Green Day Get Political Again

Green Day's upcoming eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, will be another political album from the band, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong told Rolling Stone magazine.

Green Day were recording the album in Oakland, Calif. with producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Against Me!), and it's reportedly split into three acts that centre on the story of a young couple.

"A lot of people were born into an unlucky time, the era of George W. Bush," Armstrong told the magazine. "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."

The power-pop inspired album is the first release since the band's 2004 political rock opera, American Idiot. Put a little star next to May on your calendars, since that's when 21st Century Breakdown will be released. But not May 5, 'cause it's not coming out then.

A Green Day box set will be released on July 21, and the band's entire catalogue will also be released chronologically on vinyl prior to and after 21st Century Breakdown comes out.