Welcoming Back the American Idiots
It’s been 20 years since Green Day released American Idiot - political statement album closing out the trilogy that started in 1994 with Dookie. On January 19th Saviors was released, getting Green Day energized by a new wave of unsettling problems that are occurring today. It’s overall an enjoyable listen, but in music today it just falls a bit short of Green Day expectations.
“The American Dream is Killing Me” lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong passionately sings of conspiracies, unemployment, homelessness, and Tik-Tok as just a few of the problems that are bothering him. With recurring themes to be repeated throughout other tracks on the album.
“Look Ma, No Brains!” may sound extra familiar if someone hasn’t listened to the album before because it’s in the Taco Bell commercial. Really listening into the first few opening lines- “Sick boy and I shit the bed” the irony for Taco Bell is hilarious but very far removed from the context of the album.
“One Eyed Bastard” sounds very familiar to the Pink hit “So What.” To the point where you might even catch yourself subconsciously singing “Na-na-na-na, na-na, na.” Which brings in some extra nostalgia (bonus point) to the album.
“Coma City '' with a grocery store sized list of problems to wearing masks, shootings, and wildfires, but written in a satirical way that people in this “Coma City” are numb to the horrors that are surrounding them. “Coma City/ Open your eyes/Dead on arrival under smoky skies/ Coma City (Coma City)/mask on your face.” But frighteningly enough, is it really satire when people seem to be getting numb as heinous acts are happening so often?
“Strange Days Are Here to Stay “and honestly who hasn’t been saying this for a while now. The lyrics capture the essence of ‘saviors’ leaving us at a time of need to face the world with the help of ourselves now- “Well, this is how the world will end/ When superheroes play pretend/ They promised us forever, but we got less/ It’s the return of the blob/ And Jesus gonna quit his job/ He promised us forever but we got less.” This song captures all the way back to pre-covid times and how since the death of David Bowie times just haven’t been the same. Or gotten worse but that’s up to the listener.
“Suzie Chapstick” is possibly one of the best on the album that talks about relationships today. Reminiscing of a better time with a partner and questioning with lyrics like “Will I see your face again? Not just photos from an Instagram” which can be very relatable to the population on Instagram today.
To the title track “Saviors” which rings out the call for a “savior” to come and rescue us all and make the population believe in the power of good once more. A flip-flop to “Strange Days Are Here to Stay” the track now turns on its head mimicking the indecisiveness of a generation. Ultimately the track leaves us with one final question which by this point seems to be a common theme- “Will somebody save us?”
Green Day leaves us with a kick from their past albums sounds to disillusion and conforming to the darkness of the world in their typical ironic tone in their ending track “Fancy Sauce.”
The song lyrics say a lot of the same things at times but with a different orchestrated tone. They really tried and at times succeeded but untimely the album doesn’t quite live up to the expectations of the two classics that came before in the trilogy. It’d be interesting to see if this album will be getting a musical similar to American Idiot, but like the album alludes to a lot can happen nowadays… and repetition.
Photo by Hendrik B: https://www.pexels.com/photo/macro-shot-audio-equalizer-744318/