Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown Meaning

Song Released: 2009

21st Century Breakdown Lyrics

Born into Nixon I was raised in Hell
A welfare child where the teamsters dwelled
The last one born and the first one to run
My town was blind from refinery sun

My generation is zero
I never made it as a working class hero

21st century...

1. anonymous

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   Sep 17th 2014 !⃝

   The song is part of the rock opera where Christian, the male character, looks at the world around him. He's a working class guy, he has a pretty average job, an ordinary american existence. He sees that America has gone severely down hill, that kids are starving in New York, that the president, that would be good ol' George W. Bush ( it's set in Bush era Detroit, or possibly new York), is stupid, corrupt, and basically one of the worst presidents. Christian then joins a rebellious group led by the female character, Gloria, and joins in the mentality. "My name is no-one the long lost son, born on the 4th of July" where he's saying " I am average Joe. I am an american, and you don't give a shit about me" earlier on we hear him say "born into Nixon I was raised in hell" where he looks back on his childhood and realizes America has been going downhill for a long time. And later he says "praise liberty, the freedom to obey. It's a song that strangels me" where he refuses to be a mindless worker, he refuses to be blind and follow orders. And so he joins the rebellious group and meets Gloria. The story continues on in the next song.
2. anonymous

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   Jan 22nd 2012 !⃝

   Contrary to one of the comments this is most certainly not an anti Obama, anti liberal song. Quite the opposite. The entire opera is set in bush era Detroit. Plus if you are a green day fan at all you'd know they are RAGING liberals. Go look at Holiday and you'll see what I'm talking about. Hell go to any song off of this album, American idiot or their broadway show and you should see that.
3. anonymous

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   Dec 1st 2011 !⃝

   I think the song is definatly in refrence to Americans and basically all of the problems American's created and now have to suffer through.
4. anonymous

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   Jun 13th 2011 !⃝

   It's about a 30-something named Christian, who was a working class guy who has seen the USA slide further and further into decline as the result of four generations of welfare handouts, liberal policies that discourage greatness, and the eventual fall of the U.S. dollar because of the crushing debt built up by governments of both parties, but particularly the socialist-leaning Obama, Clinton, Kennedy, and Roosevelt administrations. It's about a girl named Gloria, who is the leader of the resistance against the U.S. government and its destructive policies. It's about Christian putting down his tools and taking up arms to join "a war that can't be won" to take the liberal/socialist leadership out of power and replace with a working-class, democratic, free-market society like when America was great.
   
   It's about Christian spending his entire life watching the country his forefathers built being systematically torn down by its own government for his entire life ("Born into Nixon"). It's about the moochers and looters who are destroying America ("welfare child where the teamsters dwelled"). It's about joining the cause to remove the misguided government of the USA and try to save the country from further ruin.
   
   It's Atlas Shrugged, but Gloria leads a revolution of arms instead of a "strike" as John Galt had done.
   
   It's a remarkable assessment of the real America of 2010, and all the more remarkable as an anti-liberal, anti-Obama, anti-handout rant coming from a musical artist (since musicians are generally liberal, pro-Obama, and pro-handout).
5. anonymous

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   Mar 3rd 2011 !⃝

   I think its about looking back on the 21st century andbeing the generation whos never done anything because of lack of freedom in america .great protest song
6. anonymous

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   Feb 19th 2011 !⃝

   I think it's about the 70s, 80s, and 90s were a living hell

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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