With such a release date and its first singles, Green Day put the bar really high for Saviors. Here’s an in-depth review of a major Californian pop-punk band’s new album.
SAVIORS – GREEN DAY
Is it a good idea on Green Day’s part to say that Saviors is the perfect connection between Dookie, released in 1994, and American Idiot, released in 2004? Some would say it’s an arrogant marketing argument, although pretty efficient, that surfs on the two biggest records by the Californian band. Others might say that it’s pretty accurate, as the sound of the opus goes from one to the other easily.
But where Dookie had that new feel to it, appearing exactly at the right place and time with its colourful teenage rage, Saviors could be redundant. And where American Idiot was laying out an ambitious political rock opera, in the context of a war in Iraq and social rupture, Saviors might seem blander. But these are only suppositions. What’s it really like then?
Of its first singles, Saviors tells me that yes, it’s true, the Green Day I discovered when I was younger is kind of back. They’re different, but they’re back. The American Dream Is Killing Me is a nice echo to the 2004 record’s biting opener – an echo that has a charm, a nice attack, a grandeur that, however, doesn’t ever fully match the one of American Idiot or Holiday. Look Ma, No Brains! is closer to the unpredictable Basket Case, with a dash of maturity on top. It’s cleaner, and shaped by all the thirteenth previous records.
But then, has Green Day decided to get into its old mantras again? Bobby Sox proves they also try new things, with a soft sound, catchy backing vocals, an efficient chorus, and open-minded and moving lyrics. They are also probably easier to sing in 2024 than in the previous decades – although Armstrong has been clear about his bisexuality since 1996. Here, it’s a question of being just… but also to mark generations for whom Green Day will be Saviors first.
If its introduction is incredibly close to So What by P!nk, with a line that also makes me think of Dis-Moi by BB Brunes, One Eyed Bastard is a track that will have its full shape on stage. Dilemma is another gem here. The texture is very 04 with a dash of modernity, and, mainly, a strong theme. It’s not to complain or to cry about it, but to show how they want to go forward and be better. Evocating addictions to various substances, this is a gripping self-portrait, sharp, and dramatic.
A SLOWER BIT.
15 tracks, it’s a tad long, so it was expected. 1981 is short, filled with references to the Cold War, but not always the strongest. Its chorus lingers like a nostalgic punk anthem, screaming guitars up. But it’s almost too clean, this time. Goodnight Adeline follows naturally. It’s an emo instant, not as moving as other classics, with some operatic touches Coma City and Corvette Summer are more forgettable, despite some repeating phrases well-thought of, and a road trip feel for music-therapy-made lyrics. Then, Suzie Chapstick poses a lot of questions with a nostalgic romantic air, with less edge. It seems it’s closer to a classic pop song rather than a pop-punk one.
David Bowie’s death then becomes the time marker of the before and after on Strange Days Are Here to Stay. Without putting the 10th of January 2016 as the exact date of the world changing, the band still presents it as a possible lead. Everybody is then free to choose their date in the history of music as the marker to stranger days. And Living in the ‘20s is a nice follow-up to that idea. The chorus opens with ‘Congratulations, best of luck and blessings’, and ends with a scream characterizing the growing feeling in this already well-underway decade.
So yes, it’s easy, but to quote other punks, complicated music is made for people with a simpler life. Besides, pop-punk has no intention of getting complicated either. It’s simply sometimes a tad less politic than its parent, Punk, and more colourful too, it does explore universal feelings. And that’s when it nails it on the head. More, for me at least, than the beautiful and orchestral Father To A Son, that will resonate with parents. It’s the most elaborate and surprising song on the record, and if it doesn’t make my guts vibrate, I can easily see its musical cleverness.
This unmissable track is followed by the vivid Saviors, which gives its name to the record. It has less bite than I was expecting, the chorus is a rallying cry that will work nicely once live. At last, it’s the softness of Fancy Sauce that closes it all. It’s a round of 45 minutes. Dookie was 38. American Idiot, in its Deluxe format, 1 hour and 5 minutes. It’s a nice compromise for Saviors, which, again, wants to connect the dots.
WON BET?
Does it mean that the bet is won? As my dotted-neon-green neon-pink version of the vinyl gets to its final spin, I wonder. Yes, indeed, I do get the mixed vibes of their two big successes. The main texture of the sound still comes from American Idiot, if I’m honest. And it’s not exactly a surprise as the records following it were often left in its massive shadow (like the package Uno, Dos, and Tré, released in 2012), or tried to give it a sequel, without the same success (21st Century Breakdown, Revolution Radio, Fathers of All).
Dookie had the same effect on its successors, some unfairly forgotten (Warning, Insomniac, Nimrod) because they simply didn’t bear the same impact. Music is only a question of timing, after all. And Saviors’ timing is not bad. It’s not Demolicious, compiling demos of the band and released in 2014, that could have finished the trilogy.
In the end, Saviors does come up at the dawn of a US presidential election. Dookie participated in Californian punk’s rebirth, close to Kurt Cobain’s death. American Idiot was a visceral reaction to the effects of 9/11 on the world… the date is important. 30 years after a massive banger, 20 after a second, 10 after a hole… it’s in the old pipe that gives the sweetest smoke. Green Day is getting a great air out with Saviors.
