Our announcement yesterday that Green Day’s eighth album is forthcoming this spring was met by derision (“green day is a bunch of twats”), responses to said derision (“you AMERICAN IDOTS are just jealous of their awesome talent!”), analysis (too long to quote), nostalgia (ditto), and plain old excitement over the news (“American Idiot is most likely better than any of these people’s favorite albums of the past 5 years. Can’t wait for the new one”). Today we offer you 21st Century Breakdown’s somewhat clunky Sixten-inspired you-and-me-against-the-world cover image.


21st Century Breakdown is out in May via Reprise.

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Comments (116)
  1. erikaspanis  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    lol they are so fucking desperate

    • Ian Hoare  |   Posted on Feb 11th, 2009

      Boy you’re pretty dim,man…don’t you get what they’re referring to?Given the title of the album?Think a little deeper if you can……;O))

    • Twiggy  |   Posted on Feb 12th, 2009

      Looks Amazing. It’s gonna kick Sooooooo much ass. Like morbidly obese women’s ass. Love Green Day. Passionately.

    • anyone that doesnt like green day is gay and none of your threats will make me take it back

  2. Ruben  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    What a lame cover

  3. Bill  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    Graffiti is edgy.

  4. Person L  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    Kinda of reminds me of Blur’s Think Tank cover.

  5. Matt  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    Banksy indeed.
    This is bullshit.

  6. the wall and the graffiti are so 90’s

  7. Matt  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    Banksy indeed. This is bullshit.

  8. I feel it’s more of a Watchmen ripoff.

  9. green day

  10. green day

  11. I mean…it’s cute. I agree that it has a whole you-and-me-against-the-world statement. I’ve seen worse album art, but all that really matters is what it sounds like!

    http://bonafidewithheadphones.blogspot.com/

    • Drake Tungsten  |   Posted on Feb 11th, 2009

      I guess the you-and-me-against-the-world thing could be cute… if they were like twenty years younger.

  12. green day < banging my head repeatedly with a hammer

    • fkembucky  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

      repeating yourself 3 times on a stereogum message board < green day < banging my head repeatedly with a hammer

  13. Brad  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    Reminds me of nuked lovers whose charred image was blasted on a wall in “Watchmen”

  14. Chris  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    Cause Banksy did the cover for Think Tank

  15. toto  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    the kids will buy it. That’s all it matters.

  16. i believe my chemical romance already did this cover…except with an unnecessary amount of blood

  17. Dylan  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    Please. Don’t even try compare animal collective and green day. Regardless of your feelings about either one, they’re not doing anything similar. (this and i happen to think animal collective is advancing music in a tangible way as opposed to what every other band but radiohead are doing i.e. Rehashing older genres with new twists)
    Secondly, American Idiot was epic fail. It’s a great record, and i like it, but when compared with the thermals’ the body the blood the machine, it can’t even begin to approach not only the kind of insight about what it means to be an american, but also it’s just not as fun. If you’re going to try punk, make the music mean something don’t just hang it around your ideas like a (ramones?) poster covering the hole in your door your psycho girlfriend made after you told her you impregnated her sister. Actually that’s the point i’m going for; green day is the pregnant sister and the thermals are the psycho girlfriend kicking a hole in your head trying to exorcise the pop punk demon babies left behind.

  18. oh god who gives a shit.

  19. matt  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    can’t like gd, they’re too popular

  20. Evan  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    YUCK

  21. Duncan  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    But the real question is: What is Blink 182’s album cover?

  22. drab  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    these types of posts are obvious attempts to fuel ridiculous comments. how about some subtlety, Stereogum. or at least some dignity.

  23. Willie  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    Posting about Green Day on Stereogum is about as useful as sucking on a cough drop to treat your herpes.

    What do you suppose the kids over at Metalsucks think of the new Great Lake Swimmers?

  24. bcb1340  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    at least a new album means a new tour. even if you hate their records and think that you’re cooler than green day and their fans (isn’t that why you’re here?), you could at least enjoy their shows. they give a great concert.

  25. joseph war  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    looks to me like they are putting out a record. i think the targeted markets, the kids who purchase music in mass quantities legally (10-14 year olds), will eat this shit up. Green Day and their label know what they are doing. i think commenting on the artistic integrity of a Green Day album cover is arbitrary at this point. Aren’t these guys grandfathered-in by now?

  26. joseph war  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    looks to me like they are putting out a record. i think the targeted markets, the kids who purchase music in mass quantities legally (10-14 year olds), will eat this shit up. Green Day and their label know what they are doing. i think commenting on the artistic integrity of a Green Day album cover is arbitrary at this point. Aren’t these guys grandfathered-in by now?

  27. I will agree that the cover art is boring and that Green Day fans keep passing the band on to their younger siblings when they are “over” them. But I will not agree that Animal Collective is advancing music in any tangible way.

