21st Century Breakdown
Encyclopedia
21st Century Breakdown is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...

. It is the band's second rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...

, following American Idiot
American Idiot
American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on September 21, 2004 through Reprise Records and was produced by longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo. In mid-2003, the band began recording songs for an album entitled Cigarettes and Valentines...

, and their first album to be produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 by Butch Vig
Butch Vig
Butch Vig is an American musician and record producer, best known internationally as the drummer of the Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of multi-platinum selling album Nevermind by Nirvana....

. Green Day commenced work on the record in January 2006. Forty-five songs were written by singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day...

 by October 2007, but the band members did not enter studio work with Vig until January 2008. The writing and recording process spanned three years and four California recording studios and was finished in April 2009.

21st Century Breakdown was released May 15, 2009 through Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

. Armstrong has described the album as a "snapshot of the era in which we live as we question and try to make sense of the selfish manipulation going on around us, whether it be the government, religion, media or frankly any form of authority". The singles, "Know Your Enemy
Know Your Enemy (Green Day song)
-Charts:-Year-end charts:-Personnel:* Billie Joe Armstrong - guitar, lead vocals* Mike Dirnt - bass guitar, backing vocals* Tre Cool - drums, percussion...

" and "21 Guns
21 Guns (song)
"21 Guns" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from their eighth album, 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released through Reprise Records on May 25, 2009 as a digital download and July 14, 2009 as a CD single...

" exemplify the themes of alienation and politically-motivated anger present in the record.

Critical response to 21st Century Breakdown was generally positive. Critics praising the album considered the composition and Armstrong's lyrics a success; skeptical reviewers were critical of the album's concept, describing it as vague and directionless. The record achieved Green Day's best chart performance to date by reaching number one on the album charts of various countries, including the United States Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

, the European Top 100 Albums
European Top 100 Albums
The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100...

, and the United Kingdom Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

. It was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre...

 at the 52nd Grammy Awards
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...

 held on January 31, 2010. As of December, 2010 21st Century Breakdown has sold 1,005,000 copies in the United States and more than 4 million worldwide.

Writing and recording

Green Day began to write new songs for what would become 21st Century Breakdown in January 2006 after touring extensively in 2005 in support of their seventh studio album American Idiot. At the time, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong stated, "We'll start with silence, and that's how we'll be able to find the inspiration to find another record." The band did not release any details of the writing and recording process until October 2007, when Armstrong said in an interview with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

that he had written "something like 45 songs". The band members worked on the primitive conceptual stages of the album at their rehearsal studio in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Little was revealed on the themes or musical style of the album, but Armstrong pointed out, "I want to dig into who I am and what I'm feeling at this moment – which is middle-aged." He added that many of the 45 songs were written on piano rather than guitar.

Green Day began the recording process for 21st Century Breakdown in January 2008. Later that year, it was confirmed that the band worked with producer Butch Vig. The album was recorded with Vig throughout 2008 and into early 2009 at four locations in California: Ocean Way Recording
Ocean Way Recording
Ocean Way Recording is the name of a series of recording studios in Hollywood, California and Nashville, Tennessee. Ocean Way Studios is well known in the recording industry due to the award-winning albums that were produced there....

 in Hollywood, Studio 880 in Oakland, Jel Studios in Newport Beach, and Costa Mesa Studios in Costa Mesa. While recording in Hollywood, the band members bought cheap turntable
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...

s from Amoeba Music
Amoeba Music
Amoeba Music is an independent music chain with stores in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Founded by former employees of nearby Rasputin Records, it opened on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley in 1990. The stores are unusually large given their independent status...

 and listened to many vinyl record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

s for inspiration, including albums by The Beat
The Beat (band)
The Beat are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in England in 1978. Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and sociopolitical topics....

 and The Plimsouls
The Plimsouls
The Plimsouls are an American rock band formed in Paramount, California in 1978.-Formation:Formed by singer, guitarist and songwriter Peter Case , the Plimsouls began as a trio in 1978 which included Case, bassist Dave Pahoa and drummer Louie Ramírez...

. Armstrong cited as inspiration the music of The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...

' Ray Davies
Ray Davies
Ray Davies, CBE is an English rock musician. He is best known as lead singer and songwriter for the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother, Dave...

