Green Day – Father of All Motherfuckers

Green Day’s latest can easily be labeled as mediocre to confusing. On one hand it’s slightly refreshing, because it’s kind of a departure away from their super-radio-friendly pop of the last ten years or so. It has some semblances of rock ‘n’ roll (and some crumbs of punk rock). On the other hand, it’s just not that original or that good.

It sounds like a rehash of early 2000s bands (bands like The Vines, The Hives, and The Briefs) all blended together and overproduced to hell. While listening to the record you can’t help but think “how much money did they spend on this thing to make it sound so fake shitty?”

While most the album stays focused on this early ’00s (albeit overproduced to sound like crap) sound, there’s a handful of tracks that diverge a bit. For instance, they do their best Weezer imitation on “I Was a Teenage Teenager” (and it’s so very blatant!)

Hockey fans may recognize the album’s single, “Ready, Fire, Aim” as it’s played ad nauseam before and during NHL hockey games on NBC. The only way a casual fan of the band would know the song is by Green Day though is by watching the corny NHL on NBC video package that features wide-angle shots of the band playing “live” on the ice while the drummer rides on a Zamboni (so edgy!). The song just doesn’t sound like the band whatsoever.

And that’s where this record lands (it doesn’t). It’s a safe/lame attempt to seem relevant/youthful while “reinventing themselves” (as the members of the band approach their fifties). This is some of the most non-offensive, least punk rock takes Green Day has ever taken, all this in spite of the album being titled Father of All Motherfuckers.

Green Day
Father of All Motherfuckers
[Reprise]