Green Day's Breakdown set for May release

Five years after its controversial, multi-platinum seventh album, American Idiot, Green Day is returning with 21st Century Breakdown. But you already knew that. The big news this week is that we now have a release date for the three-act rock opera. May 15 is said date, which falls on a Friday, begging the question: Is new-release Tuesday having its very own Breakdown? (See Prince's triple-album Sunday, March 29 excursion.)

The first single off the album will be "Know Your Enemy," available to listeners sometime in April. Although an official tracklist has yet to be announced, the latest issue of Q, on sale yesterday, seems to have most of it down. There are 17 confirmed tracks in all, with another called "Desperate" possibly on the way. Also missing or renamed is a track called "East Jesus Nowhere." We're not going to even try predict which tracks go into which of the three acts, called "Heroes and Cons," "Charlatans and Saints" and "Horseshoes and Handgrenades."

Unofficial tracklist:

1. Intro/21st Century Breakdown
2. Know Your Enemy
3. ¡Viva La Gloria!
4. Before the Lobotomy
5. Christian's Inferno
6. Last Night on Earth
7. March of the Dogs
8. Peacemaker
9. Last of the American Girls
10. ¿Viva La Gloria?
11. Restless Heart Syndrome
12. Horseshoes and Handgrenades
13. Drama Queen
14. Static Age
15. 21 Guns
16. American Eulogy
17. See the Light

In keeping up with the political angle of the last record, the NME reports that Billie Joe Armstrong had this to say to Rolling Stone: "A lot of people were born into an unlucky time, the era of George W. Bush. There is an optimism now with Obama…be aware. Don't look at this guy as the answer to our prayers. You still need to be involved."

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