, The Pretty Things
The Pretty Things
The Pretty Things are an English rock and roll band from London, who originally formed in 1963. They took their name from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing" and, in their early days, were dubbed by the British press the "uglier cousins of the Rolling Stones". Their most commercially successful...

' S.F. Sorrow
S.F. Sorrow
S.F. Sorrow is the title of the fourth LP by the British rock group The Pretty Things, released in 1968.One of the first rock concept albums, S.F. Sorrow was based on a short story by singer-guitarist Phil May. The album is structured as a song cycle, telling the story of the main character,...

, The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...

' The Doors
The Doors (album)
The Doors is the debut album by the American rock band The Doors, recorded in August 1966 and released in January 1967. It was originally released in significantly different stereo and mono mixes...

and Strange Days
Strange Days (album)
Strange Days is the second album released by American rock band The Doors. The album was a commercial success, earning a gold record and reaching No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Despite this, the album's producer, Paul Rothchild, considered it a commercial failure, even if it was an...

, and Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...

's Bat Out of Hell
Bat out of Hell
Bat Out of Hell is the second album by American rock musician Meat Loaf, and his first collaboration with composer Jim Steinman, released in October 1977 on Cleveland International/Epic Records #PE-34974. Selling approximately 200,000 copies per year as of 2010, it is the fifth best-selling album...

. Drummer Tré Cool
Tre Cool
Frank Edwin Wright III, a.k.a. Tré Cool, is an American drummer, best known as the drummer for the punk rock band Green Day. He replaced the group's former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990...

 noted the influence of Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...

 and The Creation
The Creation (band)
The Creation were an English rock band, formed in 1966. The most popular Creation song was "Painter Man", which made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart in late 1966, and reached #8 in the German chart in April 1967. It was later covered by Boney M in 1979, and reached the #10 position in the UK...

 on Armstrong's writing.

While writing at his home studio, Armstrong worked on a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

's 1966 mini-opera "A Quick One, While He's Away
A Quick One, While He's Away
"A Quick One, While He's Away" is a 1966 medley written by Pete Townshend and recorded by The Who for their album A Quick One. The song also appears on the album BBC Sessions. In the performance on their Live at Leeds album Townshend calls the 9 minute "epic" track a "mini-opera" and introduces...

"; Green Day recorded a full-band version of the song during the album sessions. Vig noted that frustrations would sometimes cause delays in the recording process for 21st Century Breakdown. Armstrong kept his lyrics closely guarded and intentionally mixed his demos so that the vocals were low in the mix and thus unintelligible to the other band members. It was not until late 2008 that he chose to share his words with Cool, Vig, and bassist Mike Dirnt
Mike Dirnt
Michael Ryan Pritchard is an American musician, best known as the bassist, backing vocalist and co-founder of the American Rock band Green Day. While at school, he would play "air-bass." While pretending to pluck the strings, he made the noise, "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt"...

 by sitting down with them and reading the entire album's lyrics aloud in order. The band members made the finishing touches on the album in early April 2009 and claimed that its release would lead to a "kind of... post-partum depression
Postpartum depression
Postpartum depression , also called postnatal depression, is a form of clinical depression which can affect women, and less frequently men, typically after childbirth. Studies report prevalence rates among women from 5% to 25%, but methodological differences among the studies make the actual...

".

Themes and composition

21st Century Breakdown continues the rock opera style of its predecessor, American Idiot. The album is divided into three acts: "Heroes and Cons", "Charlatans and Saints", and "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" and is set in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

. Its loose narrative follows a young couple named Christian and Gloria through the challenges present in the U.S. following the presidency of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

. Bassist Mike Dirnt has compared the relationships between the songs to those in Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run
Born to Run
The album's release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau's "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen" quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its...

, saying that the themes are not as tightly interwoven as in a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

, but that they are still connected. Many of the record's themes and lyrics are drawn from Armstrong's personal life and he sings in the first-person narrative
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...

 style about abandonment and vengeance in "Before the Lobotomy", "Christian's Inferno", and "Peacemaker". Rolling Stone noted that the album is "the most personal, emotionally convulsive record Armstrong has ever written".

