Green Day has been making albums as a whole that you can listen to without really skipping songs that are bad since their 2004 album “American Idiot“. With this album it seems like they went back to their old school ways of just making an album like they did with their debut album “39/Smooth-“Warning” where the album is not good as a whole but has a good amount of songs on the album itself that you will like. They can be political/make a statement with their albums which is what they did with “American Idiot” which was aimed against George Bush’s administration and their previous album “Revolution Radio” which was aimed at Donald Trump’s administration but those statements did not derail the album it just enhanced it.
“Father of All Mfer’s” their 13thstudio album is not a bad album but it is just not what you would expect from the talented group that consists of talented musicians in Tre Cool on drums and Mike Dirnt on bass, plus the leader/lead singer/lead guitarist/main songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong. Songs like “Meet me on the roof” which is about trying to get a girl, “When I was a teenager” which is about teenagers and puberty, “Stab you in the heart is about killing a cheating wife” and “Sugar youth” is about trying get with a girl too but they all rock out and tell a story but they all are very odd songs that also don’t fit the narrative of a political statement album. They also try very hard to give odes to their previous songs.
The songs “Graffitia”, “Take the money and crawl”, “Oh yeah”, “Fire ready aim” and “Father all mother fuckers” all are politically based songs. It is obvious that “Take the money and crawl” is anti-Trump as it was going to be called “Art of the deal with the devil” his book title. While “Graffitia” talks about factories closing/black kids being shot and “Oh yeah” was supposed to be called “Bulletproof backpack” which is them talking about gun control/kids being shot in schools. The song “Father of all Mfers” could not be called “Fuck Donald Trump”, in their minds it wouldn’t be a new stance/was too obvious and to how it currently feels to live in America with all the hysteria and paranoia. I do not like the pre chorus. “Fire ready aim” it showcases the band mocking how people often act without thought and it is one of the best songs as it is catchy and was sung at the NHL All Star game. Lastly there is one song that is very emotional to listen to called “Junkies on the high” where Armstrong reflects on the peers who died from drugs and fears he could be next, it’s a good way to look into his soul and see how he feels.
Overall half of this album has catchy songs like “Ready fire Aim”, “Father of all mfers” “Meet me on the roof” “Stab you in the heart” “Sugar youth” and “Junkies on the high”. It just feels like they thought it has been enough time since their last album and they needed to make a political statement and this was the only way. This album is just too disjointed like they just pieced all of these songs together even if they do not make sense together to just make a full album.