{"id":7238,"date":"2020-02-07T23:44:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T04:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/?p=7238"},"modified":"2020-02-07T23:54:33","modified_gmt":"2020-02-08T04:54:33","slug":"review-green-day-father-of-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/07\/review-green-day-father-of-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Green Day &#8211; Father of All&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You know, if I can start this review off with a small anecdote, I tend to get a bit of flack for calling myself a Green Day fan. Sure, some of the more recent output may not be up to par, namely the retread in <i>21st Century Breakdown<\/i> and the misguided \u201ctrilogy\u201d in 2012, but I still hold the work that this enigmatic pop-punk (at one time, anyway) band from the East Bay did in the 1990s and early 2000s in pretty high regard; I mean, I can consider <i>American <\/i>Idiot to be a top-five all-time album, without question. And for some, it may seem like that was the peak of the band, with everything coming afterwards suffering from the law of diminishing returns; it\u2019s certainly a fair argument to make, but I like to believe in the benefit of the doubt with bands and artists. After all, <i>Revolution Radio<\/i> was a fairly strong return to form for the band, so maybe this new album of theirs can keep the positive momentum afloat. And it\u2019s only 26 minutes long, shorter than some of the prog-metal suites in my music library, so this shouldn\u2019t be that bad of a listen, right?<\/p>\n<h2><b><i>26 minutes later\u2026<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Okay, was this just a Foxboro Hot Tubs album in disguise?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eXv00PJ9IQM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Allow me to start this discussion with one lone question: what should we, the public, expect from Green Day in the year 2020? That\u2019s a question I\u2019m not entirely sure can be answered. However, while it\u2019s clear that we will never get an album full of a youthful punk endorphin rush in 1994\u2019s <i>Dookie<\/i>, or an album like the politically-charged rock opera opus of 2004\u2019s <i>American Idiot<\/i>, it\u2019s incredibly difficult to pinpoint what to expect from a band like Green Day, a band that\u2019s coming up on 34 years of activity and a band that\u2019s now <i>thirteen<\/i> albums deep with their catalogue. So what do you do when you\u2019ve run the gamut across an illustrious career of highs, lows, and everything in between &#8211; do you go for a lasting moment of impact, or a collection to embrace in the current moment?<\/p>\n<p>Across the 10 tracks of <i>Father of All\u2026<\/i>, Green Day has taken a calculated turn into creating an album that blends elements of of power-pop and garage rock, churning out their shortest album to date &#8211; barely over 26 minutes in total &#8211; and an album that, while it has all of the intention of being a rock club jam, it unfortunately suffers from a case of \u201cin one ear and out the other.\u201d The first track and first single, the title track, sounds less like Green Day and more like their alternative rock radio contemporaries, be it Portugal. The Man or the Black Keys, and that is something that Green Day should <i>never<\/i> try to emulate. If it\u2019s not Billie Joe\u2019s strange falsetto vocal approach that turns people off, then the overabundance of hand-claps layered over Tre Cool\u2019s drum beats certainly will; consider that a trend that absolutely needs to fade away, be it in rock or reggaeton or country &#8211; fingersnaps and hand claps need to GO AWAY.<\/p>\n<p>So why try and create an album that\u2019s formatted like a garage jam, in a day and age when the current news cycle continues to be ignited over and over and is demanding some kind of musical rebuttal? Quoting an interview with Apple Music, \u201cI think we live in just a time of complete and total chaos,\u201d says Billie Joe Armstrong, \u201cor else we\u2019ve always been, but now it\u2019s turned up to [President Donald] Trump. So it\u2019s just trying to reflect what\u2019s going on. And it\u2019s not really writing political songs, but just writing the [things] you see every day.\u201d Granted, while the tracks on <i>American Idiot<\/i> were not entirely a rebuttal of the George W. Bush administration, the verbiage and layout of its title track and \u201cHoliday\u201d have enough to serve as a strong rebuttal that doesn\u2019t come across as either self-serving or pretentious. It\u2019s hard to feel the same way on some of the tracks from this album, as the music distracts from some of those messages. Going back to the title track, as it lives with the message of how \u201crock has lost its balls,\u201d there\u2019s a message regarding the very real concern of climate change with the lines of \u201cchoking up on the smoke from above\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m possessed from the heat of the sun.\u201d They feel more like throwaway lines in the grander scheme of the track, and the same can also be said on the track \u201cOh Yeah!