The title track's opening lyric "Born into Nixon, I was raised in hell" references Armstrong's birth year of 1972, while "We are the class of '13" references the fact that his eldest son, Joseph, will graduate from high school in 2013. Dirnt has expressed his belief that "Last of the American Girls" was written about Armstrong's wife Adrienne, who he claimed is steadfast in her beliefs and assertively defends them. Armstrong has cited his "disconnected" childhood—he was raised by his five older siblings after their father's death, while their mother worked graveyard shifts as a waitress—as the roots of the discontent expressed on 21st Century Breakdown. "East Jesus Nowhere
East Jesus Nowhere
"East Jesus Nowhere" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the third single from their eighth album 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released October 19, 2009. The song rebukes fundamentalist religion and was written by singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong...

" rebukes fundamentalist
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...

 religion and was written after Armstrong attended a church service where a friend's baby was baptized.

Musically, 21st Century Breakdown is similar to the punk rock style of American Idiot, but many critics have claimed that Green Day's traditional sound has evolved in the five years since their last release to incorporate new influences such as heavier, louder pop rock and stadium rock on an epic scale. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone indicated that the album sports ballads that are Green Day's most polished; he claimed that the band "combine punk thrash with their newfound love of classic-rock grandiosity". MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 compared the material to that of classic rockers like The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

, while Spin called the title track "Green Day's most epic song yet". Cool has remarked, "It's important to us that we're still looked at as a punk band. It was our religion, our higher education", but has noted that Armstrong had delved into the past in writing 21st Century Breakdown by gleaning inspiration from the artists who shaped rock music. Armstrong himself has stated, "Ground zero for me is still punk rock. I like painting an ugly picture. I get something uplifting out of singing some of the most horrifying shit you can sing about. It's just my DNA."

Promotion and release

On February 9, 2009, Green Day announced the album title and that the record would be split into three acts: "Heroes and Cons", "Charlatans and Saints", and "Horseshoes and Handgrenades". On March 17, a teaser trailer
Teaser trailer
A teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full-blown campaign for a product launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads"...

 for 21st Century Breakdown was posted on the band's website. The international release date of May 15 was announced on March 25. In early April 2009, Green Day premiered "Know Your Enemy
Know Your Enemy (Green Day song)
-Charts:-Year-end charts:-Personnel:* Billie Joe Armstrong - guitar, lead vocals* Mike Dirnt - bass guitar, backing vocals* Tre Cool - drums, percussion...

" on television; a portion of the song was used as introductory music to the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Championship game. The band first performed 21st Century Breakdown in full during a string of California club shows in April 2009. At each show, concertgoers were given programs containing all of the album's lyrics. The first single, "Know Your Enemy", was released on April 16, and the world premiere of the song's music video occurred on April 24 on the MTV UK website.

21st Century Breakdown was released internationally on May 15, 2009, through Reprise Records. The special edition vinyl version was limited to 3,000 copies and consisted of three 10" records, one for each of the album's "acts", a CD copy of the album, a 60-page art booklet, and a code for the digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

 of the full album. The album artwork process was led by Chris Bilheimer and is based on a work from artist Sixten
Sixten (street artist)
Sixten is a notable street artist operating out of Melbourne, Australia. He originally comes from Sweden. In 2009 he was credited as the inspiration for the album cover of Green Day's album titled 21st Century Breakdown by the album artwork director Chris Bilheimer.- Background :Sixten did his...

, who confirmed that the couple on the cover were "just friends of a friend at a party in Eskilstuna
Eskilstuna
Eskilstuna is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 60,185 inhabitants in 2005. Eskilstuna has a large Sweden Finn population....

, Sweden" and explained that a mutual friend snapped a picture of the pair kissing. He added, "I love their passion, and just had to make a stencil
Stencil graffiti
Stencil graffiti makes use of a paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The desired design is cut out of the selected medium and then the image is transferred to a surface through the use of spray paint or roll-on paint.The process of stenciling...

 out of it to spread the love." The cover art was noted for a marked similarity with that of Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...

's 2003 album Think Tank, itself a stencil by artist Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...

. Green Day showcased a collection of similarly themed art, called "The Art of Rock", at an art exhibition in London between October 23 and November 1, 2009.

The record reached number one on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., where it sold 215,000 copies in its first week, which was a shortened three days. The album remained at number one on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart for three weeks. In Canada, the album debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...

