Anyway, I went to Best Buy with the intent of picking up one of two new albums from two bands that I've grown up listening to: Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown or 311's Uplifter. Shut up, I like what I like. The buzz surrounding the new Green Day album has been deafening. It seemed like everywhere I looked someone was raving about it (Rob Sheffield's review seems particularly delusional), and I was already kinda sick of the constant pounding and shouting of "Know Your Enemy". So I went into the store with two strikes against that one.
On the other hand, "Hey You" is easily the best new 311 song I've heard in five or six years. So that's one point for 311. The downside is that it seems no matter how hard I look, I can't find anything written about Uplifter. Even Rolling Stone is ignoring this one, and they review everything. So that wasn't really a good sign. One strike against it.
Once I got to the store, my decision was pretty much made for me. Best Buy was ALL SOLD OUT of 21st Century Breakdown, unless I wanted to buy the super-deluxe version or the LP for an extra ten bucks. I didn't. That sealed the deal for me. I went to grab a copy of Uplifter, only to find that seemingly nobody had bought the dozens of copies Best Buy had. Doesn't surprise me; nobody is promoting it, and "Hey You"'s been getting minimal radio play at best.
As a Green Day fan going all the way back to Nimrod, it kills me to say that 21st Century Breakdown is just going to have to wait. Instead I bought Uplifter and was pleasantly surprised at it. An album this diverse and enjoyable deserves to be heard by more people.
So I'd like to say thank you to all the teenagers out there. You made my purchase decision that much easier.
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