Green Day are much more power-pop than pop-punk on the first offering — “Oh Love” — from their album trilogy. They’re much more Cheap Trick and Big Star than they are Sticky Little Fingers and the Buzzcocks on this mid-tempo rocker, which features frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s “heart in a noose.”
But to bassist Mike Dirnt, they had Rolling Stones in mind.
“”We were just thinking about making a killer power-pop record – dirtier, back to basics,” he told Rolling Stone. “We tapped into our version of ‘Exile on Main Street.'”
“We wanted to get back to the simplicity of ‘Dookie,'” Armstrong said, “… back to our love of Fifties and Sixties music, close-to-the-bone rock ‘n’ roll. You don’t hear a gazillion parts. The majority of this is drums, bass, two guitars and vocals.”
He’s referring to “¡Uno!” which is due on Sept. 25, ahead of the Nov. 13 drop of “¡Dos!” and Jan. 15 arrival of — you guessed it — “¡Tres!” My hope is that the remainder of the first set shakes off the lethargy that “Love” leaves, or fans lose excitement for a second or third