21st Century Breakdown

21st Century Breakdown
Studio album by
Publication (s)	May 15, 2009
Label (s)	Reprise Records
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	Punk rock , alternative rock , pop punk
Title (number)	18th
running time	69:10
occupation	Vocals , guitar , piano : Billie Joe Armstrong Bass , vocals : Mike Dirnt Drums , percussion : Tré Cool Piano : Jason Freese
production	Butch Vig , Green Day
Studio (s)	Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood / Studio 880, Oakland / Jel Studios, Newport Beach / Costa Mesa Studios, Costa Mesa
chronology Bullet in a Bible (2005) 21st Century Breakdown Awesome as Fuck (2011)

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

21st Century Breakdown   DE 1 05/29/2009 (57 weeks)   AT 1 05/29/2009 (69 weeks)   CH 1 05/31/2009 (27 weeks)   UK 1 05/17/2009 (39 weeks)   US 1 05/30/2009 (38 weeks)

Singles

Know Your Enemy   DE 14th 05/04/2009 (12 weeks)   AT 11 05/01/2009 (26 weeks)   CH 16 05/03/2009 (18 weeks)   UK 21st 04/25/2009 (10 weeks)   US 28 05/02/2009 (10 weeks) 21 guns   DE 13 08/10/2009 (20 weeks)   AT 10 08/07/2009 (51 weeks)   CH 13 07/26/2009 (30 weeks)   UK 36 04/07/2009 (10 weeks)   US 22nd 07/11/2009 (11 weeks) 21st Century Breakdown   DE 71 11/30/2009 (1 week)

Green Day at the 21st Century Breakdown Release Party in Berlin on May 7th, 2009

21st Century Breakdown (English for: collapse of the 21st century ) is the eighth studio album by the US punk rock band Green Day . It reached high chart positions internationally, including number one in Germany , Austria and Switzerland .

The album won a Grammy in 2010 for "Best Rock Album".

Emergence

21st Century Breakdown succeeds the internationally very successful album American Idiot , which was released on September 21, 2004 and has sold over 12 million copies worldwide to date. The band struggled with the three-year production of 21st Century Breakdown . Billie Joe Armstrong described the period as "scary" and "daunting". “It's the most challenging album we've ever made. We put so much work into it and it drove us crazy like no other. We all got sick like dogs. "

In January 2006, immediately after the "American Idiot Tour" ended, the band began writing new songs - according to Armstrong, about 45 songs were created. For the recording and production of the album, which took about a year and was completed in early 2009, Green Day hired the renowned producer Butch Vig . With him Green Day broke new ground, for example Armstrong played the piano for the first time and sang falsetto . He says: "The piano was a new thing to us and I made my voice do things it had never done before."

To get away from the work on 21st Century Breakdown , the Green Day musicians founded the band Foxboro Hot Tubs in December 2007 and released the album Stop Drop and Roll !!! under this name in April 2008 ! which musically moves in garage rock influenced by the 1960s . A short tour followed in May.

In April 2009 Green Day played 21st Century Breakdown live for the first time at some concerts in Californian clubs, on July 3, 2009 the 21st Century Breakdown World Tour started.

concept

21st Century Breakdown follows the rock opera concept of its predecessor American Idiot . Divided into the three acts "Heroes and Cons" ( heroes and deceivers ), "Charlatans and Saints" ( charlatans and saints ) and "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" ( horseshoes and hand grenades ) it tells of the young couple Gloria and Christian and the attitude towards life in America of the beginning of the 21st century . Unlike the predecessor, the songs do not form a coherent story.

Thematically, the album describes the beginning of a new era after the replacement of George W. Bush and the associated uncertainty, but also hope and optimism. Another central theme of the album is the manipulative forces and hypocrisy within organized religions .

Track list

1. Song of the Century - 0:57

Act I - Heroes and Cons

2. 21st Century Breakdown - 5:09
3. Know Your Enemy - 3:11
4. ¡Viva la Gloria! - 3:31
5. Before the Lobotomy - 4:37
6. Christian's Inferno - 3:07
7. Last Night on Earth - 3:57

Act II - Charlatans and Saints

8. East Jesus Nowhere - 4:35
9. Peacemaker - 3:24
10. Last of the American Girls - 3:51
11. Murder City - 2:54
12. ¿Viva la Gloria? (Little Girl) - 3:48
13. Restless Heart Syndrome - 4:20

Act III - Horseshoes and Handgrenades

14. Horseshoes and Handgrenades - 3:14
15. The Static Age - 4:17
16. 21 Guns - 5:21
17. American Eulogy (A: Mass Hysteria / B: Modern World ) - 4:26
18. See the Light - 4:36

Singles

Know Your Enemy

The first single from 21st Century Breakdown was released on April 18, 2009, Know Your Enemy . The b-sides to the single are Lights Out and Hearts Collide .

21 guns

The second single, 21 Guns , was released on July 24, 2009. For the video for the single, the band received three MTV Video Music Awards in 2009: "Best Rock Video", "Best Direction in a Video" and "Best Cinematography in a Video". Favorite Son , the B-side to the single, was released in 2004 on the compilation Rock Against Bush Vol.2 .

On December 22, 2009, a second version of 21 Guns was made available for download. This version was produced by Billie Joe Armstrong and recorded with the American Idiot Musical. A music video was also released for this version.

East Jesus Nowhere

East Jesus Nowhere , the third single from 21st Century Breakdown , was released on October 19, 2009.

21st Century Breakdown

On October 19, 2009, Green Day released a music video for the song 21st Century Breakdown . The single for this was released in Germany on November 13, 2009.

Last of the American Girls

On April 1, 2010, Green Day released a music video for the song Last of the American Girls . The corresponding single was released in Germany on June 4, 2010 with the bonus tracks Know Your Enemy (Live) and 21st Century Breakdown (Studio 880 Sessions) .

reception

The Rolling Stone magazine gave the album 4½ stars and ruled: "Musically Green Day combine the usual thrashing with her newfound love of classic rock bombast. The opulent title track bows boldly before 70s glam hits, the glossy ballad Last Night on Earth sounds like Air Supply . But best of all are the angry hymns: guitar rockers with a Latin note ( Peacemaker ) or clash-like punk ( Know Your Enemy ). Last of the American Girls is a wonderful left wing love song to a rebel. "Rob Sheffield praised the album for being better than American Idiot and for hearing" how much effort Green Day go to conveying their ideas and challenging their audiences. " The fact that 21st Century Breakdown seems so vital “is not least due to this lasting surprise: that Green Day of all people took over the torch and ran with it. And they sound as if they were as shocked about it as everyone else. "

Web links

• Criticism on laut.de
• Criticism on Plattentests.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Adam Bychawski: Green Day speak about new 'power-pop' album. In: NME. December 2, 2008, accessed September 7, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
3. ↑ 21st Century Breakdown Album Performance at acharts.us
4. ↑ Diablo Magazine: "Green Day's Rock Musical" , September 2009 (English)
5. ↑ ^{a b} thesun.co.uk: Green Day: "This is our most ambitious LP" , April 24, 2009 (English)
6. ↑ Spotlighting News: "Green Day Talks About New Album And Silence" , January 3, 2006 (English)
7. ↑ NME: "Green Day break studio silence on new album" ( Memento from April 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), October 8, 2007 (English)
8. ↑ clashmusic: Green Day Single News - 'East Jesus Nowhere' due , September 25, 2009 (English)
9. ↑ greenday.de: "Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown" ( Memento from December 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), November 13, 2009
10. ↑ Reception ( memento from June 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on rollingstone.de