Green Day’s “Uno!” Review

Rock music is my favorite genre of music. It isn’t generated with fake electronic sounds that I can make on a computer in my basement. It isn’t built with beat machines. Rock has soul. Good rock bands write their own music and emphasize the group rather than a single person. The lyrics of good rock are made of metaphors and similes that form into poetic stanzas rather than literal (My dog died and my wife left me) or pop clichés (PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR ON THE DANCE FLOOR!). As Steve Sveum said, the best music groups make music that is simple yet not simplistic. If being talented got your music listened to, I’d be writing reviews for groups like Protest The Hero or some annoying death metal band named Acid Heart you’ve never heard of. A certain balance of instrumentals, lyrics, and variance makes music interesting; something I believe is best harmonized in the broad world of Rock and Roll.

Green Day is one of my favorite bands right behind Blink-182. They are one of the last great punk rock bands still on the scene and are immortalized by songs like Jesus of Suburbia. I make a special effort to own the physical albums from bands that I know will not disappoint. As a true fan of any group, it is near impossible to be. I read a tweet from rapper Mac Miller a while back saying something like ” I hope everyone talks about how different the sound on my next album is. That’s the essence of progression.” I’ve heard people complain about new music and wishing it were more like past works, calling them sell outs. If a band is good and producing music for the sake of being artists, they will not be making the same kind of music at the age of 30 from when they were 20. True musicians writing will change based on their life experiences, and they don’t write songs to be instant hits. If they aren’t, then they are sellouts. Making music isn’t a process to collect money and make people like you, it is writing what you think is good and hoping that others like it. Good fans are the people who understand that.

This is Green Day’s ninth studio album, an impressive feat for any group these days in the highly saturated music industry. Originally the band was making one really big album, but as they kept writing more songs they came up with the idea of making it into a trilogy. The trilogy album series is called “Uno! Dos! Tre!”. Uno! was compiled with songs the band thought stuck closer to the bands punk roots.

I’ve listened through the entire album about 6 or 7 times in the past day, and have come to the point where I can pass my judgement on it. It is fantastic. Green day has been known to write rebellious and politically toned albums, but this album has no general theme like American Idiot or 21st Century Breakdown. It is a compilation of punk love songs and ballads, not to mention a middle finger around every corner. If this was the only thing they were putting out this year, it would be fantastic by itself as a solid Green Day album. But this is part 1 of 3. It’s only the beginning, and each part will show something different that makes the entire thing whole. That idea amplifies the greatness of the album, and makes it better than 21st Century Breakdown.

I enjoy each and every song on this album. There are only two songs that don’t have a guitar solo, which is awesome; possibly highlighting the talent brought on by their new love for guitarist Jason White of Madison. Fell For You sounds like it’s directly from the album Nimrod, Sweet 16 reminds me of American Idiot with its lyrics and tone, and aside from that, the album has a really unique and original sound on songs like Kill the DJ, my personal favorite, along with Let Yourself Go. There are plenty of comedic lyrics in songs like Troublemaker or Fell For You that keep the album on cue with its roots. I Highlighted the tracks I liked most on the album with stars below as well. My only problem with this album is how they released 4 of the songs before album release, arguably the better songs on the album, which is kind of like unwrapping the presents under the tree for me. I am incredibly excited to see what else Green Day has to offer in the trilogy. So give the album a listen if you aren’t one of those losers listening to Mumford and Sons who thinks Green Day is too mainstream. Listen to something other than Boulevard of Broken Dreams you pricks.

I give it a 9/10

UNO!

Nuclear Family *

Stay The Night *

Carpe Diem

Let Yourself Go*

Kill the DJ *

Fell For You *

Loss of control

Troublemaker

Angel Blue

Sweet 16*