    If bands like Green Day are rehashing old genres, Animal Collective is rehashing the same album over and over until they can figure out what combination of loop pedal and drum machine beat is catchy enough to make people who live outside of the blogs care. (eg: “My Girls”)

  28. joseph war  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    looks to me like they are putting out a record. i think the targeted markets, the kids who purchase music in mass quantities legally (10-14 year olds), will eat this shit up. Green Day and their label know what they are doing. i think commenting on the artistic integrity of a Green Day album cover is arbitrary at this point. Aren’t these guys grandfathered-in by now?

  29. well I guess it fits their music…

  30. Alex  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    That girl looks pretty sexy.

  31. chris  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    Why the fuck are you blogging about Green Day? Seriously.

  32. Brandon  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    If EVERYTHING in the future sounds like Merriweather Post Pavillion, I’m just going to kill myself now.

  33. mighty undies  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    I hope they get arthritis

  34. merriweather post pavilion > the movie my blueberry nights

  35. mark  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    why does everyone on here need to make every post some sort of ‘6 degrees to Animal Collective’. there could be nothing more irrelevant to this post.

  36. radio zero  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    very edgy. very urban. very “we are still in touch with our audience despite the fact that we live in multi-million dollar homes and have our servants wash our bungholes for us”. very “our artwork does not match the sterile chipmunk punk music actually contained within”. congrats.

    • Brandon  |   Posted on Feb 11th, 2009

      What’s the income limit that once an artist hits, he/she/it isn’t allowed to make music anymore?

      • radio zero  |   Posted on Feb 11th, 2009

        I would say it would be in the 30 million dollar range (or else they can just stop claiming to be a “punk” band and call themselves what they really are….bubblegum pop)…..thanks for asking. BTW – they should also stop wearing Cosby sweaters and one or more of the members should consider becoming a heroin addict.

  37. tamara12  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    That cover looks so…emo. To be honest, I used to be a Green Day fan when I was 13/14 years old, but now, as someone who is about to enter university I could honestly care less about their music.

  38. Justin  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    Wow, thats urban

  39. burndownradio  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    screams mall punk (paramore anyone?)

  40. You’re right Mark, every fucking post has something related to animal collective! haha. wtf? “U2’s new album sucks, nothing like animal collective’s new album”.

  41. not braintree  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    This album art is awesome, so is Green Day. You know who is a great band? Braintree! If U2 and Radiohead had a baby, Braintree would be that baby (brainchild). and Green Day would be the creepy uncle who does coin tricks. I’m totally not in the band, and I love them anyways.
    seriously, check them out.

  42. adelaide  |   Posted on Feb 11th, 2009

    oh god what an ugly, ugly cover.

  43. What is this Green Day all the kids are talking about?

    P.S. – Animal Collective

    I think we’ve reached our quota now.

  44. greenday _lover  |   Posted on Feb 11th, 2009

    green day arent lame, or desperate or whatever.. if u were a true Greenday fan you wouldnt care what the album cover looks like, all you should care about is the sound thats what to come.. green day is apart of my life an will be forever.. be thankful there releasing a new album!

    ps: they should tour with Blink182!

  45. kurt  |   Posted on Feb 11th, 2009

    banksy – politics + teen angst = this album cover

    • Iain  |   Posted on Feb 13th, 2009

      Haha. As if Banksy could get any more teen angst into his artwork.

      Mona Lisa with a rocket launcher? SHOCKING!
      2 policemen kissing? MY GOD HE’S RIGHT WHAT’S WRONG WITH SOCIETY?!?!

  46. Chris  |   Posted on Feb 11th, 2009

    This looks way too much like the cover art to My Chemical Romance’s “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge”.

    Kurt Cobain died, and minutes later Green Day is the most popular band on the planet. The beginning of the end for popular music as we know it.

  47. johnnytantan  |   Posted on Feb 11th, 2009

    i thought bat for lashes would be the obvious choice for worse album cover this year so far…oh how i was so, so very wrong..

  48. This album cover looks like a flyer for a high school drama play. Lame.

  49. Green Day had better sell a lot of this album, because I think this is there last chance. Eyeshadow on a 45 year old is not overly becoming.

  50. Glad they have something new. Anything to get the radio from playing Boulevard of Broken Dreams for the 20th time. Hope they don’t try too hard to mimic American Idiot. Artwork does remind me of MCR cover.

    http://diggingfordays.blogspot.com

  51. BrandonGr  |   Posted on Feb 12th, 2009

    The album cover perfectly sums up Green Day these days: it’s trying to be edgy, but it’s just way to sterile. I’ve been a long time Green Day fan, and I wasn’t so much put off by the music of American Idiot, it was their entire wardrobe change. Warning was brilliant but it didn’t do so well commercially (relatively speaking). The new costumes were an obvious grab at the fans of the then-new commercial emo era. I love them to death but it’s really hard to take anyone seriously who has to play dress up while at the same time singing about how they don’t care.

