to realize how lost he had become in his misery. So he decides to abandon his faith and destroy any remains of his old life to find a new purpose. The opening lyrics repeat to double down on Christian’s decision and bring us back to the current day, and into the next song.
“Christian’s Inferno” is a fast track, with a grungy guitar line reminiscent of something out of the world of Mad Max. This song has Christian embracing his anger and channeling it into his rebellion, with lines like “There’s fire in my veins, And it’s pouring out like a flood,” and “I am the atom bomb,” paired with another repetitive chorus not unlike “Know Your Enemy.”
As the track ends, the pulsating guitar fades into a piano melody that encapsulates “Last Night on Earth.” This is my favorite track off the album as it serves not just as a love song between Christian and Gloria, but also as a loving tribute from Armstrong to his wife. The song reads like a message from Christian to Gloria, reminding her that no matter what happens to him, that he will love her unconditionally. Like how she is the beacon for so many others, she is also his inspiration to fight on. Armstrong took inspiration for this song from a series of text messages exchanged between him and his wife, which is given away in the opening line “I text a postcard, sent to you, Did it go through?” With this in mind, we have a better idea of just how strong Christian and Gloria’s love is, which provides a launching point for how it might change over the course of the album. This song concludes Act 1 of the album.
Act 2 kicks off with “East Jesus Nowhere,” which summarizes exactly who Christian and Gloria are rebelling against. The song opens with a few seconds of station surfing before settling on what sounds like a televangelist preaching “And we will see, how godless a nation we have become.” With that, the main guitar riff begins, with the rest of the band joining in shortly after. This song serves as a skewering of the church and, by association, the establishment as our protagonists form their own army, the class of 13, to bring it down. They have this infectious confidence that they will win the battle as pointed out in the lines “Don’t test me, Second guess me, Protest me, You will disappear,” which Armstrong whispers between punchy breakdowns for emphasis. As the final chorus is delivered, the song quiets down, before erupting to life with an outcry of “Yeah!” that caps the track off.
Next up is “Peacemaker,” which switches perspectives from the protagonists to the antagonists throughout the track. The song opens with a blood-curdling violin part which concludes in time for a quiet count in for the guitar. The class is now at a standoff with the establishment, as each side exchanges verbal blows and threats. Each verse is from the perspective of the class, as characterized by lines like “I’m gonna seize the day,” and “I am a killjoy from Detroit.” The chorus switches to the establishment’s view, evidenced by lines like “The infidels are gonna pay” and “Death to the girl at the end of the serenade” which directly targets Gloria.
With the conclusion of that song, we head into “Last of The American Girls” which is another dive into Gloria’s character. This time, however, it shows that her activism and rebellion come at a detriment to her own life, even more so than what was previously implied. The line “She’s a runaway of the establishment incorporated, She won’t cooperate” gives away that she’s on the run, just like Christian, and is a direct target of interest for the establishment. Later on, lines like “She’s a hero for a lost cause” and “She’s a natural disaster” start to hint that this battle might not end as Gloria hopes it will, and that she’s in danger of destroying herself in the process. As the song concludes, a sound reminiscent of Morse Code rises, speeding up until the drum licks of “Murder City” kick up.
“Murder City” leans deeper into the possibility of the class failing their mission. The rioting and fighting are starting to have a negative effect on them, and even Gloria is beginning to admit “We are the last call, and it’s too pathetic.” Nonetheless, they persevere and try to see their goal through, as the chorus repeats “Desperate, But not hopeless.”
In the next track “¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl),” the establishment sees that Gloria is becoming vulnerable and try to coax her into giving up her cause while she has the chance. The instrumentals take on a repetitive, almost nursery rhyme-like style, which on its own gives the song an unsettling tone as if the establishment is encouraging its congregation to gang up on Gloria. The way it intensifies as the song carries on accentuates the relentless hatred they have toward her. They repeatedly call her “little girl” and “little one” to bust her confidence, going so far as to call her “a stray for the salvation army” and “unholy sister of grace.” The song concludes with a dreadful low note that fades slowly, making your stomach drop with fear.
The melody of “Restless Heart Syndrome” is characterized by a depressing combination of piano and strings, along with lyrics telling of debilitating addiction. With Christian’s history of turning to drugs in his lowest moments, this song is likely about him. Like Gloria, his hope is also slipping away, and the line “I think they found another cure, For broken hearts and feeling insecure,” implies that the pair have hit a rough patch in their relationship thanks to their insecurities. Toward the song’s conclusion, the lines “I’m a victim of my symptom, I am my own worst enemy,” are repeated with slight modifications, eventually leading to the callback line “Know your enemy.” The ensuing breakdown of the instruments calls attention to the fact that Christian and Gloria now have a new mission: to beat their inner demons and overcome their self-destructive tendencies. This concludes Act 2.
