So after a gap of seven years, the much-loved American punk rock band Green Day are back with their new album, Revolution Radio. Released on the October 7th, lead singer Billie Armstrong said that the new album was “not so much a makeover as a make under, designed to reflect the current state of violence in the US’. Green Day rose to fame in 1994 with their debut album Dookie selling ten million copies just in America. Since then they have produced another eleven albums, the most memorable for me being 21st Century Breakdown, released in 2008. This contained singles such as Know Your Enemy, 21 Guns, and Viva La Gloria. It gave the band their best chart performance to date, going to number one. So will Revolution Radio match that?Revolution Radio showcases a different Green Day than the one I remember. The title track ‘Somewhere New’ starts slowly and takes a while to get going, but before long the classic guitars and drums come in and it sounds more like the Green Day I know. The second track, ‘Bang, Bang’, also has a slower start, incorporating some spoken voice, but does exactly what it says on the tin, being fast, catchy and producing a catchy beat.
The title track was a grower but after listening to it for a bit I could definitely tell why it deserved to be the title track. It had a fast and catchy chorus designed to get people listening to the rest of the album. The speed of the tracks varied throughout the album, but most kept to Green Day’s classic upbeat vibe. One exception to this was track ten, ‘Troubled Times’. This was different from the other tracks, with the melody being played on a slow acoustic guitar and Armstrong singing about how we “live in troubled times”. Out of all the tracks this is the one that most obviously showcases what Armstrong said the album was going to do in “reflecting the current state of violence in the US”.
The title track was a grower but after listening to it for a bit I could definitely tell why it deserved to be the title track. It had a fast and catchy chorus designed to get people listening to the rest of the album. The speed of the tracks varied throughout the album, but most kept to Green Day’s classic upbeat vibe. One exception to this was track ten, ‘Troubled Times’. This was different from the other tracks, with the melody being played on a slow acoustic guitar and Armstrong singing about how we “live in troubled times”. Out of all the tracks this is the one that most obviously showcases what Armstrong said the album was going to do in “reflecting the current state of violence in the US”.
https://twitter.com/Rev0lutionRadio/status/784306632561823744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Overall, I think the album was a success, showing how Green Day’s sound has matured over time to reflect the world that we live in, whilst still maintaining its catchy heart. It also kept the fans happy with people taking to Twitter to say things such as:
“Revolution Radio is my favourite album from now on. It is so emotional and beautiful and I just cried and my life is complete now”.
“Revolution Radio is my favourite album from now on. It is so emotional and beautiful and I just cried and my life is complete now”.
So I think this is a success and would give it 3 out of 5 stars.
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