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¡Uno! is the ninth studio album by American punk rock band Green Day, released on September 24, 2012 through Reprise Records. It is the first of three albums in the ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Tré! trilogy, a series of studio albums to be released from September 2012 to January 2013.

Green Day started recording material for a new album in February 2012 and finished that June. ¡Uno! was released through Reprise Records on September 21, 2012 in Australia and Europe, September 24, 2012 in the United Kingdom, and September 25, 2012 in the United States.

Artwork of the album was revealed in a video uploaded to YouTube and the track list of the album, which consist of 12 songs was announced on June 26, 2012. The first single from the album, titled "Oh Love", was released on July 16, 2012. The second single "Kill the DJ" was released on European iTunes Stores on August 15, 2012. The third single "Let Yourself Go" was released on the US iTunes Store on September 5, 2012, and a promotional single "Nuclear Family" was released on their YouTube channel on September 12, 2012. "Stay the Night" was released on Rolling Stone and their YouTube channel September 24, 2012. The album has received favorable reviews from critics. Most of the songs leaked on the internet before the release of the album.

Background and production

In February 2012, Billie Joe Armstrong announced that the band was in the studio, recording material for a new album. In the statement, he said, "We are at the most prolific and creative time in our lives... This is the best music we've ever written, and the songs just keep coming. Instead of making one album, we are making a three album trilogy. Every song has the power and energy that represents Green Day on all emotional levels. We just can't help ourselves ... We are going epic as fuck!"

The band started work by rehearsing every day and making songs. The group recorded 38 songs and initially thought of making a double album. Armstrong suggested making a trilogy of albums like Van Halen's Van Halen I, Van Halen II and Van Halen III. He stated in an interview, "The songs just kept coming, kept coming. I'd go, Maybe a double album? No, that's too much nowadays. Then more songs kept coming. And one day, I sprung it on the others: 'Instead of Van Halen I, II and III, what if it's Green Day I, II and III and we all have our faces on each cover?'" Armstrong said that they initially planned to make only one album, but the songs kept coming.So they decided for two.The songs still kept coming.Finally, it was decided that three albums would be released in a gap of 2 months each, with each band member having their face on every album.

Writing and composition

In an interview to Rolling Stone, Armstrong stated that theme of ¡Uno! would be different from that of 21st Century Breakdown and American Idiot, and would not be a third rock opera. He also added that music on the record would be "punchier, more power pop – somewhere between AC/DC and the early Beatles" than the band's previous albums. He also stated that few songs on the album would also sound like garage rock and dance music. According to Armstrong, the song "Kill the DJ" was "straight-up dance music" and "four-on-the-floor rhythm", which the band has never done before.

Release and promotion

In April 2012, Green Day announced through a press release it would be releasing a trilogy of albums titled ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré! and stated that they would be released on September 25, 2012, November 13, 2012, and January 15, 2013, respectively, through Reprise Records. ¡Uno!, the first album from the trilogy, was set for be released on September 24 and 25, 2012, in the UK and in the US, respectively.

Artwork

Green Day stated in an interview that each album from the trilogy ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré! has a face from the band members on their cover.

The band uploaded a trailer for the album on their official channel on YouTube showing the band in the recording studio, recording the album with the songs written on an erase board on June 14, 2012. During the trailer the cover artwork for the album was revealed. It features a black-and-white cutout of Billie Joe Armstrong's visage, with his eyes crossed-out with pink X's, on a geometric, neon electric green background. The word "Green Day" is loudly splashed in pink across the top of the cover, while the word "¡Uno!" is sprawled graffiti-style in white in the lower left-hand corner.

Singles

"Oh Love", was released as the first single from ¡Uno!. It was released as the lead single on July 16, 2012. Upon its release as the lead song, "Oh Love" debuted on multiple world charts. The song made its debut at number one on the US Rock Songs with 13 million audience impressions at 145 reporting stations. The song is the band's first to debut at number one on the charts and the third song ever to debut at number one on the Rock Songs chart, following Linkin Park's "The Catalyst" and Foo Fighters' "Rope" which made their debuts at number one on August 21, 2010 and March 12, 2011 respectively.

"Kill the DJ" was released as the second single from the album in Europe and Oceania on August 14, 2012. The single premiered on Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 in the UK.

