21st Century Breakdown or American Idiot?

[Liise]

Both .

[Blond-O-Sonic Shimmer Trap]

American Idiot is Green Day's magnum opus.

It is their best album, in almost every category.

Can't say better than this, sorry Dookie but American Idiot takes punk rock albums onto a whole new level. It's as much of a huge ambitious statement from a punk band as London Calling. 21st Century Breakdown is Sandinista in comparison. Something for everyone but on the whole too long and only die hard fans will find the whole thing worthwhile.

[Nele]

Thanks for making this thread one more time.

Anyway.. 21st Century Breakdown.

[clairemarie]

Although American Idiot is what got me into Green Day and it will always hold a special place in my heart, I have to go with 21st Century Breakdown. I get the argument that it's too polished but musically and lyrically, I just think it's mind-blowing and slightly superior to American Idiot. Just my opinion.

Oh and it's funny too 'cause on that other thread that was posted, 21CB is winning by a large margin, but it's the opposite for this poll. Hmm...

[Metanoia]

American Idiot. Just because its perfect.

[V@L3]

i couldnt possibly pick one....

or i would feel bad...

they both really are amazing albums

AI for sure 21cb really ummm....I hate it

you do???? but whyy????

not even one song?

[Rancid punk:LTD]

i couldnt possibly pick one....

or i would feel bad...

they both really are amazing albums

you do???? but whyy????

not even one song?

It's boring and waaaaay over-produced. When AI came out,it was different and it took me awhile but I grew to love it .

so when 21cb came out I figured it'd be the same thing and it would just take time,a year later and I still hate it.

[Hermione]

My joint favourite albums are 21st Century Breakdown and Nimrod, and my joint 2nd favourite albums are American Idiot and Dookie. So definitely 21st Century Breakdown , although they're both amazing.

They took where they'd gone with American Idiot to the next level with 21st Century Breakdown. It's so diverse and beautiful. And at the same time it has a dark, unsettling feeling running through it, it feels like looking into a deep, dark, fragile place. It has this wonderful quirkiness to it that I love too, all the theatrics and interesting little touches. It's their most complex and thought-provoking album.

I could list a million things I love about both albums, but 21st Century Breakdown is the one for me. I think they outdid themselves and I love everything about it.

[Bastard of 1967]

Let me start out by saying first that I can't believe we're talking about this again.

Now that that's out of the way.....Both albums stand on their own, and they're both excellent.

AI is bold, brash, full of punk energy and a big F-U to the political establishment. It was exactly what our country needed to hear, exactly when and how they needed to hear it. That it now has continued life as a (who'dathought??) groundbreaking Broadway musical is further testament to its brilliance.

21CB is more introspective and more soul-searching. Whereas AI tends to wear its heart on its sleeve, it takes a *lot* of work and countless hours of listening and re-listening to decipher the various threads, meanings, and messages that are wrapped up in this 18-track bastard. Once you do start seeing the interconnections in the lyrics and the way Green Day leverages its music and rhythm to draw out those connections, you see 21CB as another piece of creative brilliance that's on par with AI. But it was released at a time when the country was in a different place than it was when AI came out -- exhausted after eight years under GWB, worn out from fighting two endless wars, incoming president who many placed great hope, faith, and optimism in, so some of 21CB's themes didn't "nail you right here" the way AI did. Also, the music landscape itself had tilted much further toward manufactured electro-pop....forget about rhythm, forget about guitar, forget about quality, just take a computer-generated beat, slap some lyrics and overproduced vocals on it and give us something to dance to. In this environment Green Day's classic-rock-wrapped-around-a-punk-core is a notable exception and an enigma, and it's impressive that they've managed to succeed with the album and a grueling 2-year road trip in spite of it. That being said....I have mixed feelings about Butch Vig's production. On the one hand he encouraged Billie Joe to explore the upper reaches of his register, and in the process transformed him from a singer into a true vocalist. He also helped Tre pound out the most complex percussion rhythms and beat-counts that I've ever heard him do. But there are also a few negatives -- he mixed Mike's bass into the background to the point where it sometimes hides behind the percussion and is difficult to distinguish, and this affected the band's sound significantly in the process. He also overproduced Billie's otherwise-phenomenal vocals to the point where it sometimes sounds like he's singing inside a tin can. The result: many of the songs from the album sound *so* much better live (where Green Day gets to be Green Day, Billie's vocals come alive again, and Mike's bass and Tre's percussion feed off of each other) than they do in the original studio tracks.

So I like both albums -- AI for the in-your-face punk attitude, 21CB for the introspective complexity of the music and the lyrics. It's difficult (and unfair) to judge them against each other.

[Blond-O-Sonic Shimmer Trap]

I agree with that, I think Butch Vig's production is pretty terrible to be honest, I'm not really one for highlighting production on an album as I never notice it but on this one there's far too many guitar slides, between parts of the song. 21st Century Breakdown and 21 Guns in particular. At the end of like every 2nd line the guitar slides down from a high note to the note that kicks off the next bar. Listen to the guitar in 21 Guns where he says "when you burned down your house and home" and you'll know what I mean. It happens all the time on the album, as does Mike's backing vocals of the intro of 21st Century Breakdown.

