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Archive for May 2009
Green Day, prior to American Idiot, was never taken too seriously as songwriters and proficient lyricists. They were the ones that made punk cross into the pop-genre. And don’t give me that The Clash excuse, yeah they crossed over into the pop market a bit but they were never a pop version of punk. Neither was Blondie or The Ramones. Green Day paved the way for pop-punk sensations like Blink 182 and New Found Glory. Someone actually told me recently that Green Day was punk for “kids who haven’t heard of The Descendants yet.” With American Idiot, they set themselves in stone as the epitome and perfection of the pop-punk genre. It was powerful, political, and comparable to what many consider as one of the greatest albums to come out of the 90′s: Dookie.
What came out this past Tuesday was their follow up to the 12 times platinum American Idiot. Obviously, it is a hard album to follow, and though commercially the album has some potential hits, it will in no way be as much of a success. However, it certainly isn’t from a lack of trying. Much of this album is highly over-produced, much like Idiot, but on this it seems like they tried unnecessarily hard. If you enjoyed American Idiot, then you’ll more than likely enjoy this as well. The songwriting is similar, the songs are bigger, and the lyrics are still very dominantly anti-Bush.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of it. If I was A&R I’d absolutely love it, but I’m not, so I don’t. Green Day is certainly grown up, and though I respect them fully for evolving so well as artists (let’s not forget that this powerhouse group started as three kids having a slang term for a day where they do nothing but smoke pot), I just feel that the over-production and opus-like themes lessen their authenticity and take them further away from what punk is. If you gave this album to anyone from CBGB’s in the 70′s, telling them “this is actually a form of punk in the future,” they would more than likely take their close-pins from their and continue to stab themselves in the trachea.
If you read other reviews like I do (nothing wrong and seeing what other people have to say to get a good perspective), then you’d read that many people think this has good throwbacks to the 70′s and early punk. My reaction is this: “Where?” The only old-school throwback on the album is done through effects on the intro track and the beginning of another. In terms of song-writing, there is absolutely nothing resembling the 70′s or any other genre outside the late 90′s. Goddamnit I hate Rolling Stone.
Here’s the breakdown for Breakdown: the guitars are simple, the songs are huge, the effort is tiring, and the single sucks. ”Know Your Enemy” (the single in question) is an annoying three-chord repetition that makes you want to puncture your ear drums with a prison shank. Ironically, if you read TDR a couple weeks ago, a track was leaked called “Hearts Collide” which we actually enjoyed, but sadly isn’t on the album at all. There was also a song which was not seen on TDR called “Lights Out” which sounds straight from Dookie. What happened to these tracks?
Aside from the non-existent b-sides “Hearts Collide” and “Lights Out,” the tracks actually on the album that you should pay attention to are “Before The Lobotomy” and “Horseshoes and Handgrenades.” The Dune Review gives 21st Century Breakdown a 3 out of 5.
And you know what? FUCK IT. We are going to give you both “Hearts Collide” and “Lights Out” cause we think those two songs alone are better than the entire album. If you loved the old Green Day and not sure about the new stuff, don’t even bother with the new album. Simply right-click the following links to “save as” and proceed to put these songs on repeat. You’re welcome.
The Dune Review has been all over this album and updating you about its singles released so far. So far, we haven’t really liked the singles. “We Made You” had the killer hook, funny lyrics, but the flow didn’t really flow well. “3 A.M.” had the best video and cryptic lyrics, but the overall song just wasn’t his best. ”Old Time’s Sake” was a cool beat and awesome chorus, but the lyrics from both Dre and Eminem were pretty weak. We were pretty disappointed so far and didn’t have the greatest expectations for the rest of the album. But for all you Eminem fans, you’re in luck: this album was much better than expected.
The opening skit is about Em finding a sponsor for his Narcotics Anonymous meetings. It’s pretty funny as he talks to someone who appears to be a demon trying to gradually convince Slim that he should start drinking and taking pills again. It flows into the next track and opening song, “3 A.M.” With the combination of the music video and this intro track, the single seems much better. His vocals are still annoyingly nasal, but the track is definitely a grower.
It seems like the singles released so far are the least memorable songs on the album. There are songs on this album that are light-years better than the singles so far. ”My Mom” is a goddamn masterpiece. And yes, I know you’re looking at the title thinking “why the hell is he talking about his Mom again, that shit’s old.” Well, thats what the songs about. The first line of the verse is “My mom, my mom, I bet you’re tired of hearing about my mom.” The whole song is another jab from Slim to his mom, but also a thank you for being the way she is, because he takes after her and wouldn’t be the person he is today if it wasn’t for her. It’s pretty funny and by far our favorite track on the album.
If you thought the vocals in the singles were far too nasally, don’t fear, because it’s really not as bad throughout the album. On some tracks, it’s pretty apparent, but there are a good amount of tracks where his voice is back to normal. It does help, however, that the album is 15 songs long with 5 skits. It gives you plenty of choices and plenty of opportunities to make up for the nasal-notes. But with the 15 songs, only half of them stand out as being good Eminem quality. With Eminem’s past albums, his bar was set so high to the point where his comeback would have to be huge. Don’t get me wrong, his comeback is going to be big; it already is. But that doesn’t mean the album is amazing.
