Skip to main content

IN REVIEW: Green Day - "Revolution Radio"


"We all die in threes", Billie Joe Armstrong exclaims in the lead off track of his band's 12th album. While he may be referring to celebrities, he might as well be talking about his career. The messy, overstuffed trilogy of albums Green Day released in 2012 was hampered by Armstrong's entry into rehab and a lukewarm-at-best reception of the albums by fans. It was such a substantial fall that it could have ended Green Day then and there; and yet, here we are four years later, with the newly minted hall-of-famers back to the grind again and asking forgiveness from a fan base left cold by ¡Uno!/¡Dos!/¡Tre!, a project that even Armstrong admits was kind of a mistake.

What we get from Revolution Radio isn't really a return to form, though it is a return to basics; boasting 11 rarely interconnected songs (packaged with a twelfth from the soundtrack to Armstrong's acting debut that is tacked onto the end and seemingly not meant to be taken as part of the album proper due to the previous track's reprisal of the opener and Green Day Big Rock Ending™), the album doesn't seem designed to recall the band's original heyday or their theatrically inclined renaissance despite elements of both popping up here and there. If I'm being honest, the closest cousin Revolution Radio has in Green Day's discography is Warning, their 2000 effort that saw them move toward bigger hooks and a more mature songwriting approach after four records of bratty, star-making pop-punk. Both albums are concise, thoughtful and a fair amount less incendiary than most anything else in the band's canon. The irony is, whereas Warning nearly cast Green Day into irrelevance on account of entitled fans of their snotty punk turning their noses up at it (pun intended), Revolution Radio feels like the album Green Day needed to make to save them, likely from the sons and daughters of the old school fans who were left cold by Warning.

I realize I haven't talked about the music so much, but if you're familiar with the band you pretty much know what's going to happen here; there's nothing truly revolutionary on this record (another pun intended), but there's enough quality here to successfully pull them back from the brink.

October 7, 2016 • Reprise
Highlights Bang Bang • Revolution Radio • Too Dumb to Die

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Year in Rock 2025

  Alright, I've got some explaining to do.   By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but:   a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Year in Rock 2023: Album of the Year #10-1

Now we're getting somewhere; the top ten, where there are no duds or mids, only bangers. Also, no more teasing it out; let's wrap this up!  What I've learned this year from my ten faves this year is that it is indeed still possible for a dude approaching his fifties to more or less stay up to date on the new school. Of course, there are some listed here that got a boost from playing tribute to the old school, but there is an undercurrent happening in rock that points to the future. But, I'm getting ahead of myself; here come the champs. 10 MILITARIE GUN Life Under the Gun June 23, 2023 • Loma Vista Highlights Very High Will Logic Never Fucked Up Once Rising from the ranks of the still-potent L.A. hardcore scene, the debut record from Militarie Gun (following a trio of EPs) bears a dash of polish that's expected with backing from a larger label; the tension and energy remain, though, resulting in one of the catchiest hardcore albums I can think of in recent years. 9 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Year in Rock 2023: Album of the Year #15-11

  Alright, enough messing around. Let's cozy on up to the top 10. 15 THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM History Books October 27, 2023 • Rich Mahogany/Thirty Tigers Highlights History Books Autumn Michigan, 1975 It's not easy for a band to come back from nearly a decade away and simply pick up where they left off; it makes sense, then, that The Gaslight Anthem don't really try. Instead, their sixth album takes a more measured approach that's somewhat akin to a juiced up version of Brian Fallon's solo records. I personally would have preferred a little more fire in the collective belly, but otherwise everything there is to love about this band is fully intact. 14 ROYAL THUNDER Rebuilding the Mountain June 16, 2023 • Spinefarm Highlights The Knife Now Here - No Where Fade Coming a long six years after the enthralling, expansive WICK , Royal Thunder reemerges down one member with a somewhat stripped down sound in turn. Having said this, singer/bassist Mlny Parsons has long been the s...
Post a Comment
Read more