Green Day’s newest production, Revolution Radio, is absolutely, 100% worth the 44 minutes it takes to listen to all the way through. The trio’s 12th (TWELFTH!!) studio album is an exhilarating mix of unrestrained political power punk, powerful ballads, and emotional trips that really tug on the heartstrings. Through it all echoing their very best moments from Dookie!, American Idiot, and 21st Century Breakdown.
The band start off with the eclectic Somewhere Now, making a statement from the outset that this album is not to be trifled with before moving right into the fiery and disturbing Bang Bang, written from the perspective of a deranged mass shooter. Lyrics such as “Daddy’s little psycho and Mommy’s little soldier” and “I wanna be a celebrity martyr” reflect the band’s foray into entirely dangerous territory. The jaunty and oscillating Youngblood towards the end of the album reminds us all where Green Day came from and with a “fuck you I’m from Oakland” reminds us just as clearly that they’re here to stay.
Sure, the album has some low points, the languid Outlaws seems to be almost an afterthought at some points, and Troubled Times is not half the song it could be. All the same, these are minor blemishes on an otherwise fantastic album. Any lasting negative impression of these two songs is immediately made up for with 30 seconds of the impeccable Still Breathing, which is far and away the most powerful song on the album, a testament to everyone going through tough times with passages like “My head’s above the rain and roses/making my way away/my way to you.” Give it to Gerard Way or Alex Gaskarth and it could easily have been at home on Danger Days or Future Hearts while remaining quintessentially Green Day.
Of course, Green Day also make their obligatory political statement, with the highly relevant and restless title track, Revolution Radio. With lyrics like “Like you wanna to testify/for the life that’s been deleted” and “give me cherry bombs and gasoline/debutants in surgery and the headline/legalize the truth!” the band call out the media and, by extension, their subjects.
The album rounds out with the 6:52 Forever Now, a brilliant testament that reflects the very best in their previous work and the acoustic Ordinary World, a toned down sound we haven’t heard from Green Day since Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) that manages to be just what the album needs to finish on a high note.
The biggest take away from this album is that Green Day, despite a four year hiatus, have managed to stay relevant. Don’t try to tell these guys that their all in their mid-forties; this album makes it clear that they are not listening. All in all, Green Day’s latest work isn’t perfect, but like Ordinary World says, it “is more than enough.”
