RMR

Green Day ¡Uno!- 2012
RMR Album Rating- 6 (Good)


After establishing themselves as much more than a simple punk-rock band on the highly inventive, and sometimes highly intellectual, concept albums American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day returned to their roots for their 2012 punk rock release ¡Uno!.

American Idiot (2004) and 21st Century Breakdown (2009) were both massive in conceptual scope, and although Green Day moves away from this conceptual format on this short and simple 40-minute release, the project that ¡Uno! is a part of is no less ambitious, as it is only the first record in a triple album set scheduled to be released over a 5-month period.

¡Uno! is pillared by 6 cornerstone punk rock anthems in “Nuclear Family,” “Stay The Night,” “Carpe Diem,” “Let Yourself Go,” “Loss of Control,” and “Angel Blue.” All six of these songs are standouts and are highlighted by Bill Joe Armstrong’s vocals and Tré Cool’s drumming, which have always defined the band’s sound for me.

My favorite of these songs are “Nuclear Family,” (the lead track) which sets the tone for the album right away with blazing energy and ultra-catchy instrumentation and vocals; “Carpe Diem” is also bursting with energy, and it has an amazing anthemic chorus of “Carpe Diem/ A Battle Cry/ Are we all too young to die?” Plus, there’s “Angel Blue,” which is somewhat hidden on the second half of the album, but it is the fastest song on the record, and it is highlighted by Armstrong’s signature vocals and searing guitar work.

In general, my favorite classic punk rock albums are short, fast, and catchy. And, there is rarely much diversity between the songs, and ¡Uno! would have been a great record if all 12 songs followed the same fast paced pattern, but Green Day does show some diversity on “Sweet 16,” which is played slower than the aforementioned tracks, but it is no less catchy. Finally, there’s “Oh Love,” which also shows some diversity. It is more of a straight alternative rock song. I also think it is the best written song on the album with several tempo & pace changes, as well as a great chorus of “Far away/ Far away/ Waste away tonight/ Tonight my heart’s on the loose.”

The only songs that don’t resonate with me on the album are “Kill The DJ” and “Troublemaker.” “Kill The DJ” has an odd and funky inspired sound that seems completely out of place on the album, and both songs feature puerile lyrics that seem to intentionally target a specifically younger and immature audience.

After the release of American idiot and 21st Century Breakdown, I think it would have been a mistake for Green Day to continue down the path that those albums paved. Personally, I love both those albums, but I think Green Day had peaked with that style of album. Plus, Green Day fans had been begging for a proper follow up to their 1994 breakout album Dookie, on which !Uno! delivers, but is has almost 10-years of additional song writing experience tied to it. Overall, !Uno! is a success, and it is a completely enjoyable and easy listen.

My favorite Tracks "Oh Love" & "Carpe Diem"

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RMR
My music reivew site: RMR Music Reviews

GuitarHeroFan101

I actually kind of like "Oh Love". It's catchy, in a way. Definetly not on my Top 100 List, though.

Isbjørn

You should be careful with using the term "punk rock" to describe Green Day. 'Course, they are influented by punk acts like The Clash and Sex Pistols, but if you listen THEIR, or even more modern bands like Rancid and NOFX, you'll see that there IS a difference. So punk POP is a lot more accurate in my opinion. Also, the ¡Uno! album is supposed to be power-pop (source).
Good review though, cool to see that someone else likes Green Day (though they're really popular).

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Oh Danny Boy

i wouldn't use the word 'intellectual' to describe their music either

Isbjørn

That depends if you're focusing on melodies and musicianship, or the lyrics.

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Justthefacts

I thought this album sucked. Not really looking forward to Dos!

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RMR

Yeah, I can understand that labeling Green Day "punk" would not sit well with the punk purists, and "pop-punk" is probably more accurate. However, I think Green Day is really more of a punk-tinged alternative rock band now. When I think of pop-punk, I think of Blink 182, Sum 41, and so on, and I don't think Green Day really fits in that bucket. I like your term "power-pop." There's power-metal, and power-prog, so why not. Works for me.

But, that's the problem with all these labels. If you get to granular, it's an endless debate. Progressive Rock is my favorite genre of music, and it is probably the worst with labels. How many sub-genres of progressive rock can there be? And, people vehemently disagree on them.

All in all, I don't disagree with your comments at all... thanks for reading.

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RMR
My music reivew site: RMR Music Reviews

RMR

For the record, I did say "sometimes highly intellectual."

And I will defend that point, as I think both American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown both have some "highly intellectual" moments.

I wouldn't compare them to the works of someone like Steven Wilson or even their [insert adjective-punk] peers Bad Religion, but both those albums made me think and listen on an intellectual level... and that's good enough for me.

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Howard the Duck

when i first got it, i was highly disappointed that it was more "pop" than "punk"

but yesternight, I just switched off the lights and really "listened" to it, and thought it was not bad, really

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Isbjørn

SOMETIMES highly intellectual works fine for me. They have a lot of great songs (Basket Case, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, American Idiot) and a lot of s**t that's made to fill up the albums. Genre labeling can be a problem, and sometimes you have to be quite familiar with a genre to use the term. I'd say Green Day had more punk back with Dookie and Nimrod, but eventually evolved into a punk/pop band. Take Boulevard of Broken Dreams and 21 Guns. You can hear that it's not like all the other pop music, but it's not as "punky" as American Idiot either.

EDIT: Billie Joe Armstrong stated that the first one would be power pop, the second one would be garage rock and the third one would be epic, and that the band was going back to Dookie and pre-Dookie.

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