Green Day Announces Release Date for New Album

By Eric Arnold Tue., Feb. 17 2009 at 7:00 AM

Categories: Music

It won't be out until May, but it's hardly a stretch to call Green Day's upcoming release, titled 21st-Century Breakdown --their first since 2004's American Idiot, which won the Best Rock Album Grammy--one of the most "highly-anticipated rock albums of 2009." Do we sound like film critic Peter Travers breathlessly announcing some formulaic Hollywood blockbuster? Good.

Already, the G-Day press blitz has begun: Rolling Stone blogged about the new album here and promises a more detailed story in their next issue, due Feb. 19. Billboard peered into its crystal ball and devined that 2009 will be a huge year for the band. Alt. teen mag Big Cheese put Green Day on their Feb. 2009 cover. And USA Today has already gone out on a limb and declared that 21st-Century Breakdown "doesn't retreat from the seething invective of 2004's Bush-whacking American Idiot, which sold 5.8 million copies and transformed the Bay Area trio from punk brats to serious rockers." We heartily applaud any band, multiplatinum former ska punx from the East Bay or not, that doesn't retreat from seething invectives, although apparently selling 5.8 million units is the main difference between being a "punk brat" and a "serious rocker."