Review Summary: "Bang bang is told from the perspective of a mass shooter this album will be great" brettwasright
When American Idiot came out in 2004, Green Day was on top of the world. That album skyrocketed them to legend status, and is a big reason they've had as much commercial longevity as they do. This album also presented them with a new problem, the follow up. Either they'd regress to what they normally do, making American Idiot look like a fluke and not selling nearly as well, or releasing another concept album that would garuntee success, but would lack the integrity and creativity that made it's predecessor work so well. And as we all know, they chose the 2nd option and in 2009 released the cash grab that was 21st Century Breakdown. The album that many fans consider to be where Green Day's decline began, this record took American Idiot, divided it into 18 tracks and 3 different movements, and filled the album with production gimmicks to make the album seem as epic as possible. The problem with this was the songs didn't contain enough substance to work as well as American Idiot, as the lyric writing felt a lot more forced and disingenuous, repeatedly falling into repetition and cliches. Although this album is reviled by a lot of fans and critics, it would become the 3rd best selling album in their entire discography, which lead to a change in the band's attitude
So after the tour and hype died down, it was time for Green Day to release their next project, a trilogy of albums recorded at the same time they titled Uno, Dos, and Tre. Being regarded as the worst efforts in their entire discography, these records consist of 37 songs plagued with dreadful lyrics, boring chord progressions, squeaky clean production, and vocal filters that make listening to these records an absolute chore. At their worst, these songs could be gradingly repetitive ("Kill the DJ"), creepy ("Makeout Party"), and whatever the hell "Nightlife" was. These albums illustrated a new attitude that Green Day had adapted. An attitude that 21st Century Breakdown's success must have made them realize. That anything they made would sell.
And that backfired hard.
Uno Dos and Tre had abysmal sales, partially due to lack of promotion. One week before Uno came out they were scheduled to play iHeartRadio, and that show was cut short by a drunken rant from Billie Joe Armstrong that landed him in rehab. They had to postpone the tour until early 2013, which as a result prevented them from properly promoting Dos and Tre. In fact, Uno was the only one that even hit 100,000, which is pathetic for Green Day standards. Mix that with critical backlash, you would think they'd try to fix things for their next release.
But when they released a Christmas song last year that contained all of the trilogy's worst qualities, it got harder and harder to imagine Green Day ever coming to their senses and trying to fix how massively they've ***ed up over the past decade. And why should they? Even though Uno Dos and Tre were commercial failures, they still made lots of money on tour. Hell, they got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame their first year of eligibility. Before the announcement of this album they never showed any awareness of theirr mistakes, and it was hard to think they'd ever return to form.
So naturally I was nervous as hell when they announced a new single called "Bang Bang" off of their new record Revolution Radio. After everything we've gotten from Green Day over the past decade, the expectations going into this track were incredibly low. During that week they announced it before it's release, I grew increasingly nervous for the release date. Green Day is arguably the most important band in shaping my music taste, and I've always been a pretty big apologist for them as long as I've listened to them (hell, I even liked 21st Century Breakdown despite all of it's major problems). This would be the first new Green Day song I heard while I was a fan of them (the Christmas song doesn't really count), considering I got into them in 2013, right after the release of the trilogy. I really wanted this song to be good, but each time I read anything from them about writing this album, the expectations continuously sank and sank. When August 11th hit, I was full of dread, when I saw the song appear in Spotify, with it's Dorito's commercial "edgy" burning radio as the album cover. I reluctantly pressed play.
And to my absolute disbelief, "Bang Bang" kicked ass
As the static of a radio opens up the song with the instruments quietly coming in, it all kicks into high gear about 20 seconds into the song, and doesn't let up until the bizarre bridge, that contained a somewhat Eastern influenced riff similar to "Pay the Man" by the Offspring, until the song explodes again pushing until the track's end. The guitar tones, while nothing phenomenal, were miles better than the extremely clean, overproduced tones on Uno, and the vocal filters, while not entirely gone, weren't nearly as distracting as they were on the previous three releases. This song features almost early Billy Talent-esque call and response vocals during the chorus, and features some of the bands most forceful instrumentation during the verses. The song is exactly the return we needed to hear from this band, and after it's release, the band started talking about the album more and more, where it was revealed that they themselves thought Uno Dos and Tre were mostly sub par and prolific for the sake of it. This record apparently is supposed to be a response to the negative press of the trilogy, and they self produced the album so the production wasn't as lifeless as it was on it's predecessor. It was so relieving to hear that they finally started trying again. And this new single showed that this album had the potential to be their best record since American Idiot. So would this be the return to form that wins back all the fans who have felt betrayed by the band for the past twelve years?
Not exactly. However, with some of the tightest songwriting we've heard from them, this album is still the best Green Day album since 2004.
