“Youngblood” is mostly bland and repetitive, as Armstrong spouts platitudes about Adrienne, his wife of 22 years (for much better songs about Adrienne, see 1992’s Kerplunk!, still arguably Green Day’s best album). “Still Breathing” is overly familiar, a song with quiet verses and a loud chorus, but it works because Armstrong has a good melody and solid chord progression running throughout the song. The lyrics, a bunch of generalities about violence with an aside about police violence, aren’t particularly strong, but the thumping music makes it effective. The loping “Say Goodbye” is effective with its echoing guitars and big drums. Which isn’t to say Revolution Radio is bad. But without any concept or gimmick Armstrong’s songwriting is front and center, and it’s hit and miss at this point. Green Day’s brand of pop-punk has never been particularly innovative, but Armstrong’s skill as a songwriter and the band’s general competence has taken them a long way. This is understandable it’s difficult to mess with a successful formula. The problem Green Day faces on the album is a familiar one for many artists that have been around for more than two decades: they’re not pushing themselves much anymore. hustled the three albums out on a compressed release schedule, and the trilogy tanked in the mainstream and elicited mostly shrugs from Green Day’s fanbase.įour years later, a sober Armstrong is talking about how Revolution Radio is the most focused album the band has done in years and how its lack of a concept or gimmick is an asset. Meanwhile the promotional plans collapsed, Warner Bros. Absent the fact that the band should never have been at the pop-oriented, overly stage-managed corporate concert in the first place, it was the moment that got Armstrong into rehab. There, a drunken Armstrong noticed a clock rapidly counting down the band’s remaining stage time and he went off on a rant about how Green Day had been around for a long time and earned more time than the festival was willing to give them. It’s not a good start for an album that follows Armstrong’s own implosion, at the IHeartRadio Music Festival in 2012, at the start of what was intended to be a long promotion and touring cycle for Green Day’s trilogy of albums, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!. Which means that, save for Tré Cool’s really strong drum fills, “Somewhere Now” essentially implodes due to the unintended irony. He takes himself seriously, and he takes Green Day seriously. To make this case, though, one would have to ignore that while Billie Joe Armstrong has always had a sarcastic sense of humor, he’s rarely (if ever) turned that humor upon himself. One could make a case that the band is making a self-deprecating joke by placing the line about the wild side being so dull inside of a song that is so distinctly styled after early ‘70s classic rock. The big rock section even kicks in at just about the same place, except in this case it’s the Who-inspired crashing guitar chords and drum fills instead of catchy arena rock. Then there’s the music, which opens with an acoustic guitar riff that sounds like a direct rip off of the opening acoustic guitar riff of Boston’s “More Than a Feeling”.
But the lyrics go on to be a muddled mess of lines about societal problems (firearms, PTSD), middle age ennui (shopping online), and celebrity culture (“We all die in threes”). Early on the opening track of Green Day’s 12th studio album, Billie Joe Armstrong sings, “I never wanted to compromise / Or bargain with my soul / How did life on the wild side / Ever get so dull?” This is the mission statement of “Somewhere Now”, which is clearly intended to be the widescreen, important song to kick off the band’s first album since 2012.
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