21st Century Breakdown

21st Century Breakdown, Green Day’s eighth full-length studio album, serves as the band’s bolder and arguably more mature follow-up to their wildly successful 2004 release, American Idiot. A punk rock opera much like its predecessor, the album follows protagonists Christian and Gloria, a tumultuous young couple attempting to navigate life in post-Bush America.

Christian and Gloria are representative of two warring aspects of frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s personality. Through Christian, Billie portrays an angry nihilist with a destructive personality, expressing the explosive parts of himself that he normally tries to contain. Gloria, on the other hand, is activistic and idealistic, always seeking to help those who can’t help themselves. Billie describes her as a blending of himself and his wife Adrienne.

Musically, 21st Century Breakdown sees Green Day experiment with a number of new musical styles, the most obvious of which being the use of the piano, as opposed to the guitar, as the primary instrument on several of the album’s songs. Other dabbles include a capella, power pop, screamo, and gypsy rock.

In order to make the album’s story easier to digest, 21st Century Breakdown was divided into three parts:

• Act I, “Heroes and Cons,” begins with track 2, “21st Century Breakdown”
• Act II, “Charlatans and Saints,” begins with track 8, “East Jesus Nowhere”
• Act III, “Horseshoes and Handgrenades,” begins with track 14, “Horseshoes and Handgrenades”

“Song of the Century” stands on its own as the album’s introductory track.