, selling 30,000 copies in its first week. The album debuted at the top of sales charts in twenty four total countries, including a peak of number one on the European Top 100 Albums. 21st Century Breakdown was only released in a Parental Advisory
Parental Advisory
Parental Advisory is a message affixed by the Recording Industry Association of America to audio and recordings in the United States containing excessive use of profane language and/or sexual references. Albums began to be labeled for "explicit lyrics" in 1985, after pressure from the Parents...

 version containing explicit lyrics and content; Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

 refuses to sell albums with a Parental Advisory sticker and requested that Green Day release a censored edition. The band members responded by stating, "There's nothing dirty about our record... They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there. We just said no. We've never done it before. You feel like you're in 1953 or something." The second single, "21 Guns
21 Guns (song)
"21 Guns" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from their eighth album, 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released through Reprise Records on May 25, 2009 as a digital download and July 14, 2009 as a CD single...

", was released to radio stations on May 25. The band embarked on a world tour in July 2009; the North American leg lasted through September and the European leg ended in November. "East Jesus Nowhere
East Jesus Nowhere
"East Jesus Nowhere" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the third single from their eighth album 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released October 19, 2009. The song rebukes fundamentalist religion and was written by singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong...

" was released as the album's third single on October 19, 2009.

Critical reception

Media reception to 21st Century Breakdown was generally favorable; aggregating website Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 reported a rating of 70 percent in July 2009 based on 30 critical reviews. Dan Silver of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

awarded the record four stars out of five and likened it to both Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

's music and the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 writing of Chuck Palahniuk
Chuck Palahniuk
Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter...

. Rolling Stones David Fricke
David Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...

 called
21st Century Breakdown "a compound bomb of classic-rock ecstasy, no-mercy punk assault and pop-song wiles; it's like The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...

's
London Calling
London Calling
London Calling is the third studio album by the English punk rock band The Clash. It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 December 1979 through CBS Records, and in the United States in January 1980 through Epic Records...

, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

's
Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia is the sixth studio album by English rock band The Who. Released on 19 October 1973 by Track and Polydor in the UK, and Track and MCA in the US, it is a double album, and the group's second rock opera...

and Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü was an American rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer Grant Hart....

's
Zen Arcade
Zen Arcade
Upon its release Zen Arcade received positive reviews in many mainstream publications, including NME, The New York Times and Rolling Stone. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described Zen Arcade as "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera .....

all compressed into 18 songs". Dan Cairns of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 concluded, "Lyrically, it may succeed in capturing the contradictions, vulnerabilities and longing for harmony that thrum through Armstrong, Dirnt and Cool, their country, and humanity as a whole. But its real triumph, in an age of trimming, of market testing, of self-censorship and lowest common denominators, is not simply to aim insanely high, but to make it to the summit."

Criticism centered on the concept of the record; BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's Chris Jones said that it is "griping vaguely against 'authority' " and that "too many buzz words obscure incisive meaning". Steve Kandell of Spin wrote that the humor of American Idiot was "sorely missed" and that the energy of the album seemed "directionless". The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

s Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...

 indicated that "the storyline becomes impossible to follow". Adam Downer of Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...

 was the most critical professional reviewer of the album and questioned the clarity of the lyrics by calling 21st Century Breakdown "more conceptually vague/ridiculous than American Idiot"; he went on to say that it "spirals out of control in its own heroic glory and never regains focus, thus ending with a product that Green Day couldn’t afford to produce: an average record".

Accolades

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

United States Best Albums of 2009 2009 5
Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...

United Kingdom Reader's Choice: Best 50 Albums of the 21st Century 2009 17
Rhapsody
Rhapsody (online music service)
Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...

United States The 25 Best Albums of 2009 2009 16

Album awards

Ceremony Award Country Year Result
52nd Grammy Awards
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...

Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre...

USA 2009 won
Teen Choice Awards
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...

Music Album Group nominated
TMF Awards
TMF Awards
The TMF Awards are an annual television awards show broadcast live on TMF .The first Dutch TMF Awards were held in 1995, as a brand extension to the recently launched local Dutch music channel TMF. The show was very small and held in the company cafeteria...

Best International Album Belgium
Kerrang! Awards Best Album United Kingdom
MTV Video Music Awards Japan
MTV World Stage VMAJ 2010
The MTV World Stage VMAJ 2010 were held on Saturday, May 29, at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. The nominees were announced on March 31, 2010...

Album of the Year Japan 2010
NME Best Album United Kingdom
Worst Album

Songs awards

Ceremony Work Award Year Result
52nd Grammy Awards
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...

"21 Guns
21 Guns (song)
"21 Guns" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from their eighth album, 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released through Reprise Records on May 25, 2009 as a digital download and July 14, 2009 as a CD single...

