Welcome back to Left of The Dial! This week, we’re discussing Father of All… by Green Day. This isn’t my first time reviewing this band’s music, so check out my review of 21st Century Breakdown if you’d like an overview of Green Day’s history. On the subject of that album, it shares an interesting similarity with Father of All…, that being that both albums had producers named Butch on the team. 21st Century had Butch Vig, who you’ll recognize from Nirvana’s Nevermind, while Father of All… had Butch Walker, who has worked with P!nk, Fall Out Boy, and more recently The Struts. Walker also has an extensive career in making his own music, which is where he learned production, so keep an eye out for the next edition of LOTD featuring his latest work!
Returning to Green Day, Father of All… was released in February of 2020, making it their 13th studio album. The record has received a number of mixed reviews, which is understandable. The band made it a point to try a drastically different sound for this album and, as Billie Joe Armstrong described, mess with people. See, this album has been hyped as the band’s final album under contract with their label, Reprise Records, and it’s common for artists to do something totally out of left field or purposely drop the ball as a final hurrah to their contracts. Green Day is exactly the type of band I’d expect to pull a move like this, especially since it’s been rumored that they’ve had some growing tensions with Reprise as of late. However, that shouldn’t be an excuse to not give them fair criticism; despite the context behind why the record is the way it is, it still needs to be judged by the same standards as the rest of their catalog, so without further ado let’s give this record a spin!
Side 1
Side 1 contains the titular “Father of All…,” “Fire, Ready, Aim,” “Oh Yeah!,” “Meet Me on the Roof,” and “I Was a Teenage Teenager.”
From the start, “Father of All…” sounds pretty good. It’s fast with crunching guitar work, just the way I like it. Then Armstrong’s vocals come on, and I’m instantly thrown off. He’s singing in falsetto, which is a first for him on a Green Day record, and I can’t say it sounds great. Prince he is not. He doesn’t use it for the whole song, dropping it for the chorus, so it becomes a little easier to swallow than if he kept it up for the entire song. The chorus, speaking of which, is easily the best part of the song. The instrumentals kick to life as Armstrong’s vocals return to more familiar territory. If you listen closely, you’ll hear some synthetic handclaps enhancing the rhythm. Oh boy, the handclaps. You’ll hear more about those later, but they’re a fine addition here.
While I’m conflicted a bit on “Father of All…,” “Fire, Ready, Aim” clicked for me the moment I first heard it. Right out of the gate, the song is rife with energy in both the vocal and instrumental departments. It absolutely screams ‘sports anthem’ to me, and there’s good reason for it. In September 2019, Green Day signed a 2-year agreement with the NHL, where part of the deal had “Fire, Ready, Aim” being used as the intro song for Wednesday Night Hockey games. I can’t say for sure whether the song was written purposely for that deal or if it already existed in its current form before the deal, but what I can say is that lyrically, there’s little to do with the sport featured in the song. Instrumentally, however, is where that sporty feel is achieved. The tempo is appropriately fast, and the previously mentioned handclaps are used to much better effect here, calling to mind the cheerleading of an audience. During the second verse, there are even some keys thrown in that might remind you of the same keys used during sporting events to signal score changes. If the previous track left you with a bad taste in your mouth, then “Fire, Ready, Aim” is the perfect remedy.
“Oh Yeah!” is next, and signals another first for the band, this time being the use of sampling. The percussion and chorus are cribbed from Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ cover of “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah) by Gary Glitter,” and if you’ve listened to this cover before, then the sampled aspects will stick out like a sore thumb. If we simply take it at face value, the band certainly tries to make the material their own, which is something they’ve been quite good at in the past when performing covers. This time though, it doesn’t quite get there. The vocals are slow and groovy, which pair well with the percussion, and the bass deserves a shoutout too for tying these elements together. The chorus, however, is where it loses me. It sounds almost exactly like the original’s with no additions on Green Day’s end, which leaves it feeling out of place. While I see potential in this track, I think it needed more time in the oven to integrate the samples a little better. I’d say “Do You Wanna Touch Me” is more worthy of your time than “Oh Yeah!”
“Meet Me on the Roof” brings the energy back, and really leans into a 60’s pop-rock aesthetic. To me, “Oh Yeah!”’s issue comes from it not going far enough with its material, whereas by contrast “Meet Me on the Roof” succeeds because it completely embodies its influence. The steady rhythm and cheesy vocals make it a joy to sing along to, and the unrelentingly happy tone makes for a comedic contrast to its dark lyrics, alluding to being disfranchised and wondering how much worse things can get. The only shortcoming is the integration of the handclaps, which are probably starting to get grating if you’re listening to the record straight through. They work well for the intro of the song, where it’s just the guitar leading you in, but they should have been dropped once the vocals and other instruments kick in. The way they’re integrated, they come off as distracting at best and irritating at worst. It’s unfortunate because the rest of the song works so well, and the handclaps just do nothing but pull the song down. That doesn’t make this a bad track, I still recommend it. Just try not to let the handclaps distract you.