Act 3 kicks off with the army march of “Horseshoes and Handgrenades,” where Christian has picked himself up off the ground and has restored his self-confidence. He taunts his enemy with lines like “Want you to slap me around, Want you to knock me out, Well, you missed me,” and “Well, everything you employ, Was meant for me to destroy.” As the song comes to a close, he chants Gloria’s name, showing he still fights in her honor.
A wave of static brings listeners into “The Static Age.” This song explores how relentless advertising and media exposure brainwashes the general public. The chorus chants “I can’t see a thing in the video, I can’t hear a sound on the radio, In stereo in the static age,” inferring that the media spews nothing but propaganda to the point that it deafens any other messages. Narrative-wise, it implies that perhaps the media outlets are the key to taking down the establishment and ending their corruption.
“21 Guns” brings the focus back to Gloria as she’s confronted by Christian. A slow-paced acoustic guitar accompanies the pair as Christian discovers that her self-destructive tendencies have caught up with her and she’s lost the spirit to go on with her crusade. At this point, the cops have tracked the pair down, calling for them to “Lay down your arms, Give up the fight” as the instrumentals intensify. As always, Christian resists, encouraging Gloria to “Throw up your arms into the sky, You and I,” reminding her she isn’t alone and that he will stay by her side no matter what.
As the song fades out, a new static-laden song begins, calling back to the melody of the first track “Song of the Century.” This time, however, the static is just one movement of “American Eulogy.” The melody dies down, igniting into chants of “Mass hysteria!” Christian and Gloria’s efforts have incited another huge riot from the middle/lower class and they finally have the numbers to overthrow the establishment. The leader of the establishment is unmasked as a compulsive liar, and his true colors are revealed with the line “When he said ‘it’s just a bunch of [n-word]s throwing gas into the’ Hysteria.” It’s warranted to note that the use of the n-word did spark some controversy for the band. In the context of the song, it’s spoken from the perspective of the establishment leader and goes to show his bigotry and insensitivity, truly painting him as a “bad guy” for using the word.
The “Mass Hysteria” movement ends with the rebellion gaining the upper hand by taking down one of the establishment’s reserves. This bleeds over into the movement “Modern World,” where Mike Dirnt takes over the lead vocals. He voices the class as they express their disdain for the modern age and how they all have different goals to accomplish through their rioting. They don’t share a common ground and the only thing they can seem to agree on is “I don’t wanna live in the modern world,” which repeats on a loop until the growing static cuts it off.
Finally, we reach the last song of the record, “See The Light.” Again, we see a callback to a previous song, this time being the piano melody of “21st Century Breakdown,” but at a faster tempo. At this time, Christian reflects on his journey. With his and Gloria’s task over, he needs something new to believe in, as the line “Well I – I just want to see the light,” illustrates. They have run away from civilization and he has no idea where his life is headed at this point. However, he takes comfort in knowing that he has grown from his experience and is about to start a new life away from the establishment and with Gloria by his side. The final line of the song “And I need to know what’s worth the fight” builds the band to a glorious crescendo before cutting back to the piano melody. It fades out slowly, echoing as it grows quieter, leaving you alone in the silence to process what you just listened to. It’s an incredibly fitting way to end a record that’s so big in scope and heavy with metaphor.
To conclude, 21st Century Breakdown stands as my all-time favorite album, and for good reason. The musicians on display all put in their best effort and shine bright thanks to Butch Vig’s brilliant, glossy production. The callbacks throughout the individual tracks help tie the record together in a unique way. The open-ended story encourages listeners to interpret the narrative in all sorts of creative ways, as I think good art should. There are only a few nitpicks I have, and luckily, they don’t detract too much from the listening experience. The mixing, while excellent when you’re listening to the album cover-to-cover, makes it difficult to listen to some songs on their own, as some begin or end abruptly. “Last Night on Earth” is the worst victim of this. The other issue is, as I mentioned earlier, is the choice of language used in “American Eulogy.” While it fits the context of the song, I’m sure there could have been a different word choice that would have provided the same amount of punch with less risk of blowback from listeners.
Rating: 4.5/5
Feature Photo by Becca Fauteux