\u201d with the line \u201cburning books in a bulletproof backpack,\u201d a message regarding the unfortunate crisis of mass shootings in schools that gets undercut by the Joan Jett (and Gary Glitter) \u201cDo You Wanna Touch Me\u201d samples in its chorus.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/U3cpdkhtGx0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Now, this may sound like I\u2019m going on a big \u201cthis is bad because it\u2019s different\u201d tangent, but I\u2019m really not. I\u2019ve gone on record by saying that, in shorter terms, different does not equal bad. Only <i>bad<\/i> equals bad, and it\u2019s all a matter of the approach taken by the band and the individual(s) behind the mixing board. For this album, Butch Walker took the helm, and if that name sounds familiar, that\u2019s because he\u2019s previously done work with Fall Out Boy on their past three albums, and has also worked with Weezer for their albums <i>Pacific Daydream <\/i>and <i>Raditude<\/i>. Don\u2019t mind that sudden screaming, it always happens when <i>Raditude<\/i> gets mentioned. Producers tend to have much more of a say in a band\u2019s sound than one would think; look no further than <i>21st Century Breakdown<\/i>, helmed by Butch Vig, when compared to a bulk of the band\u2019s work with Rob Cavallo. The production on <i>Father of All\u2026<\/i> does stand out amidst the band\u2019s catalogue, at the very least, but it stands out by being much less punk rock and more along the lines of garage rock, with some \u201860s rock blended in parts as well. When you have this approach, lyrics become less of a focal point in favor of the musical direction; \u201cMeet Me on the Roof\u201d is fueled by crunchy guitar riffs and a stripped down drum beat, \u201cStab You in the Heart\u201d is centered around a rockabilly groove, and \u201cI Was a Teenage Teenager\u201d is driven by Mike Dirnt\u2019s pulsing bass groove &#8211; a pulse that unfortunately grows repetitive a bit too quickly.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few solid good points to be made on this album, though. \u201cSugar Youth\u201d is approached like it could have been a cut B-side from <i>American Idiot<\/i>, right down to the vocal inflection in the chorus that is very reminiscent to the track \u201cShe\u2019s a Rebel,\u201d and while \u201cGraffitia\u201d has a similar approach, reminiscent of the better cuts from <i>21CB<\/i>, it unfortunately wanders off with a fade-out that prevents it, and the album, from reaching any kind of closure. And for an album that\u2019s only 26 minutes long, it feels strange to say that there wasn\u2019t enough to it. <i>Father of All\u2026<\/i> has all of the intention of being an album full of positive energy, but the end result just doesn\u2019t have enough to it to warrant any kind of lasting impact, be it in the long-term or in the moment, even if you tend to hear \u201cFire, Ready, Aim\u201d during hockey games on TV. It\u2019s far from being the <i>worst<\/i> Green Day album, but it\u2019s not an album that I can call one of their best either. It\u2019s just an album that sits in the ethos for those who are so inclined to give it a listen. And at the end of the day, it\u2019s only 26 minutes long. It\u2019s a lot more accessible than the 2-hour trilogy of 2012, for sure.<\/p>\n<p>Best Tracks:<br \/>\n\u201cStab You in the Heart\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cSugar Youth\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Worst Tracks:<br \/>\n\u201cOh Yeah!\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cI Was a Teenage Teenager\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cFather of All\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><br \/>\n<em><strong>Verdict<\/strong>: Give it a listen and see how you feel. But proceed with caution, it\u2019s not your typical Green Day album\u2026 unless \u201ctypical\u201d means 2012-era Green Day.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><i><strong>Father of All\u2026<\/strong> is available from Reprise Records\/Warner Music on CD, vinyl, and digital download, and is available for streaming on all major platforms.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You know, if I can start this review off with a small anecdote, I tend to get a bit of flack for calling \n<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/07\/review-green-day-father-of-all\/\"> [...]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"yasr_overall_rating":2.3,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[1493,1497,1496,1381,1498,1495,1494],"class_list":["post-7238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-father-of-all","tag-fire-ready-aim","tag-garage-rock","tag-green-day","tag-oh-yeah","tag-power-pop","tag-punk-rock"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.surrealresolution.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Green-Day-FOA.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8GYHU-1SK","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7238"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7244,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7238\/revisions\/7244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}