Right off the bat, you get "Somewhere Now", which as an opener is very different for the band. Usually Green Day albums open with one of their higher energy songs, such as "American Idiot", "Burnout", or even "Nuclear Family". However, this track that begins with an acoustic guitar intro with some light volume swells filling the atmosphere. As Billie's voice is added to the mix, it keeps this atmosphere during the opening verse, gradually building into the chorus where everything kicks back into gear. Alternating between keys in the verses and choruses, the track is one of the most well constructed on the album, featuring some of Tre's best drum work in a while. This song is very similar to something that could've come off of Who's Next, as the Who's influence is very present on this song. Although it's a bit slow, it's an effective way to kick off the album and one of the album's stronger tracks.
From there the album leads into the singles "Bang Bang" and "Revolution Radio", which are both easily the fastest songs on the album. Considering these are the two most similar songs on the album, it makes sense they were released as the promotional songs, with "Bang Bang" being the loud, agressive (for Green Day standards) song that it is that could signify a return to form, and "Revolution Radio" containing a lot of the same elements in a much more accessible track. Both are standouts, though "Revolution Radio" doesn't succeed as well, with it's call and response feeling a bit forced, and it's alternating A major/A minor feeling less original than it does on "Bang Bang". Regardless, it keeps the energy up that "Bang Bang" starts, and shows that Green Day still has some life in them after all these years. Towards the end of the album we get "Too Dumb to Die", which contains some of this energy the other singles contain. This song has one of the most infectious choruses on the entire album, and a somehwat similar chord progression to certain cuts on Warning such as "Church on Sunday" and "Fashion Victim", making for a fairly enjoyable listen.
That's not to say this album doesn't succeed when it slows down. "Outlaws" is a power ballad that's one of the album's strongest musically. The verses are based on Dirnt's soft bassline working along with Tre's ride cymbal keeping tempo, creating a somewhat jazzy feel. Billie incorporates e-bow and volume swells in the quieter parts of the track, expanding the song's overall atmosphere, while he gently sings over it until the chorus hits. During the chorus, it sounds like your standard slower Green Day song, but the bridge is one of Billie's strongest. With a solo somewhat similar to that of "Whatsername", this song contains some of his most interesting guitar work in a while, during the first half at least. When the vocals come back in, they feel more powerful than they did at the beginning, with one of Billie's most enjoyable vocal melodies on the album, until it leads back into the chorus. "Troubled Times" is another slower song towards the end of the album, and it feels more haunting than any of the other tracks. Most of this lies in the ominous minor chorus progressions that the song is built upon and Billie's apocalyptic lyrics. Add that with the quiet loud formula in the song, somewhat eastern progression at the end of the solo, and mostly instrumental chorus, and you have one of the darkest sounding songs this band has ever given us.
Lyrically, this album has a wide range of topics. Songs like "Troubled Times" and "Say Goodbye" have a much more political focus (both negative ones), where some are more reflective on Billie's life, like "Outlaws" and "Too Dumb to Die". This is definitely one of his most personal records, and no song is more evident of it than "Still Breathing". The 3rd single from the album, this track is all about his struggles with addiction that dominated the sessions of Uno Dos and Tre, and how he almost OD'd during the sessions. This song seemed very theraputic for him, and this is probably his most theraputic track lyrically. This is the first album in a long time where Billie really poured everything he could into his lyrics.
Too bad the lyrics are ***ing awful
This album's weakest aspect is easily it's lyrics, and it's such a shame because Billie is actually trying his hardest here. There isn't anything disingenuous like 21st Century Breakdown or anything as lazy as Uno Dos and Tre, but there isn't a single song on this album that doesn't fall into the cliches Armstrong has developed this past decade, and "Still Breathing" is one of the songs most guilty of this. Granted, it's harder to take seriously with it's All Time Low-lite instrumentation, but the song just recycles the most generic lyrics over and over again, making for one of the worst cuts on the entire record.
Even the stronger songs run into similar problems. As much praise as I've given the song throughout it's review, "Bang Bang", especially in it's verses, is a pretty poorly written song lyrically, containing lines like "I got my photobomb, I got my Vietnam", "I'm sweating bullets like a modern Romeo", and "give me death or give me head". The song has a couple of salvagable lines, and the instrumentation makes up for it, but it shows that even at their best now, there's too much damage to undo. "Revolution Radio" as well contains even more of these overused phrases, such as "give me cherry bombs and gasoline / debutants and surgery", or "we are revolution radio / operation no control", but again is strong enough to stand up on it's own
"Say Goodbye" is easily the biggest victim of repetition on this album, opening up with the lines "say goodbye to the ones that you love" repeated throughout the entire first 30 seconds of the song. Lyrically this song attempts to be a more biting statement on the apocalyptic state they view the world in, containing commentary such as "teach your children well from the bottom of the well" and "sing hello to the cops on patrol / say hello they're the ones in control", but as much as they're trying, these lyrics don't really have something to say. And many of them are bludgeoned in your head repeatedly. The instrumentation isn't awful, containing the rare Billie Joe solo that doesn't just copy the choruses melody as well some solid vocal harmonies, and the buildup of instrumentation and vocal samples at the end give it a more haunting feel, but it's a much more difficult song to enjoy because of the verses (or chorus it's hard to tell with this song because neither are lyrically consistent).
