Green Day has just released their 14th studio album Saviors along with a brand new music video -- and it continues to solidify their distinguished, famous sound.
Listen to Green Day Radio and more on the free Audacy app
Green Day’s latest album release is an intentional return to the band’s classic sound- and perhaps the biggest "return" is of GRAMMY-winning producer Rob Cavallo. As one of their earliest producers, Cavallo mixed the 15-tracks on Saviors with the same intangible magic that he did on Dookie and American Idiot back in the late '90s and early 2000’s. The subsequent tour for Saviors will also include Dookie and American Idiot performed in their entirety, and while that may seem to overpower its promotion, the new album shows serious promise of holding its own.
Saviors features musical power ballads like “Goodnight Adeline” and “Father to a Son,” along with hard-hitting Rock songs like, “Look Ma, No Brains!” “Dilemma” and “One Eyed Bastard.” But perhaps the best songs to summarize the album are the lead single “The American Dream is Killing Me” and the latest music video release, “Bobby Sox.”
“The American Dream is Killing Me” is the modern-day equivalent to "American Idiot" -- not that the song ever went out of style in the first place. Rather, this new single expresses less rebellion and more exhaustion, as if the band is fed up with American politics but not surprised either. “When it's all double-talk of conspiracy / the American Dream is killing me” Armstrong sings in the first chorus. To explain the band’s return to political commentary, Armstrong said, “It’s a look at the way the traditional American Dream doesn’t work for a lot of people, in fact, it’s hurting a lot of people.”
The song is classic Green Day - heavy guitar and drums with rhythmic and yellable vocals. One verse even features an interpolation of the “Basket Case” melody, with new lyrics: “People on the street / Unemployed and obsolete / Did you ever learn to read the ransom note?” By referencing their nearly 30-year-old song, Green Day uses the listener's sense of nostalgia to signify a frustrating lack of change. The sarcasm, passion, and all-over headbanging single is a great addition to the band’s playlist.
The follow up single “Bobby Sox” is a great representation of the Saviors album as well. The song is more Pop-Punk, though Armstrong said in a press release that it’s one of his “favorite songs on the album.” He continued, “It’s the ’90s song that we never wrote. It started out being a song I wrote for my wife but as it materialized, I wanted to switch it up and added, ‘Do you wanna be my boyfriend?’ on top of ‘Do you wanna be girlfriend’… So the song becomes a kind of universal anthem.” And a universal anthem it is, as the song also addresses loving someone regardless of their gender or fluidity.
Armstrong identified himself as bisexual back in a 1995 interview but said that the scene wasn’t as open to LBTQ folks then. “Nowadays it’s more common for kids to be LGBTQ, and there’s more support,” he told the LA Times. “But for us, back in the day, that was like the beginning of when people were able to openly say things like that.”
Thus, “Bobby Sox” is a blast from the past with more honest lyrics. The song is centered around a strummed guitar and vocal riff, giving the feel of a 90’s upbeat Rock hit. But their classic Punk style takes over with a major drop in each chorus, followed by repetitive lyrics that make the song, as Armstrong called it, “more of a queer singalong.” The throwback vibes even continue into the music video, which was released along with the album. Green Day is seen throwing a house party concert that, when combined with the film’s slight grain, seems like they jumped straight out of MTV.
You can check out the full music video above and make sure to tune into Audacy’s Green Day Radio to songs from the new album and more, available for free on the Audacy app. Green Day is back, baby!