Synecdoche.
Static Martyr:
Ahhh, Warning is the only Green Day album I still haven't listened to! Oh well, it would've made my review a little funnier instead of just being depressing.
Man, I wish the album were better; I wanted 21st Century Breakdown to make my opinion of Green Day go from "I can't believe I used to like these guys" into "hey, I used to like these guys and now they're good again!" Oh well, maybe next time.
Shut up and be a hero.
Well, as far as I'm concerned, they've already pretty much made their career. Anything they do after this is pretty much just for fun; so I don't really expect anything revolutionary. I'm just glad they're still making albums....hell, they could publish a polka album at this point and I'd probably listen to it~
Although I have to say, the lyrics....I like, and I don't like. I like on some of them, because I actually know what the hell the songs are about (I cannot say the same for half the songs on American Idiot)....but some others, I have no idea what it's supposed to mean. It's either too vague or apparently meaningless. It's better on 21CBD than it was on AI, but extremely vague lyrics always irritate me a bit. I don't mind symbolism or metaphor, but this non-sequitur poetry style of writing is what Fall Out Boy does that I don't like (not to say that Green Day is anywhere near as....argh....as Fall Out Boy).
EDIT:
I think "I crossed the river/fell into the sea" is something like, "I fell out of the frying pan and into the fire." It's like, you saw the river, and it looked huge and it was a lot of trouble to get across it, but you finally got past it....only to find out that the sea was on the other side, and it was much bigger. Not the most accurate metaphor (as, insofar as a river connects to a sea, it's usually the longways, not crossways --- the river leads into the sea, so you couldn't generally get to the river by crossing it), but I give them points just for getting the message across. It could be worse (something about "crashing not like hips or cars, no, more like....p-p-p-parties...." Ugh).18. I don't even want to listen to this. I finished the album and this song just isn't doing it for me. "I crossed the river, fell into the sea." That doesn't even make sense. Unless by "river" he means "That part of the ocean between here and the sandbar, but only during low tide." What a way to end. It sounds like the other songs. Fast forward. I like the end with the piano and the guitars. This is the only song where I actually like the piano.
Last edited by Static_Martyr; 06-03-2009 at 07:22 PM.
"I'm sorry
For all the things that I never did
For all the places I never was
For all the people I never stopped
But there was nothing I could do..."
Senior Member
They were on Conan last night and did Know Your Enemy. They'll be on Carson Daly 4 times next week. I'm pretty sure they'll do Know Your Enemy, 21 Guns, and East Jesus Nowhere. Don't know what the 4th song will be.Originally Posted by Cbonham5
LOL, I DVR'd the Letterman appearance and was talking to my friend before I watched about how i would riot if it was Know Your Enemy, but then I thought, "Hey, Letterman could pulll some strings and get them to play something else," and what do ya know, they one of my favorite songs on the record (who am I kidding, I love the whole thing)
Shut up and be a hero.
I have to say I'm not too thrilled about their Conan appearance; I was hoping for something different from what they've already played. And I already have 2 tapings of Know Your Enemy from other shows they've done in the past couple of weeks. I was really hoping they would play something they haven't done yet, like, I dunno, the title song, or maybe at least Viva La Gloria.
Ah, well. There's always Carson Daly....
"I'm sorry
For all the things that I never did
For all the places I never was
For all the people I never stopped
But there was nothing I could do..."
And the money.
Hmm. I was pissed that my DVR didn't record Conan last night, when it was supposed to. Now I'm not so peeved.
I forgot that I still need to say what I think of the album. I'll get to that later.
Synecdoche.
I liked this, even though you kind of answered it yourself. It's a good attempt at literate lyrics, but ends up falling flat on its face. Green Day does it best when its just playing fun music; I wasn't necessarily trying to bash them for being bad, I was just trying to point out how ridiculous the new music sounds.
It's like a clown putting on a suit and tie without taking off his face paint. It's a good attempt at looking classy, but they're still a punk band at heart and if they're going to try to be serious, they're going to have to up the ante further than they are.
a.k.a Blitz!
I must confess that I like this album, with one exception, Last Night On Earth. I believe that it will do well commercially, but won't have the same impact as AI. Although Dookie is my favorite album of theirs, I am not ashamed to add this one to my collection.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I AM A REAL AMERICAN.
So I'm stealike Coke's idea.
1.) Song of the Century:
Honsetly just a pointless intro track that doesn't really do anything for the record in any way. Ignorable.
2.) 21st Century Breakdown:
Honestly, I kinda like it. It's catchy and fun. But once you listen to the lyrics you realize that it's just a horrible attempt by Billie Joe trying to be Springsteen. Lines like "born on the 4th of July" and "I never made it as a working class hero" are so obvious it hurts.