The lowest point of the album lyrically is definitely the middle section. Although "Bouncing Off the Wall" stands up on it's own with a kickass riff, it contains some of the worst lyrics on the entire album, "concrete kiss / come on and do the twist for radio / my little exorcist". After that is "Still Breathing", which is followed by "Youngblood", which is the weakest track on the album. While it's not horrendously constructed and there's a cool guitar part in the middle, it shows Billie at his absolute worst lyrically. For a song written about his wife, he probably could've come up with something better than "supernova / cherry cola / she's the cedars in the trees of Minnesota" and "she's my weakness / f**king genius / swear to god and I'm not even superstitious". Add the chorus of "young / blood / young / blood / young / blood / she's my little youngblood" and a two chord riff and you get the most grating song on the entire record.
The other big problem this album has is it's fairly inconsistent. If you'll recall, "Somewhere Now" opens up with gentle acoustic guitars before breaking into a Who-like anthem, which is followed by the album's more agressive songs, then a piano ballad. The middle section contains a trilogy throwaway and two All Time Low esque cuts. Then you get a light hearted song about Billie's childhood put right next to the album's darkest cut. Much of this album's inconsistency is due to the band's choice to self produce the record. Although they were able to focus more on songwriting and crank out a collection of some of their most well composed songs yet, they weren't guided to make a cohesive record. Although most of the songs can stand up on their own, the disjointed nature of this album isn't something everyone will be able to look past.
However, I would argue that from a technical standpoint, this is one of their stronger albums. Everything is competently played, and the songs are structured more interestingly, for the band's standards, than we're used to. With key changes, complex bass and drum work, e-bow, and completely different moods, Green Day instrumentally are able to pull off everything they try to do on this record. And no track showcases this better than the penultimate track "Forever Now"
A song that starts out somewhat similarly to "Letterbomb", this track contains the most life of any song on the entire album. The first section, while the weakest of the three, is still incredibly solid, with some of Mike's best playing on the entire album. This quickly leads into a key change after the 2nd verse, with a drum fill quickly leading into Billie's outbursts of "If this is what you call the good life / I want a better way to die". Suddenly, the tempo changes into a marching anthem with one of their most powerful sounding riffs. Billie's soaring vocals enhance the epic feel of the track even more as it quickly leads into the 3rd section. The riff breaks into the acoustic riff that opens "Somewhere Now", and this reprise builds up into the ending. The song's final movement is very similar to the ending of "A Quick One While He's Away" by the Who, where all the different movements all pile upon each other to make a truly magnificent closing expierience, with the added lyrics of "I aint gonna stand in line no more". The instrumentation from here spirals out of control, brining in the riff from the 2nd movement with Cool's increasingly chaotic drumming that leads into the final crashing chorus, until the riff from "Somewhere Now" quietly closes out the song. Although lyrically this track also isn't outstanding (this song actually contains the line "I wanna start a revolution / I wanna hear it on my radio"), it's the closest thing they've ever done to match the epics of "Jesus of Suburbia" and "Homecoming", and one absolute powerhouse of a tune that I'd argue is the best song they've released since American Idiot.
The album practically ends here, considering "Forever Now" sets the bar too high for an average acoustic ballad like "Ordinary World" to succeed. And as the final chords disappear, the final thoughts on this album begin to clear. Although this album is far from perfect, and it's flaws are very hard to ignore at times, this album contains something that Green Day has lacked for the longest time. Effort. In these 12 songs, we hear a band that's realized it's past mistakes and wants to try their best to fix them. While some of the damage is too difficult for them to undo (Billie Joe's lyrics), he at least tried his best here. Gone are the days of the meaningless, substanceless "Know Your Enemy". Gone are the days of the drunken 40 year old ramblings of "Sex Drugs and Violence" and "Makeout Party". Gone are the days of the lifeless, generic instrumentation of "Fell for You" and "The Forgotten". Gone are the days of 18 track albums. While they may not be able to fix all the mistakes they've made in the past, Green Day show on this album exactly what I needed to hear from them. That they've finally started to give a ***, and in the process cranked out some of the best tunes of their entire discography, even if we have to sit through a couple of sub par ones to get there.
Top 5 Best Tracks:
5, Somewhere Now
4. Bouncing Off the Wall
3. Troubled Times
2. Bang Bang
1. Forever Now