  52. And the worst album artwork of the year goes to…

  53. The amount of elitism in here is easily over 9000!

  54. betteredthandead  |   Posted on Feb 12th, 2009

    I like Green Day (well kinda) but that is some shitty emo album art, give me a bit of dookie or nimrod please,

  55. Come on you guys Green Day fucking sucks. You can’t deny that. Sure their old stuff was OK when we were all in seventh grade but grow the fuck up and listen to real music.

  56. Banksy doing a Green Day cover? What next…. Shepard Fairey doing a Smashing Pumpkins cover? Oh wait……

  57. damn  |   Posted on Feb 13th, 2009

    they gave me hope with foxboro hot tubs, but it looks like its gonna crash back down again, damn

  58. scott  |   Posted on Feb 14th, 2009

    idiots, green day is a great band, just because they made a bunch of money don’t mean there bad. sell outs are the people who hate on bands just because ther rich.

  59. Hahah! How lame.

  60. “suck my back bitch”
    -lil wayne

  61. naomi omio  |   Posted on Feb 16th, 2009

    I don’t know how they do it but their album artwork just gets worse each time. Quite lame sauce.
    I’ll probably listen to this album anyways……………..

  62. sophie  |   Posted on Feb 16th, 2009

    CHRIST PEOPLE
    I like the album cover, it’s simple and cool. Maybe Green Day is a popular band becuase they are GOOD. If your one of those people who only like underground bands then ditch them as soon as they make it YOU’RE THE POSER. Who cares if its only one person listening to a band or 2000000. It’s still Green Day. Yeah it’s the follow up to AI. Yeah AI wasn’t there best but it was still awsome. I hope it has tracks similar to St. Jimmy on it…

  63. LOL HEY GUYS I HATE GREEN DAY THO I USED TO LOVE THEM! AM I COOL YET?

  64. sagar  |   Posted on Feb 17th, 2009

    i’m sure this thing is gonna kick more ass than american idiot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

  65. Would anyone be making Watchmen comparisons if the movie wasn’t coming out next month?

  66. Black Jesus  |   Posted on Feb 17th, 2009

    A standard american band that are way more popular in england. God, american indie fans have such better taste that the brits.

  67. I liked it when they sung about masturbation and not dissing americans.

  68. gumby  |   Posted on Feb 18th, 2009

    funny, noone has mentioned Sixten, the direct inspiration (maybe artist) for this cover. Maybe cause Banksy is the only stencil graffiti artist we’re aware of?

  69. lola  |   Posted on Feb 18th, 2009

    like chemical romance’s album and blur think tank..

  70. David  |   Posted on Feb 21st, 2009

    green days music is awsome. THERE ARE TOO MANY CRITICS OUT THERE their older music was great, their new music is great, and their new album will be great. one of the best bands ever!!!!!!

  71. Angela  |   Posted on Feb 21st, 2009

    green day is quite amazing. their music is actually different from the rest of the mainstream crap.

  72. Antagonist  |   Posted on Feb 22nd, 2009

    GD really hit the shit by putting on such strange cover. A simple 21st century breakdown blank would have been better. Kissing pair is simply not punk, its daft AND a cleverly disguised way to make the album sell more.

  73. venusdille  |   Posted on Feb 27th, 2009

    they’re freakin AWESOME
    people just deny it to look cult, cause they’re popular
    21st century breakdown is COOOOOOOOOOOOMIIIING.

  74. mt0000  |   Posted on Feb 28th, 2009

    I am surprised that this site is mentioning Green Day in 2009. I like them, I always have, but I can agree with almost every attack here, minus the glibness you get from those whose whole fucking persona is built around an apparent qualification to state for everyone on earth exactly what sucks and what should be worshipped (even though they heard from someone else). Green Day do look like a bunch of little bitches, though, and it’s hard to watch or defend. Nothing is truer than that they are a band of the 1990s who profited in 2004 from a sterile kind of protest against the Bush Administration. But I like the music. I grew up with it and that’s enough for me. By the way, what’s wrong with the nineties? I happen to like a ton of music from the sixties and seventies. So … maybe the problem this decade has been that standards just never stop ascending, all is ephemeral, and it’s all too easy to hate. Dylan: definitely agree about The Thermals (who also have a new album coming in May … but they could blow it, too)

  75. Jason  |   Posted on May 13th, 2009

    This looks extremely similar to the cover art for “3 Cheers For Sweet Revenge”. . . .

  76. firehose  |   Posted on May 21st, 2009

    hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

    Awful band. Awful album title. Awful cover art from an ‘artist’ seriously lacking in originality. Banksy should sue.

    And take the school ties off you embarrassing numpties.

  77. tre, billie and mike go!

  78. bcb1340  |   Posted on Feb 10th, 2009

    …and with a new gimmick to compensate for a relatively mediocre record, I’m sure.

    I kid. I’ve love to see both again soon. Not sure why it’s a bad thing to enjoy seeing a band that’s good live.

  79. you are obviously not thom york because he doesn’t care about money

  80. Dylan  |   Posted on Feb 18th, 2009

    OH WOW
    I lol’d pretty hard. Gogo thom.

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