Uno by Green Day

This past September Green Day released this album which we are told is to be the first of three releases over a period of just a few months. With Dos out soon and Tres not soon after over the last few days I have listened to this the first record a few times and would have to color myself unimpressed.

Truth told I have never been a big fan of the band so this is no surprise. I think that American Idiot was a good album and certainly Wake Me Up When September Ends was a great song and a powerful video but the truth is that song was a bit of a departure from much of what the band has done.

As the band settles well into middle age they, to my uneducated eyes, seem to be struggling to stay relevant. Certainly Billie Joe Armstrong's meltdown at a recent charity concert leads one to suspect that perhaps being a punk band twenty five years after it's beginning is a perplexing thing.

The album itself is pretty bland. A few driving beats, some naughty words, and Armstrong's unique voice can still barely make your foot tap. It is just all so predictable, nothing is new, it has all been done a million times. There is just nothing original in the sound.

That is not to say the band has no merit. Some songs are better than others on every album and this one is no different. The second song on the album is called Stay the Night and certainly it has some appeal. Perhaps my big issue with Green Day is that same damn speed guitar riff over and over. It all seems so forced, all the songs with f2*k in them like it was off a checklist.

Kill The DJ is a neat little number in that it is slightly different and if nothing else expresses a sentiment that we have all felt, certainly if we have gone to any club where all they play is that awful dance music. Better than that is Fell For You which sounds a bit like a cross between The Ramones and a fifties band if, that is, a fifties band was talking about pissing the bed.


The first single, and as the albums are so close together in their release dates, the song that might well be most remembered in this whole three album production is called Oh Love and it is certainly superior to the rest of the albums. With that in mind however it still is nothing special and after four listenings you really do not care if you ever hear it again.

Perhaps the second and third albums will be better, they are supposed to each have a theme so there is hope. If not however it seems to me we may be looking at a band that has stayed too long at the party.