They say wisdom comes with age, but the opposite seems to be true for iconic punk-rock band Green Day. The hype surrounding their most recent creation “¡Uno, Dos, Tre!” proved to be for nothing since its release marked the flop of (count ‘em) not one, not two, but possibly three albums (“Tre” is set to be released in January).
The three hooligans have been at it since the early ‘90’s. Green Day started as an after-school jam session in Billie Joe Armstrong’s garage, and boomed into a Grammy-award winning icon.
The band won its greatest recognition in 2004 with the release of the politically charged album “American Idiot,” and saw continued success with their second rock opera “21st Century Breakdown.”
Possibly the strongest aspect of these two platinum albums was the balance of social commentary and teenage angst. Green Day does a good job of staying true to its punk jam session vibe, but that is all they seem to achieve in their latest album.
The first of the three-part album, “¡Uno!” is mediocre at best. The opening song “Nuclear Family” is a safe, and by safe I mean very boring, choice to kick off such a hefty collection of songs. “Nuclear Family” sounds like one giant chorus. The only things that seem to vary throughout “¡Uno!” are the intros to the songs. When you hear the first chords, you think that maybe this song will be a gem in the rough, but once Billie Joe hits those first notes, you are thrown into a monotony of angsty rhymes with the occasional yodel.
“¡Dos!” is mellower, more boring, and even more monotonous. Lines like “the silence is so deafening, it’s like picking at a sore” make you think that Billie, Mike, and Tre were using MadLibs to come up with lyrics. The only song in “¡Dos!” that is semi-enjoyable is titled “F*** Time” probably because it is just fun to make fun of. “Makeout Party,” “Lazy Bones,” and “Wow! That’s Loud” sound like the cries of die-hard Ke$ha fans—far from what Green Day fans would ever want to be associated with.
Ironically, Green Day has pushed back the release of “¡Tre!” to build up hype. But if “¡Tre!” is anything like the first two, they should consider cancelling its release all together.
Green Day has truly reduced its sound to something of an apathetic teenager. What happened to the social criticism? The ground-breaking rock operas? “¡Uno, Dos, Tre!” is not worth your money or ears, unless you enjoy listening to angsty drones for two hours.