21st Century Breakdown / YMMV

Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Christian a righteous soul who is fighting for the common man, or a Well-Intentioned Extremist who needs to gain more control over his inner demons. If one only looks at "Peacemaker" and "East Jesus Nowhere", one could go with the latter, but in the other songs he seems more sympathetic.
Awesome Music: "21 Guns," "Know Your Enemy," "East Jesus Nowhere.", "Little Girl" and "Restless Heart Syndrome".
- What? No love for "Static Age?"
- "Viva La Gloria", anyone?
  - How has the epic American Eulogy not been mentioned?
  - Or the amazing Peacemaker?
- The ending of "Last Night On Earth" absolutely never fails to give chills. Especially given that it comes right on the heels of the certifiably insane "Christian's Inferno," and closes act 1 of the album.
Broken Base: Some love Green Day for continuing their political opera style, while others hate it.
- The usage of the N-Word in "American Eulogy", while not as prevalent as the usage of "faggot" off of American Idiot, still can get some people irked.
Contested Sequel: Is it better, as good, or not as good as American Idiot? People have a hard time deciding.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- The mindless, violent rage of Christian is much harder to sympathize with after the January 2011 shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, wounding and killing others (including a nine year old girl born on September 11, 2001) by Jared Loughner, a psychotic "rebel" whose ideology is still unclear and, perhaps, does not exist.
- Could also be viewed as Hilarious in Hindsight: This album dropped before the Occupy movement started, and the "Take down the whole entire system" persona of Christian that is without a clearly-defined message of positive change is highly reflective of the Occupy movement as a whole, though they are clearly less violent.
Meaningless Meaningful Words: Tons. "American Eulogy" is nothing but this.
I want to take a walk to the great divide
Beyond the up-to-date and the neo-gentrified
The high-definition for the low resident
Where the value of your mind is not held in contempt
- "East Jesus Nowhere" may be an even worse offender, once you get past the blatant iconoclasm.
  A fire burns today
  Of blasphemy and genocide
  The sirens of decay
  Will infiltrate the faith fanatics
- “Peacemaker” gets this treatment on occasion, too.
  Vendetta, sweet vendetta
  This Beretta of the night
  This fire, and the desire
  Shots ringing out like a holy parasite
Suspiciously Similar Song: People have noticed the similarity between the chorus of "21 Guns" and, of all things, "Route 209" from Pokémon. For examples predating Pokémon, the chorus also sounds suspiciously similar to those of ELO's "Telephone Line" and "All the Young Dudes", the latter which even resulted in a songwriting credit for David Bowie.
Tear Jerker:
- "21 Guns".
- If "Song of the Century" isn't the most heartrending opening track on an album ever recorded, I don't know what is.
- "See the Light" closes the story with an anthem of uncertainty and frustration.
Tough Act to Follow: On the receiving end of one from American Idiot.

YMMV / 21st Century Breakdown

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