Thankfully for you, The Dune Review has split up the album and is letting you know which songs stand out as awesome and which ones you could probably just skip. Here are the songs you could do without:
“Bagpipes From Baghdad” – weak beat, weak chorus, weak lyrics, weak song.
“Same Song And Dance” – good cryptic lyrics, but overall a pretty damn boring song.
“Hello” – overly-simple beat, boring flow, boring lyrics, boring song.
“Old Time’s Sake” – good chorus, cool beat, weak lyrics, mediocre song.
“Must Be The Ganja” – just another song about weed, overdone subject, annoying snare sample.
“Deja Vu” – verses aren’t that bad, the worst chorus of the album by far.
“Crack A Bottle” – song isn’t too bad until 50 Cent comes on. He ruins the entire song.
Here are the songs that make you happy to be an Eminem fan:
“3 A.M” – we didn’t like the song much at first, but the best out of his singles so far and it’s definitely growing on us.
“My Mom” – best track on the album.
“Insane” – opening line is fantastic, great beat, and he even mentions felching.
“We Made You“ – funny lyrics, funny video, good beat, but still too nasally and he tries too hard.
“Medicine Ball” – cool beat, good catchy chorus, lyrics aren’t bad.
“Stay Wide Awake” – 2nd best song on the album, hilariously cryptic lyrics, great beat and chorus.
“Beautiful” – very cool song, catchy as hell, pretty much the Eminem version of the Aguilera song.
“Underground” – awesome beat, no nasally vocals!!
Overall, the album gives us mixed feelings. We love the songs we love, but there are certainly about 5 tracks that should have been left off the album. Eminem didn’t have to have such a long album on his comeback. We’re happy he gave us so many tracks, but we wish they were all as good as they should have been. The good tracks on the album won’t leave our head, but we can’t help but only give the album 3 out of 5. But even with this score, the album is worth getting, or at least listening to.
Regina Spektor is absolutely amazing. I’ve always been a big fan of this woman. Her quirky lyrics and magnetic voice is very easily recognizable, and lately, has been very influenced on the indie scene. She has a new album coming out called “Far,” and has just released a single online called “Laughing With.” The song is about God being funny, but when bad shit happens, no one is laughing. The song is good, its very pretty, but I just can’t help but think it’s too repetitive. The lyrics are in a very Bob Dylan style, and as clever as they are, it just seems to be a bit too much. However, the song is still very pleasing on the ears. I give it a 4 out of 5. You should definitely give it a listen below.
Brandon Flowers, of The Killers fame, has been going around lately and ranting about how he thinks Nirvana and Zeppelin are overrated and that America needs to concentrate more on modern rock. Let’s revue the situation:
On the 15th anniversary of the day Kurt Cobain’s body was found, Brandon Flowers went on to say, “I think Kurt Cobain and grunge took the fun out of rock ‘n roll. Everything’s changing, though, and it’s starting to become a lot more playful and brighter.” This, as offensive as it was, brought a good point, though it was a tad inaccurate. This also coming from a man quoted to say, I grew up seeing people like Morrissey,” as if Morrissey was such a happy camper. If what Flowers meant was that Nirvana killed the over-saturation of hair-metal and the effeminate party scene, then he was entirely accurate. Nirvana did do that, and it was completely necessary. They certainly didn’t take any “fun” out of rock. It happens with every scene. Kiss killed disco and paved the way for hair-metal, Nirvana killed that, Korn killed grunge, and emo killed nu-metal. Now we have a myriad of rock styles, some being influenced by the 70′s classic rock, and far too much being influenced by 80′s new wave. Not to mention all the different sub-genres of metal that are out there now.
He then went on to say, “We’ve been embraced in Britain in a way that I’ll never understand, and it’s such a wonderful thing… But over here [in America], people are still so obsessed with Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, those sorts of bands, that nobody else is allowed [to grow].” Flowers is correct that people need to stop concentrating so much on how Zeppelin or Nirvana, or any one particular band for that matter, were the greatest and the such a huge influence on music today. What he fails to comprehend, however, is how much his music is based on 80′s new wave.
His main argument is that American music is too obsessed with Nirvana and Zeppelin, which then forms a bubble around the industry, putting boundaries on creativity. It’s a good point, but he is still ignoring the fact that his own band is so obsessed with a genre that came and went quickly in the 80′s because it was terrible music. When people listen to old 80′s new wave, they don’t do it because it’s amazing music and they really get into it. They listen to it for the comical nostalgia. When was the last time you met someone that said, “ahhhhh ‘You Spin Me Right Round’ from Dead Or Alive was one of the greatest songs ever written!” and been serious about it. No one. You know why? Because new wave was fucking stupid. The reason it’s become so big now is because people are fusing it with different genres, making it catchier and (to some sad extent) more original. The reason The Killers are bigger overseas is because Europe is more susceptible to techno.
My point: you can’t have a valid argument while ignoring your own hypocrisy. Yes, people need to start branching out to create more original forms of music, having past genres and bands as influences but not sole-influences. But, The Killers are not too original. They aren’t playing anything that hasn’t been played before. No one can listen to “Human” from The Killers and say, “This is awesome! I’ve never heard ANYTHING like this before!” If you want to encourage originality from artists; if you want to try and get people to stand out on their own and start having multiple influences as opposed to a single major influence, then you need to be the example. Brandon Flowers is not that example.