3.) Know Your Enemy:
Boring, repetative, and obviously written to by the "standard Green Day song" of the record. Tries too hard to be catchy and fails misrerably. "Violence is an energy! Against the enemy! Violence is the energy YA HEY!" may be one of the dumbest lyrics he's ever written.
4.) Viva la Gloria!:
Aside from the opening section, with the cheesy piano crap and pseudo-deep lyrics, it's not bad. Yeah, it does sound a little too much like Letterbomb in parts, but as a standard pop-punk tune, it's not bad.
5.) Before the Lobotomy:
Again, the whole soft-opening-turning-into-pop-punk doesn't work, especially given that they just did it on the track before it. The lyrics again are just bad and corny, and the music sounds like a bad GNR ripoff. The pop-punk section is catchy and fun, but again, killed by bad lyrics. But again, I wanna say that this is the catchiest song on the album.
6.) Christian's Inferno:
Bad, bad, bad. Sounds like a b-side that accidentally made it onto the album.
7.) Last Night on Earth:
Cheesy, but honestly, I like it. I have a thing for piano based pop music, and they do it well here. Lyrically, it tries a little too hard, but I can ignore that.
8.) East Jesus Nowhere:
Again, I like it. Nothing more than a standard pop-rock song, but something about it really clicks for me, despite how bad the lyrics in the 2nd verse are. Billie's vocals sound a little less modified on this one, too.
9.) Peacemaker:
Probably my favorite on the whole album. Fun, catchy, lyrics that aren't completely horrible, and kinda reminds me of one of my favorite songs from Warning without sounding like a blatant callback.
10.) Last of the American Girls:
Just a blatant callback of "She's a Rebel" but not as good. Predicted to be the album's next "rock" single, as it sounds like it was written to be that.
11.) Murder City:
Standard Green Day song # 2. Really dull, and for whatever reason, it sounds kind of put together wrong, like Billie isn't singing in time with the music. Just feels really forced with no energy.
12.) Viva la Gloria?
Yet another song I really like. Reminds me a lot of Hitchin' a Ride, but sounds different. The lyrics are again kind of off, but I'm thinking that Green Day is really good with blending Greek/Middle Eastern music with their usual style.
13.) Restless Heart Syndrom:
Blatant Oasis/"Let It Be" era Beatles rip off with a noisy callback to "Boulevard" at the end. Does not live up to the album's other piano based track.
14.) Horseshoes and Handgrenades:
In my opinion, one of the worst on the album. Awful lyrics, and an awful ripoff of the Hives, who weren't even that good in the first place. I thought Foxboro Hot Tubs got that all out of their system, but sadly, it did not.
15.) The Static Age:
Aside from the stupid "hey hey it's the static age" section, I like it. It sounds like classic Green Day and feels really genuinly energized, unlike the rest of the album.
16.) 21 Guns:
Obviously written to be the 2nd, "serious" single. Pretty bad and follows an obvious template. My least favorite on the album.
17.) American Eulogy:
Aside from calling back the opening intro, this song has no point. Sounds like standard Green Day track #3.
18.) See the Light:
Honestly, I don't remember what this sounds like, even though I've listened to it a few times before. Which, to me, shows how forgetable it is. Also, horrible title for a song. Ranks up there with "Everything's Magic" by Angels and Airwaves as the cheesiest song title ever.
Overall, it's a really inconsistant record that's pretty much pointless. Billie tries way too hard to be profound, deep, and intelligent and just comes off sounding like a 16 year old who wants to be Roger Waters. Even the stronger numbers come off this way.
The worst part about the album is how cheap it is when you think about it. The entire thing is just the band trying one more time to cash in on the anti-Bush/Republican politics that re-ignited their career in the first place, ignoring the fact that those politics have been dated for a few years now. The whole thing just seems like obvious attempts at manufacturing political rage and angst out of a dead topic in order to seem passionate and emotional, but most of it comes off as phony. The entire thing just reeks as a caulculated attempt at winning over critics and fans by putting on an image of political rockers, and in the end, it doesn't really work.
"I'll die before I surrender, Tim".
Member
How does the second verse of East Jesus Nowhere have bad lyrics? This song has some of the best lyrics I've heard in a really long time.
I don't know how to do the multiple quote thing so I will just wing it. Coke-a-holic The Static Age actually has 2 key changes not just one.
And I would guess that the other song they will play on Carson Daly will be Before The Lobotomy. They seem to be fond of that one.
Senior Member
I thought they were going to be on Carson 4 times, but I guess it's only 3. Monday is a repeat and they aren't listed on Friday. But yeah, they need to do some of the other songs on 21CB because Know Your Enemy is starting to get old already.
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