Revolution Radio: I’m Ready for A New Green Day
Revolution Radio is out and Green Day has another #1 album on their hands. For as good as their new disc is, I can safely say that I’m ready for a new Green Day. I don’t mean a new album from Green Day, I mean a new version of Green Day. Revolution Radio proves that it’s time for another revamp to their core sound.
Green Day’s career can be broken up into 3 periods: the Lookout years of mischievous un-hinged punk anthems, their post Dookie prime of power-punk pop, and their American Idiot renaissance with the grand expansion of sound and message. I’d say it’s fair to say that the innovation in Idiot and its follow up 21st Century Breakdown has been rolled back a bit in recent releases, but their core-sound hasn’t changed significantly since 2005.
RevRad reminds me of Warning, because it feels like the culmination of their past decade of work coming to a close. When Warning was new I thought it was amazing and was upset that it wasn’t getting the attention it deserves. Then Idiot came out and put Warning in a whole new light. RevRad is good, and possibly great, but much of it is more of the same.
It’s at its best when it’s venturing into new grounds like on tracks Still Breathing, Troubled Times, and Bang Bang. As good of a track as Bang Bang is, it’s the first Green Day single that didn’t immediately grab me and starting the album with Somewhere Now is anything but inspired. I’m a strong believer that their previous trilogy of albums could have been easily cut down to one really long album or a solid double album. Sure many of the oddities from those releases would have had to go, but the experience would not have been as exhausting.
RevRad sounds like those three albums concentrated into a tight 12 track experience. Songs like Youngblood, Too Dumb To Die, and Ordinary World are vintage Green Day at their pop-punkiest. The themes harken back to those found in the anti-establishment piece American Idiot but the lack of cohesively having a theme leave the album a bit disjointed. I say all of this as someone who thinks RevRad is pretty good. It’s an easily digestible catchy bunch of songs.
It’s probably the album that Green Day fans want, but it’s not the album they need. What we need is a sea change of an album, one that shows real growth and innovation. It doesn’t even have to be punk. Actually, at this point, the most punk thing they could do is a “not punk” album. Hell, even another attempt at a Rock Opera would have been more interesting. RevRad feels stagnate and rote and I know Armstrong and guys have at least one more classic in them.
Maybe this is just me not managing my expectations again. RevRad is rad and I should be celebrating what I like about it and not tearing it down for what it’s not. Give it a listen, especially if you haven’t heard a new GD album in a while. For newcomers or casual fans I’m sure it plays like a classic. For me, it has encouraged me to dive back into the back-catalog and really enjoy all three versions of Green Day.
Verdict: Not revolutionary, but totally radio worthy.
