21st Century Breakdown: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
Article Images
Line 19:
* [[power pop]]
* [[alternative rock]]
| length = 69:1317
| label = [[Reprise Records|Reprise]]
| producer =
Line 91:
| rev4Score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="guardian"/>
| rev5 = ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''
| rev5Score = {{rating|3.5|4}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Powers |first=Ann |author-link=Ann Powers |title=Giving rock's past a kick in the pants |url=https://articleswww.latimes.com/2009archives/la-xpm-2009-may/-15/entertainment/-et-greenday15-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 15, 2009 |access-date=December 13, 2009}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[MSN Music]]'' ([[Robert Christgau#Consumer Guide|Consumer Guide]])
| rev6Score = C<ref name=xgau>{{cite web |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |title=Consumer Guide |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cg2009-07.php |work=[[MSN Music]] |date=July 2009 |access-date=December 13, 2009}}</ref>
Line 103:
| rev10Score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="spin"/>
}}
Reception to ''21st Century Breakdown'' has been generally favorable, according to aggregating website [[Metacritic]], which reported a rating of 70/100 based on 30 critical reviews.<ref name="Metacritic">{{cite web|title=Reviews for 21st Century Breakdown by Green Day |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/21st-century-breakdown/green-day |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=July 30, 2009}}</ref> Dan Silver of ''[[The Observer]]'' awarded the record four stars out of five and likened it to both [[Bruce Springsteen]]'s music and the [[avant-garde]] writing of [[Chuck Palahniuk]].<ref name="observer">{{cite news|last=Silver |first=Dan |title=Rock review: Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/apr/19/green-day-21st-century-breakdown |work=[[The Observer]] |date=April 19, 2009 |access-date=May 27, 2009 | location=London| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090422053506/http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/19/green-day-21st-century-breakdown| archive-date= April 22, 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s [[David Fricke]] called ''21st Century Breakdown'' "a compound bomb of classic-rock ecstasy, no-mercy punk assault and pop-song wiles; it's like [[The Clash]]'s ''[[London Calling]]'', The Who's ''[[Quadrophenia]]'' and [[Hüsker Dü]]'s ''[[Zen Arcade]]'' all compressed into 18 songs".<ref name="Fricke, 48"/> Dan Cairns of ''[[The Times]]'' concluded: "Lyrically, it may succeed in capturing the contradictions, vulnerabilities and longing for harmony that thrum through Armstrong, Dirnt and Cool, their country, and humanity as a whole. But its real triumph, in an age of trimming, of market testing, of self-censorship and lowest common denominators, is not simply to aim insanely high, but to make it to the summit."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6154388.ece |title=Green Day return bigger and better – Times Online |work=[[The Times]] |date=April 26, 2009 |access-date=May 7, 2009 | location=London | first=Dan | last=Cairns}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
Criticism centered on the concept of the record; [[BBC]]'s Chris Jones said that it is "griping vaguely against 'authority{{'"}} and that "too many buzz words obscure incisive meaning".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/b6w6 |title=You may not get any deep insights, but you are getting some great tunes |last=Jones |first=Chris |date=May 8, 2009 |publisher=BBC |access-date=May 13, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090515022117/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/b6w6| archive-date= May 15, 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> Steve Kandell of ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' wrote that the humor of ''American Idiot'' was "sorely missed" and that the energy of the album seemed "directionless".<ref name="spin">{{cite web|url=http://www.spin.com/reviews/green-day-21st-century-breakdown-reprise |title=Green Day, '21st Century Breakdown' (Reprise) |last=Kandell |first=Steve |date=April 30, 2009 |work=Spin |access-date=May 17, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090503154459/http://www.spin.com/reviews/green-day-21st-century-breakdown-reprise| archive-date= May 3, 2009 | url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'}}s [[Alexis Petridis]] indicated that "the storyline becomes impossible to follow".<ref name="guardian"/> [[Robert Christgau]] of ''[[MSN Music]]'' panned the album, reserving particular distaste for the multiple songs that heavily utilize [[Dynamics (music)|dynamics]], before concluding, "I don't like right-wing Christianists either. But as every oppressed teen in the right-wing orbit knows full well, they're not as garbled and simplistic as Armstrong's anthems insist."<ref name=xgau/> Adam Downer of ''Sputnikmusic'' was even less receptive, calling the album "more conceptually vague/ridiculous than ''American Idiot''", and going on to say that it "spirals out of control in its own heroic glory and never regains focus, thus ending with a product that Green Day couldn't afford to produce: an average record".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=30509 |title=Green Day 21st Century Breakdown |last=Downer |first=Adam |website=Sputnikmusic |date=May 11, 2009 |access-date=May 13, 2009| archive-url= https://archive.today/20090519193034/http://sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=30509| archive-date= May 19, 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> ''[[Slant Magazine]]'' claims that "...an uncanny sense of familiarity hangs over too much of the album. The melodies of several tracks suggest ghosts of older Green Day songs."<ref name="Slant">{{cite web|last=Robbins |first=Charles |title=Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/green-day-21st-century-breakdown |work=Slant |date=May 15, 2009 |access-date=December 13, 2009}}</ref> Kyle Ryan at ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' gave the album a B+, noting it as "going [even] bolder" than ''American Idiot''. Ryan also declared "''21st Century Breakdown'' reinforces what ''American Idiot'' first revealed: Green Day should never be underestimated."<ref name="club"/>