Krist Novoselic’s column runs every Tuesday on the Daily Weekly.Coming off their 2004 effort, American Idiot, Green Day had a mighty high bar to clear with their new record, 21st-Century Breakdown. But I’m happy to report that America’s biggest rock band has done just that. Mike Dirnt, Tre Cool, and Billie Joe Armstrong just keep getting better, and they’re on top of their game with this one.I first became aware of the band in May 1994. Pat Smear and I were watching MTV when Green Day came on. I can remember Pat saying “I like this band,” and I agreed. I chuckled at the name of the tune “Longview,” since it’s the name of a city I drive through a lot in our state. And it blew me away when I learned that the song got its name because the band actually played Longview, Washington once!Even though they’re from California, Green Day comes from the same place as Nirvana. We were all influenced by the punk and hardcore bands emanating from the San Francisco area, a scene that’s not just about aggressive music but also about political and cultural sensibilities. Green Day’s new work is real punk, so there’s plenty of material dealing with feeling alienated from society, questioning authority and thinking “Fuck it all!” while still having as much fun as possible.I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with Breakdown producer Butch Vig myself. I know how hands-on he is with songs. In 1990, he suggested Nirvana take a whole section out of the song “In Bloom.” We agreed. Butch immediately went to the recording machine and cut the tape with a razor blade and taped the edit together seamlessly! Butch knows about Rock and how to bring the best out of a band, which is why I am so happy Green Day chose to work with him.Breakdown is packed full of melody and big ballads while delivering plenty of huge riffs–some that culminate in Green Day’s signature wall-of-sound barrage. The show opens with a vignette – it is a concept record – of Armstrong singing a little ditty that sounds like it’s coming from an old radio receiver. Piano chords follow with a grandeur that reminds me of “Amazing Journey” from The Who’s Tommy. Then Green Day is off with the title track, a fine arrangement of many great riffs and melody, something they did with “Jesus of Suburbia” on American Idiot.Like all punk bands, Green Day pays homage to punk’s spiritual fathers the Sex Pistols, here on “Horseshoes and Handgrenades.” But there’s also a dramatic, almost show-tune quality to “Viva la Gloria” that’s more along the lines of something you’d expect from the Decemberists.Green Day is a great band, and that is what makes Breakdown a great record. Christian and Gloria, the record’s protagonists – whose names which hint religion – move through despair, alienation, drinking, medications and love, in the end come to “See the Light.” The grand chords that welcomed us into Breakdown come back in this tune, wrapping up the album with the message that there’s still hope and faith in this world. And there truly is hope and faith while Green Day carry the flag of rock and roll high into the 21st century.Oh Yeah, the new Flipper is released today with yours truly on bass – check it out!