Finally, Side 1 ends with “I Was a Teenage Teenager.” This song is almost tonal whiplash from the previous one by being slow and brooding. Armstrong’s vocal performance here are a great aid to the mood, leaning into a softer and more vulnerable side for the verses and intensifying for the chorus alongside the instrumentals. The echos on the backing vocals are a nice touch on top of that. Overall, this track is solid, which is welcome when some of the other tracks have faltered in quality. And don’t worry, things get way better on Side 2!
Side 2
Side 2 contains “Stab You in the Heart,” “Sugar Youth,” “Junkies on a High,” “Take the Money and Crawl,” and “Graffitia.”
“Stab You in the Heart” is another throwback-style track, taking a rockabilly sound and putting it through a punk filter. It’s a delightful tribute to the genre, since punk has roots as a stripped-down approach to rockabilly. Instrumentally and vocally, this song gets my seal of approval! Lyrically, however, it’s a bit shallow, which isn’t saying much compared to the rest of the record so far. If you read the title, then congrats, you know what 90% of the lyrics are referring to. Since this is a tribute to rockabilly and early punk though, I can somewhat excuse the repetition. After all, are you really turning to rockabilly to get an inspiring message, or is it more to get a certain emotion across? Anger is an emotion that Green Day has proven they can express well through their music, and “Stab You in the Heart” is one of their bluntest tracks in that case.
Up next is “Sugar Youth,” easily my favorite track on the record! I’d probably attribute that to it being the closest to ‘classic’ Green Day we’ve gotten so far. It calls back to Revolution Radio, the band’s previous album, in terms of general sound, which is definitely a plus in my book. It’s energetic and melodic, two of the band’s most powerful weapons, with the only downside being the runtime. Oh, I haven’t talked about the length yet, have I? Father of All… is the band’s shortest album, clocking in at around 27 minutes total. “Sugar Youth” is the first track to come along where the length seems to work against it, and it feels like it’s getting cut off early. It’s probably the most complimentary complaint I can give a song, that it feels too short.
Contrast this with “Junkies on a High,” where it feels like it drags a bit too long. Like “I Was a Teenage Teenager,” it slows down the pace, which is nice considering the speed we’ve gotten from the last two tracks. Another similarity comes in the tone of the lyrical content, which is dark and brooding. “Junkies” relays Armstrong’s insecurities about falling back into his old addictions, and his vocal performance works well to show that. Moving to criticism, my complaint about this song feeling ‘too long’ come from the structure. “Junkies” has a ‘verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus’ structure, which makes the song feel like it’s on repeat when paired with the slow pace. I can appreciate what this song is trying to do, but it misses the mark, just by a little bit.
“Take the Money and Crawl” is another personal favorite of mine. It handles the tempo transition wonderfully by beginning slow and working up to a faster speed. I have Father of All… on vinyl, and this track in particular is fun to listen to that way because the intro has some artificial crackles and pops on it to stimulate the sound of an old phonograph. I just love little throwbacks like that in my music. The way the song kicks to life after that intro is like a hop through time that gives the track some extra personality. I also have to point out the distortion used on Armstrong’s vocals during the chorus, which simulates the record skipping whenever he says “crawl.” It allows him to draw out the word without it sounding weird, and gives a modern twist to the old-fashioned sound of record skipping. The cohesiveness of the two themes make this song a hit!
Finally, we have “Graffitia,” the final song on the record. If you were looking at this record and wondering where the social commentary was, then you’ll find it in this song. It comments on the institutional racism that still reigns true in many areas of the United States, as well as the police brutality against minorities that has become more apparent in the age of social media. It’s one of those songs that reigns even more true as of writing this than it did during its initial release, which is tragic considering the record is only a few months old. The song is another throwback sound-wise, this time to a slower “summer of love” mood, which contrasts darkly with the outdated issues associated with racism. I appreciate the bridge between the chorus and verses when the song is allowed to quiet down and become distant to hit you with the tragedy of the subject. For the last time here I’ll mention the handclaps, because there’s a conflicting issue with them on this track. They’re implemented extremely well in “Graffitia” because they blend well with the percussion, but I’ve become so burned out from their misuse on other tracks that it annoys me to hear them again here. This would be a non-issue if you were listening to these tracks individually, but having them all together with similar handclaps becomes grating. Ignoring that issue, it caps off the record on a fairly good note.
Overall, Father of All… is a real hit-and-miss of a record. Though it has some great hits, it has its fair share of misses as well. My top three would easily be “Fire, Ready, Aim,” “Sugar Youth,” and “Take the Money and Crawl.” Meanwhile, the bottom three are “Father of All…,” “Oh Yeah,” and “Junkies on a High,” though I’d elevate the last one above the first two.
Rating: 6.5/10