green day's 21st century breakdown is a captivating, sophisticated work of art.
true art endures. and to that point, i can't get these songs out of my head. i can't. i won't. i'm glad.
so, after all these years, i've decided to come out of the closet and admit a stone-cold musical fact about myself: i have never been wrong in my assessment of any kind of music, ever. it's not ego, so don't bust my balls, it's instinct. there are plenty of things i can't do well, this is one i can.
my choices may not be to everyone's taste, that doesn't matter to me. i'm saying that no one's ever had to explain to me the greatness of an artist. the beatles nabbed me at 3, mozart at 8, then ella fitzegerald at 10, barbara streisand at 11, eva cassidy (1986), bob marley (1978), sting (way before the police), elvis costello (1976), little feat (1976), linda ronstadt (1975), elton john (1973), janis joplin (1969), the pretenders (1979), the ramones (1980) and that's only a partial list of performers that i've recognized for their talent within 5 seconds or less upon first listen.
sometimes it's a curse; if something is awful, i know that right away as well.
i'll admit i didn't know much about green day before american idiot but that's only because i didn't listen to the radio much in the 90's. hey, i didn't know about nirvana until after kurt cobain was dead but that didn't stop my brain from being knocked-out by his talent the first time i heard his voice coming out of my truck's shitty radio.
when i fell for green day in the fall of 2004 it was hard and visceral.
those guys kick musical ass and fucking mean it! it doesn't hurt that billie joe, mike and tre are all virtuosos at what they do.
21st century breakdown is a refinement of an idea put to music and lyrics. the idea? that there is no one answer to human unrest but there's plenty of it. the revolution is within you, what the fuck are you going to do about it?
war and peace overlap. if american idiot was a war, then 21st century breakdown is the coming of that storm.
congratulations on another brilliant artistic achievement that makes people think and act~