"
Grammy Award for Best Rock Song
Grammy Award for Best Rock Song
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre...

2009 nominated
Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1980 and 2011.The award was discontinued after the 2011 award season in a major overhaul of Grammy categories...

MuchMusic Video Awards
2009 MuchMusic Video Awards
The 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards were held in Toronto, Ontario at MuchMusic's headquarters on June 21, 2009. Along with the MuchMusic VJ's, on April 16, 2009, it was confirmed on the MuchMusic website that the Jonas Brothers would co-host the show. The show featured performances by The Black Eyed...

"Know Your Enemy
Know Your Enemy (Green Day song)
-Charts:-Year-end charts:-Personnel:* Billie Joe Armstrong - guitar, lead vocals* Mike Dirnt - bass guitar, backing vocals* Tre Cool - drums, percussion...

"
Best International Group Video
2009 MTV Video Music Awards
2009 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 13, 2009, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, honoring the best music videos from June 19, 2008, to June 29, 2009. Comedian Russell Brand hosted the event for the second time in a row. The awards were held a few months after Michael...

"21 Guns
21 Guns (song)
"21 Guns" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from their eighth album, 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released through Reprise Records on May 25, 2009 as a digital download and July 14, 2009 as a CD single...

"
Best Rock Video won
MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction
MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Direction in a Video. In 2007, the award was briefly renamed Best Director, but it returned to its original name for the 2008 awards....

MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography
MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Award winners for Best Cinematography in a Video. Madonna is the biggest Winner in this category with 3 wins....

MTV Video Music Awards Japan
MTV World Stage VMAJ 2010
The MTV World Stage VMAJ 2010 were held on Saturday, May 29, at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. The nominees were announced on March 31, 2010...

"Know Your Enemy
Know Your Enemy (Green Day song)
-Charts:-Year-end charts:-Personnel:* Billie Joe Armstrong - guitar, lead vocals* Mike Dirnt - bass guitar, backing vocals* Tre Cool - drums, percussion...

"
Best Rock Video 2010 nominated
MuchMusic Video Awards
2010 MuchMusic Video Awards
The 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards were held in Toronto, Canada at MuchMusic's headquarters on June 20, 2010. Along with the MuchMusic VJ's, it was confirmed on the MuchMusic website that Miley Cyrus will co-host the show. The artists with the most nominations are Drake and Hedley with six. For the...

"21 Guns
21 Guns (song)
"21 Guns" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from their eighth album, 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released through Reprise Records on May 25, 2009 as a digital download and July 14, 2009 as a CD single...

"
Best International Group Video
Teen Choice Awards
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...

"Know Your Enemy
Know Your Enemy (Green Day song)
-Charts:-Year-end charts:-Personnel:* Billie Joe Armstrong - guitar, lead vocals* Mike Dirnt - bass guitar, backing vocals* Tre Cool - drums, percussion...

"
Music Rock Track

Track listing

Bonus tracks

Personnel

Band
  • Billie Joe Armstrong
    Billie Joe Armstrong
    Billie Joe Armstrong is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day...

     – lead vocals
    Lead vocalist
    The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...

    , guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

    , piano
    Piano
    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

  • Tré Cool
    Tre Cool
    Frank Edwin Wright III, a.k.a. Tré Cool, is an American drummer, best known as the drummer for the punk rock band Green Day. He replaced the group's former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990...

     – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

    , percussion
    Percussion instrument
    A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

  • Mike Dirnt
    Mike Dirnt
    Michael Ryan Pritchard is an American musician, best known as the bassist, backing vocalist and co-founder of the American Rock band Green Day. While at school, he would play "air-bass." While pretending to pluck the strings, he made the noise, "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt"...

     – bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , backing vocals
    Backing vocalist
    A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...


Additional musicians
  • Jason Freese
    Jason Freese
    Jason Freese is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and recording engineer. As a professional studio musician he has performed on over 50 albums by more than 35 different artists, including multiple albums by the Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Jewel, NOFX, and Zebrahead...

     – piano
  • Tom Kitt
    Tom Kitt (musician)
    Tom Kitt is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator and musician. For his score for the musical Next to Normal, he shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Brian Yorkey...

     – string arrangements
    String section
    The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...

  • Patrick Warren – string conducting
    Conducting
    Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...


