Green Day - Revolution Radio: Album Review

I think the hardest thing in my life recently has been being a Green Day fan. Not necessarily just existing as one, but being around other fans as part of the community has just been taxing recently. Why? Well, picture how Megadeth fans feel about Rust In Peace, except Rust in Peace was just kinda OK, but they still think it’s the best record ever, and the follow up somehow better, even though in reality it was worse. That’s how Green Day fans have been lately. It’s normal for fans to clench onto a good record as proof that their favorite artist has talent, but Green Day fans answer every complaint with “American Idiot” and “21st Century” like their lives depend on it. Being so narrow minded is only damaging to when a band does something new (maybe not better, but original) because it makes you perceive everything that isn’t ‘the best’ as ‘the worst’. In the case of Green Day, this applies to almost every album before and after the American Idiot/21st Century days. No one likes Uno, Dos and Tre, even though it’s some of the most original material the band ever put out. No one likes Insomniac because it was too weird but Nimrod is perfect because it’s safe.

I bring all this up because in the last few months the response to the singles off Revolution Radio were pretty crazy. Bang Bang was hailed as the return to the band’s “true form” the title track received the same attention, and Still Breathing regarded as one of the most personal songs the band has ever put out. All of the above is what I disagree with. But that’s what this review is for is it?

First thing that caught me off guard about Revolution Radio was just how much the mixing has changed from The Trilogy. The Trilogy is often scoffed at the cleanliness of its mixing, but the Trilogy had a happier tone and I think the mixing really enhanced that. Revolution Radio is a bit more serious, but not enough to come anywhere close to something like American Idiot or 21st Century. The distortion is a bit heavier, Billie Joe’s singing style is pretty standard fare, and doesn’t feel like some pointless swears were shoehorned into the lyrics. But in terms of tone, there are more serious themes of addiction, sadness, loneliness, it’s typical Green Day stuff, and at this point it only really matters if the songs are catchy enough rather than lyrically complex. Most of the album is melancholy. Not depressing, not longing, but more emotional than The Trilogy.

Another thing that threw me off: the opening track “Somewhere Now”. This may just be my favorite intro to any Green Day album. The first couple of verses are a sad acoustic ballad reminiscent of “See You Tonight” before exploding to a track with some more theatrical elements (see American Idiot) but also continuing with that cleaner folky guitar throughout the rest of the track. It’s something that really filled me with hope. Here’s a track that did everything that American Idiot was going for, without the melodrama and edgy try-hard fux punk rock attitude, and it’s pulled off exceedingly well. Then the rest of the album happens.

The grand majority of the track on Revolution Radio follow Green Day’s pattern that they’ve perfected since 21st Century, but unlike that record it doesn’t have any of its failings. Most of the songs don’t try for that overly dramatic rock opera tone that 21st Century tried so hard to hit. This album just comes off like another edition of Nimrod. And just like Nimrod, this album just isn’t as great as we all want it to be. The problem lies in Green Day’s tendency to maintain a status quo. Most of the tracks are “neat intro bit” - verse - chorus -verse - end, all surrounded in Billie Joe’s moderate guitar talent, and Mike and Tre’s seemingly restricted bass and drums. Simple works until we’ve heard simple for the last decade or two of albums. The only real redeeming quality to all this is that when Billie Joe breaks out the acoustic, we almost always get a more folk sounding track rather than a melodramatic one, and when you realize that Green Day has pretty much made all their money from the sappy tunes of “Wake Me Up When September Ends” and “21 Guns” it’s refreshing to hear.

In the end, I did enjoy Revolution Radio, but more than ever I’m confused at Green Day’s refusal to go out there and make something bizarre and unique rather than something that’s just expected of them. We know you can make alt-rocky punk-ish music, Green Day, we have albums worth of proof of that, we really didn’t need another.

TL;DR: it’s an ok record. If you are a Green Day fan you should definitely give it a listen, but if you haven’t been convinced yet, it won’t convince you.

5/10 - Average