Revolution Radio is the twelfth studio album by Green Day, released in 2016.
In 2012, Green Day was on the verge of imploding. They were in the middle of an ambitious plan to release three albums in one year - the Uno! Dos! Tre! trilogy - which received mixed reviews and the lowest sales of the band's career.
In the middle of this, Billie Joe Armstrong had a very-well publicized meltdown while performing on iHeartRadio, where he stopped in the middle of performing "Basket Case" he went on a foul-mouthed rant, smashed his guitar, and flipped the audience off before walking away in anger. The performance wasn't received well.
After the failure of the trilogy, which Billie himself admitted was a mistake, the band decided to get back to basics. As such, Revolution Radio was Green Day's most straightforward album since Warning:, lacking the Rock Opera elements from American Idiot/21st Century Breakdown and the overambition from Uno! Dos! Tre!.
The album was largely well received by critics and audiences, and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. Two of the album's singles - "Bang Bang" and "Still Breathing" - reached #1 on both the Mainstream Rock charts and Alternative Charts.
Followed by 2020's Father of All Motherfuckers.
Tracklist:
- "Somewhere Now" (4:09)
- "Bang Bang" (3:25)
- "Revolution Radio" (3:00)
- "Say Goodbye" (3:39)
- "Outlaws" (5:02)
- "Bouncing Off the Wall" (2:40)
- "Still Breathing" (3:44)
- "Youngblood" (2:32)
- "Too Dumb to Die" (3:23)
- "Troubled Times" (3:04)
- "Forever Now" (6:52)
- "Ordinary World" (3:00)
Principal Members:
- Billie Joe Armstrong - lead vocals, guitar
- Tré Cool - drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals, guitar
- Mike Dirnt - bass, vocals
Tropes:
- Alliterative Title: "Revolution Radio", both the song and the album.
- "Troubled Times" as well.
- Bookends: "Somewhere Now" and "Forever Now."
- Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Played straighter than in some of their previous albums, though still deconstructed somewhat.
- Cruel Twist Ending: "Outlaws." The song is a nostalgic tribute to the band's younger years, but the final lines reveal "a knife by the railroad track," a Deadly Euphemism for suicide. Even worse, this references a friend of the band who did just that.
- Epic Rocking: "Forever Now" definitely qualifies at nearly seven minutes.
- Fading into the Next Song: "Somewhere Now" fades into "Bang Bang", and "Youngblood" fades into "Too Dumb To Die".
- One-Word Title: "Outlaws" and "Youngblood," so much as the latter can be counted as one word.
- Non-Appearing Title: "Forever Now". Zig-zagged since it does get a Title Drop in the closing line of "Outlaws."
- Sanity Slippage Song: "Bang Bang" is this all the way.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Ordinary World" is possibly the softest song Green Day has ever recorded, being a straight up acoustic ballad.
- Title Track: "Revolution Radio," of course.
- Voice of the Resistance
