Green Day is celebrating the anniversary of two cult albums this year and is going on a big stadium tour in the summer. Before that, the trio releases their new studio album. Can it keep up with the classics?
The members of Green Day have had half a century. Billie Joe Armstrong, Tré Cool and Mike Dirnt are each 51 years old. As aging punks, in 2024 they could actually rest on their past successes and focus on two important anniversaries.
A mix of “Dookie” and “American Idiot”?
The release of “Dookie”, which gave the Californian band their international breakthrough, was an incredible 30 years ago. The Grammy-winning concept album “American Idiot” turns 20 this year. But instead of limiting themselves to nostalgia, Green Day release “the soundtrack for a world in flames” (PR text). “Saviors” is their 14th studio album.
“About 30 years of experience that we have comes together in a way,” Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong told Canadian radio station 102.1 The Edge. “Whether it’s something from Dookie or American Idiot, I think we’ve kind of built a bridge and made an album that’s a defining one for us.”
Of course, it’s more common for musicians to rave about how their latest album is their best or one of their best. But “Saviors” can actually compete with the great Green Day classics.
The sound
“The American Dream Is Killing Me” sings Armstrong at the start. This is atmospheric punk rock with a great melody and surprises with short string interludes that spread musical flair. In the past, this sort of thing would have been frowned upon in punk rock. Green Day, however, have had their own musical (“American Idiot”) since 2009, which even won two Tony Awards.
The trio has long since pulverized the boundaries of what punk rock can or should be. That’s probably why Green Day are so successful and are filling stadiums on their upcoming summer tour.
“Saviors” is an album full of gripping rock anthems with catchy melodies and smart lyrics, sometimes funny, sometimes ironic or even cynical. On the one hand, there are energetic uptempo rockers like the brilliantly titled “Look Ma No Brains”, “1981” and “Coma City”.
In contrast, there are slightly less riff-heavy catchy tunes like “Goodbye Adeline”, the title song or the melancholic “Suzie Chapstick”. They are songs that are perfect for the radio. In the intro of the ballad “Fancy Sauce” Green Day also dare to add a bit of 60s schmaltz.
Celebrity support with feeling for the band
Singer and guitarist Armstrong, bassist Dirnt and drummer Cool were supported on their new long player by one of their former colleagues after a long time. Hit producer Rob Cavallo has been responsible for several Green Day albums, including “Dookie” and “American Idiot”.
It is no coincidence that the 60-year-old is considered one of the most commercially successful producers in music history and has usually demonstrated a good instinct with various artists from Alanis Morissette to Linkin Park to Phil Collins.
Strictly speaking, “Saviors” is not a punk album, but more. What the Californians deliver on their 14th LP is big, atmospheric stadium rock – with the well-known and undeniable influences of garage rock, surf pop, classic rock and bands like the Ramones, the Dead Kennedys, the Buzzcocks and The Jam.
There is hardly a song on the new record that doesn’t immediately stick in your head. After the somewhat disappointing and very short album “Father of All Motherfuckers”, in which Green Day moved away from their own sound, “Saviors” is a welcome return of the band to their core competence.
Hear it live soon
By the way, on their upcoming “Saviors” world tour through the big halls and stadiums, Green Day will not only perform the excellent new songs, but will actually get nostalgic. As the band announced on the tour posters, the anniversaries of “Dookie” and “American Idiot” should be celebrated extensively.
Armstrong himself is shocked that it’s been so long. “Shit, we’ve been in this band since we were 15 or 16,” he told the British rock magazine “Kerrang!”. “We were just hitting puberty when we started doing this.”
Despite superstar status and countless hits: “Billie says it’s our high school band,” Dirnt told “Kerrang!”, “and it is.” They proved last November in London that Green Day are still as ticking as they were at the beginning of their career. In the British capital, where – as in Los Angeles – parts of the album were recorded, they performed in front of particularly well-informed fans in a small, packed pub and created a euphoric atmosphere. No aging punks.