Green Day’s career arc is a notable one. Formed in the late 1980s, the band released one independent full-length along with a few EPs (mini albums) before kicking off the mid-1990s punk explosion with their 1994 record Dookie. A highly catchy pop-punk record that with sneering abandon signaled a change of scenery from the then-dying gloom of grunge music, Dookie catapulted the band into fame. They even played a legendary show in Jakarta sometime around then.

But by the late 1990s, the band’s pop-punk had run its course. It wasn’t anything in particular — 1997’s Nimrod had some strong singles — but the band’s brand of second-generation punk had just run its course. Green Day was no longer the new cool brats. They were old news.

Then 2004’s politically-conscious, semiconceptual American Idiot happened. Released during the pinnacle of the administration of US president George W. Bush, the record’s cynical politics, along with the band’s new goth-hipster look, somehow established momentum and brought Green Day a legion of new fans. The band members were once again big rock stars – this time filling up arenas.

These days, there are Green Day fans who don’t even realize the band released a record before American Idiot and that’s not a bad thing. With two hit-making careers, Green Day is one of those rare acts that gets to jump from one sound to another — at least theoretically.

Revolution Radio, the band’s newly released record (and officially their 12th), tries to mesh together the band’s two career arcs. Front man Billie Joe Armstrong has said that the record feels like a return to their teenage pop-punk years and, sure, this is the first album that is being released without some kind of gimmicks surrounding it (their previous record was a triple EP released successively), but apart from its energetic pace, the record is basically another Green Day album.

The arena rock is strong with this one. Every song is peppered with flourishes that can’t be described as anything other than theatrical and/or melodramatic. Harmonies have always been a major part of the band’s sound, but the perfect-pitch processing of the band’s post-American Idiot output blankets the whole record, with practically every hook and melodic moment serving up layers of vocals.

The ear-bleeding modern production is probably not something a band as massive as Green Day can avoid, but it prevents the songs from having any semblance of dynamics. Intros, verses, choruses and bridges are all delivered with the same amount of confetti-triggering oomph, exploding with relentless celebratory vigor that makes listening to each song simply exhausting.

It probably goes without saying that the tiring studio trickery is there to make up for Green Day’s decreasing ability to provide hooks. Yes, there are still bouncy pop like “Bang Bang”, “Say Goodbye” and “Bouncing Off the Wall”, both of which would somehow feel right at home on Nimrod or 2000’s Warning, but the modern Green Day necessity of splashing aural rainbows means that both tracks feature multilayered guitars, frankly clichéd lead riffing and Armstrong’s stage-bred penchant for shouting “Hey!”

Even those who were already passed their teen angst years could see that Dookie was all hooks delivered with minimalist crunchiness. Yeah, yeah, the production is anything by “punk”, but the songs still felt like they breathe: with refrains and emotions defined. It didn’t feel like a band that was too accustomed to writing songs for the guy at the back of the arena.

This isn’t a whine about Green Day’s “old stuff” being better than its “new stuff”. Tracks like the two mentioned above, as well as the feel good melancholy of “Forever Now”, are punchy and precise beneath all the eyeliner and glitter. Yet, they are far outweighed by the blandness of songs, such as the quasi-ballad rocker opener “Somewhere Now” or the staccato bop of “Too Dumb to Die”. Had these songs not been so overproduced, they certainly would have felt more powerful and compelling than they currently are.

The thing is, this is Green Day, so even the worst tracks are far from hookless. They feel neutered, which for rockers reaching 50 is understandable, but in this case is particularly noticeable with a production that feels as awkward as spiky hair on, well, 40-year-old. It’s all good and you’d like to respect and enjoy it more than you actually do, but the feeling that Green Day should be OK with sounding human is missed.

— Marcell Thee

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