Production
  • Butch Vig
    Butch Vig
    Butch Vig is an American musician and record producer, best known internationally as the drummer of the Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of multi-platinum selling album Nevermind by Nirvana....

     – producer
    Record producer
    A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

  • Chris Lord-Alge
    Chris Lord-Alge
    Chris Lord-Alge is a mixer who has worked on various albums. He is the brother of Tom Lord-Alge, another audio engineer. Chris Lord-Alge is known for his extreme use of dynamic range compression in both hardware and software plug-in versions....

     – mix engineer
    Mix engineer
    A mix engineer, also referred to as "mixing engineer", is a person who, once all instruments, voices, and sounds, etc., have been recorded, creates what is called the final version of a song, hence the term "mix engineer"...

  • Chris Dugan – engineer
    Audio engineering
    An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

  • Keith Armstrong; Nik Karpen; Wesley Seidman – assistant engineers
  • Brad Kobylczak; Joe McGrath; Andrew Schubert; Brad Townshend – additional engineering
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
    Audio mastering
    Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...

  • Shari Sutcliffe – production coordinator
  • Bill Schneider – band coordinator, guitar technician
  • Micah Chong – guitar technician
  • Kenny Butler; Mike Fasano – drum technicians


Artwork
  • Chris Bilheimer – design, photography
    Photography
    Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

    , stencil
    Stencil
    A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...

    s
  • Andrew Black; Micah Chong; David Cooper – stencils
  • Marina Chavez – back cover photo

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalog
World May 15, 2009 Warner Music
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

Digital download
United States Reprise
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

, double LP
LP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

517153
United Kingdom Warner Music
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

CD 9362-49802-1
Europe
Australia 9362498021
Deluxe CD 9362497777
May 29, 2009 LP 9362497853

Chart performance

Album
Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

2
Austrian Albums Chart 1
Canadian Albums Chart
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...

1
Czech Republic Albums Chart 1
Danish Albums Chart 1
European Top 100 Albums
European Top 100 Albums
The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100...

1
Finnish Albums Chart 3
French Albums Chart
Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique
The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...

1
German Albums Chart
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

1
Hungarian Albums Chart
Mahasz
Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary....

4
Irish Albums Chart
Irish Albums Chart
The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...

2
Italian Albums Chart
Federation of the Italian Music Industry
The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy....

1
Japanese Albums Chart
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

1
Netherlands Albums Chart
Mega Top 50
The Mega Top 50 is a Dutch music chart, originally started on May 23, 1969 as the Hilversum 3 Top 30. Throughout the years, the chart has had several names and lengths:*1969 - 1974: Hilversum 3 Top 30...

4
New Zealand Albums Chart
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...

1
Norwegian Albums Chart
VG-lista
VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...

1
Polish Albums Chart
OLiS
OLiS is the official list of the highest selling music albums in Poland. The list exists since October 23, 2000 and is provided by ZPAV....

6
Portuguese Albums Chart 2
Spanish Albums Chart 1
Swedish Albums Chart
Sverigetopplistan
Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....

1
Swiss Albums Chart
Swiss Music Charts
The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...

1
UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

1
US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

1

Singles
Year Title Peak chart positions
US
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...


US Alt.
US Main.
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...


AUS
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...


SWE
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....


NZ
UK
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...


JPN
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...


2009 "Know Your Enemy
Know Your Enemy (Green Day song)
-Charts:-Year-end charts:-Personnel:* Billie Joe Armstrong - guitar, lead vocals* Mike Dirnt - bass guitar, backing vocals* Tre Cool - drums, percussion...

"
28 1 1 20 8 19 21 5
"21 Guns
21 Guns (song)
"21 Guns" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from their eighth album, 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released through Reprise Records on May 25, 2009 as a digital download and July 14, 2009 as a CD single...

"
22 3 17 14 2 3 36 12
"East Jesus Nowhere
East Jesus Nowhere
"East Jesus Nowhere" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the third single from their eighth album 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released October 19, 2009. The song rebukes fundamentalist religion and was written by singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong...

"
17 23
"21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown (song)
-Charts:-Personnel:*Billie Joe Armstrong - lead vocals, guitar, piano*Mike Dirnt - bass guitar, backing vocals*Tré Cool - drums, percussion...

"
71
2010 "Last of the American Girls
Last of the American Girls
-Chart performance:...

"

|-
|-

Certifications

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