I agree that 21st Century Breakdown rehashes a lot of American Idiot but 21 Guns is a complete rip off of Boulevard Of Broken Dreams rather than Wake Me Up When September Ends, they have the same drum pattern and tempo, a similar sounding chord progression. The only thing I like about that song is that Billie-Joe's vocals are really good on it. The record has far too much filler on it, whereas American Idiot has songs that stand alone as great songs and also fit together as a cohesive album. It's rare that an album closer (especially a concept album closer) would do this but Whatsername would be a phenomenal single, it stands alone as a great song.

[Bastard of 1967]

At the end of like every 2nd line the guitar slides down from a high note to the note that kicks off the next bar. Listen to the guitar in 21 Guns where he says "when you burned down your house and home" and you'll know what I mean.

I (think) I hear what you're describing -- is it that "when you burned down" [waaa-arrrrrrrhhhhhh] "the house and home" in the lead guitar? Anyway I draw the opposite conclusion from it, I actually find that it adds an emotional punch to the song right where it needs it. I am fully open to the possibility that there's something wrong with me though.

[Blond-O-Sonic Shimmer Trap]

Don't get me wrong I love when that kinda thing is done well, like the bit before it all kicks off in 21st Century Breakdown, I just think it completely takes away its effect when it's used so often.

[Bastard of 1967]

Don't get me wrong I love when that kinda thing is done well, like the bit before it all kicks off in 21st Century Breakdown, I just think it completely takes away its effect when it's used so often.

I think it's safe to say that for sometimes similar and sometimes different reasons, we'd both like to see Green Day take a different direction with the production technique on the next album. I can live with that.

[Zelda]

American Idiot. 21CB has some amazing songs, but AI just flows together perfectly. You can just feel the emotion on the record. Take Jesus of Suburbia for example. Every time I hear those first few notes, I'm hooked. And Whatsername and WMUWSE. Those two are, in my opinion, the most intense songs on the album. They're just so fucking powerful. It's my favorite album of all time, and I doubt that will ever change. <3

And damn. After reading some of the other responses, it really changes my opinion on 21CB. I have also seen videos that compare its songs to some of Green Day's older songs, and they reuse a lot of the same melodies. It really disappointed me, because I really feel that the band is above doing that kind of thing.

And I really have to agree with a lot of these comments. It took them five years to make this album, but now that I look into it more, they could have done so much better. Makes me wonder how the record would have turned out if they had just stuck with Rob Cavallo.

[E!!i]

American Idiot

[Storer]

American Idiot holds a lot of great memories for me so I'd have to go with that. I still love 21st Century Breakdown though, just not as much.

[Ilda_25]

I think that American Idiot was more successful and had more world-wide impact. It has lots of singles that everyone knows (I think the first Green Day's song I listened to was Boulevard of Broken Dreams). 21st Century Breakdown is different, although it has completely awesome songs too. But American Idiot was American Idiot...

[shit]

I'm still sick of American Idiot. So I guess I'm gonna go with 21st Century Breakdown .

[CzechIdiot]

I love American Idiot more. It has awesome lyrics and music.

But 21st century breakdown its also cool.

[fadi_7]

21stCB i don't know why i love it but the songs are better and the story is better !!!! but my fave album is warning

[luvgirlcl]

And damn. After reading some of the other responses, it really changes my opinion on 21CB. I have also seen videos that compare its songs to some of Green Day's older songs, and they reuse a lot of the same melodies. It really disappointed me, because I really feel that the band is above doing that kind of thing.

The first thing I thought when I heard 21CB fully was 'man...it's sounds just like American Idiot', I found the tempos, rythms sounded the same, like recycled. But as time went on, I started to see 21CB in a totally different light: the lyrics and instruments sound more complex, more intricate, like taking AI and going one step up in the ladder.

Plus, on a more personal note, the whole desperation feeling that runs throughout 21CB struck a bigger chord with me than AI (don't get me wrong, I still love that record with all I have)...it's just that I feel more identified with 21CB than AI.

[clairemarie]

The first thing I thought when I heard 21CB fully was 'man...it's sounds just like American Idiot', I found the tempos, rythms sounded the same, like recycled. But as time went on, I started to see 21CB in a totally different light: the lyrics and instruments sound more complex, more intricate, like taking AI and going one step up in the ladder.

Plus, on a more personal note, the whole desperation feeling that runs throughout 21CB struck a bigger chord with me than AI (don't get me wrong, I still love that record with all I have)...it's just that I feel more identified with 21CB than AI.

Yeah exactly my thoughts on this. When I first heard it I thought it sounded too simliar and wrote it off as a disspointment. But then I gave it another try months later, and I was just able to relate to it so well. Now it's my absolute favorite of all their records, and I have so much respect for it. It's mind-blowing.

[Desensitized09]

They're both amazing albums, but American Idiot sort of "connects" with me more if that makes sense. 21stCB has a much more complicated sound than American Idiot, which is great, but I like the simplicity of the songs on AI. It brings me back to the good ol' days. Both albums are fantastic though.

[Red Lights Flash]

I think AI is all about rocking out in front of a mirror. Which is really what Green Day reflects on stage too. I don't know, it seems maximum Green Day.

If you would've asked this to be last year, I would've said 21stCB. But that was when it was just out, and when we all got a bit 'bored' of listening to AI for 5 years I guess. But looking back now both eras are over, I think it's safe to say that AI had a bigger impact on my life.

[Dutch_Idiot89]

I can't really choose.. I think both albums has some great songs.. so.. hmm.. no I can't choose.