Green Day Suffering in the American Desert Three Feet from the Well (and McDonald's)

Green Day has a new album, and in servitude to the whims of others who are great enthusiasts of the band, I've been forced to take a listen. I am not a fan at all philosophically or politically, though every now and then one of their slower tunes catches my attention; I think specifically of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and more recently, "21 Guns" and "Restless Heart Syndrome" off the newly released 21 Century Breakdown.

Unfortunately enjoying Green Day for the slow tunes is like enjoying McDonald's for the salads. Further, when  I look at the huge stack of music in my media player I am annoyed, not wanting music I am holding for the use of others to taint the esthetic sensibilities of my wider collection. I am not a radical, or particularly concerned that America is headed for (or exiting) some great abyss. As long as I can find the newest Green Day album at my local Target, I hardly think we are in any sort of totalitarian, chaotic "end of all things." Further, if you are going to go there, you had better at least be specific enough and consistent enough to have a clear target for your rants, along with an inkling of a solution. Generally speaking, musicians don't know their  ass from their economics, so it's shaky ground all the way around.

But that's where Green Day wants to take you, getting you ready for some ill defined revolution without answers.

Rather than tie my brain down on the tracks trying to pinpoint the pointless, I refer you to Sputnik.com, which has a nice review, including this:

"...Seventy minutes of material gives plenty of opportunity for Billie Joe Armstrong to make a strong statement of any kind, but seventy minutes of material also provides plenty of evidence that in all probability, Billie Joe doesn’t know what he’s talking about. There are a lot of lines about the government and religion in here, along with plenty of references to a vaguely defined “you” that Armstrong perpetually finds problems with, but trying to follow along with what Armstrong’s idea is will soon leave one without enough breadcrumbs to get home."

(Adam Downer, Sputnickmusic.com)

Yes, it's probably wrong of me to seek out the review that best supports my sensibilities, especially when the bulk of the reviewers have their critical lips firmly attached to Green Day derriere, but so be it. You won't ever find me a huge fan of armchair complainers and revolutionaries. If you are in Cambodia, or Sudan or someplace truly lacking loveliness, opportunity, and comfort, then I will hearken to your powerful three chord protest.

Otherwise, pretty much shush and keep me comfy with the slow tunes.