21st Century Breakdown - Themes and Composition

Themes and Composition

I look at Christian and Gloria, and it's me. Gloria is one side: this person trying to hold on to this sense of belief, still trying to do good. Whereas Christian is deep into his own demons and victimizing himself over that.

Billie Joe Armstrong, on the link between the two main protagonists of 21st Century Breakdown and himself

21st Century Breakdown continues the rock opera style of its predecessor, American Idiot. The album is divided into three acts: "Heroes and Cons", "Charlatans and Saints", and "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" and is set in Detroit, Michigan. Its loose narrative follows a young couple named Christian and Gloria through the challenges present in the U.S. following the presidency of George W. Bush. Bassist Mike Dirnt has compared the relationships between the songs to those in Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run, saying that the themes are not as tightly interwoven as in a concept album, but that they are still connected. Many of the record's themes and lyrics are drawn from Armstrong's personal life and he sings in the first-person narrative style about abandonment and vengeance in "Before the Lobotomy", "Christian's Inferno", and "Peacemaker". Rolling Stone noted that the album is "the most personal, emotionally convulsive record Armstrong has ever written".

The title track's opening lyric "Born into Nixon, I was raised in hell" references Armstrong's birth year of 1972, while "We are the class of '13" references the fact that his eldest son, Joseph, will graduate from high school in 2013. Dirnt has expressed his belief that "Last of the American Girls" was written about Armstrong's wife Adrienne, who he claimed is steadfast in her beliefs and assertively defends them. Armstrong has cited his "disconnected" childhood—he was raised by his five older siblings after their father's death, while their mother worked graveyard shifts as a waitress—as the roots of the discontent expressed on 21st Century Breakdown. "East Jesus Nowhere" rebukes fundamentalist religion and was written after Armstrong attended a church service where a friend's baby was baptized.

Musically, 21st Century Breakdown is similar to the punk rock style of American Idiot, but many critics have claimed that Green Day's traditional sound has evolved in the five years since their last release to incorporate new influences such as heavier, louder pop rock and stadium rock on an epic scale. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone indicated that the album sports ballads that are Green Day's most polished; he claimed that the band "combine punk thrash with their newfound love of classic-rock grandiosity". MTV compared the material to that of classic rockers like The Who, while Spin called the title track "Green Day's most epic song yet". Cool has remarked, "It's important to us that we're still looked at as a punk band. It was our religion, our higher education", but has noted that Armstrong had delved into the past in writing 21st Century Breakdown by gleaning inspiration from the artists who shaped rock music. Armstrong himself has stated, "Ground zero for me is still punk rock. I like painting an ugly picture. I get something uplifting out of singing some of the most horrifying shit you can sing about. It's just my DNA."