"Let Yourself Go" was released as the third single from ¡Uno! in the US and the third single overall on September 5, 2012. The song was performed live at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 6, 2012.

"Nuclear Family" was released as a promotional single in conjunction with Yahoo! and Spotify on September 11, 2012. The song was made available to stream for free and available to purchase through Spotify. A video for the song featuring the band playing it in a studio debuted on Yahoo! Music and the band's official YouTube channel the same day. A similar video of the band performing "Stay the Night" was released on Rolling Stone's website on September 23, 2012. The video was included with the deluxe edition of ¡Uno! on iTunes.

The Ultimate Box Set

¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré! Ultimate Box Set was released by Warner on Green Day's official website.

It includes:

• All 3 albums in individual 40-page books
• All 3 digital albums
• One year online membership to the Idiot Club
• Access to tickets before general public via Idiot Club
• Exclusive DVD of the documentary film ¡Quatro!
• 3 singles
• A special slip box to fit all 3 albums and DVD
• 6 one-inch buttons featuring art from ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré!
• One exclusive Green Day patch

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Alternative Press
Entertainment Weekly	B
The Guardian
The Independent
Mojo
NME	6/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine

¡Uno! received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 22 reviews. David Fricke of Rolling Stone complimented the album's "12 blasts of hook-savvy mosh-pit pop" and found it to be a "plain relief" after the "weight and worry" of the band's previous two albums, observing "a hipper, richer grip in the details." Entertainment Weekly called the album "a welcome switch from high concept to high energy." Kim Taylor Bennett of Time Out commented that Green Day "still sound fresh, balancing a cocky strut with tenderness and a playful pop nous." BBC Music's Ian Winwood commended the band for eschewing their previous albums' "grandly theatrical flourishes" and found ¡Uno! to mostly be "a work of masterfully controlled music." Mojo recommended it to fans of the band's 1994 album Dookie and stated, "your favourite slacker-punks are, briefly, back." Scott Heisel of Alternative Press praised its "loud, fast, catchy-as-fuck punk rock" and wrote that its "stripped down instrumentation" and "more direct lyrics" are "mutually beneficial." Scott Kara of The New Zealand Herald called the album "a powerful, poignant record".

Ed Power of Hot Press observed "over-familiarity" and "less to say on Uno" than on the band's previous work, stating, "they are doing what they do best. Nothing less, but certainly nothing more." Slant Magazine's Yorgo Douramacos called the album "fairly strong", but felt that the songs "sound like only slightly altered versions of previous entries in the Green Day catalogue." Although he found the album "solidly enjoyable", Q commented that "they might have been wiser to mix things up from the start." Drowned in Sound's Marc Burrows viewed that the album sees the band "releasing the pressure and defaulting to what they do best" and stated, "it's all a little slight, but that's really part of the charm, reveling in its disposable pop." Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt that its "big, crisp, and clean" sound "undercuts some of the punkiness of Green Day's intentions", but complimented their "attack" as "precise" and wrote that the "huge" hooks "gleefully bludgeon doubters into blissful submission."

In a negative review, Andy Gill of The Independent panned "Green Day's devotion to the most basic of rock formats" and called the music "patronising corporate rock masquerading, in sweary adolescent anthems as somehow anti-establishment." The newspaper's Simon Price felt their "political edge gone blunt" and viewed the music as unadventurous. Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times asserted that the album was too "typical" and "commercial" to be a punk album, writing that it "feels like the work of a band that has painted itself into an aesthetic corner." Dave Simpson of The Guardian called ¡Uno! "a very decent fist of sounding like their twentysomething selves", but wrote that "the pace doesn't vary and the recent social commentary" of the band's previous albums "has given way to more teenage concerns". Paul Mardles of The Observer criticized the album as "largely throwaway, its frenzied, phlegm-flecked songs littered with sentiments ... that sound daft coming from a 40-year-old frontman." Barry Nicolson of NME found the album more comparable to "the three albums that followed it" rather than their early work, noting "highs that prove unsustainable, and lows that hope you're too adrenalised to notice."

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Billie Joe Armstrong; all music is composed by Green Day

Personnel

Credits for ¡Uno! adapted from Allmusic.

References

1. "Green Day Blast Through Raucous 40-Song Set in New York | David Fricke". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
2. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "¡Uno! - Green Day". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
3. ^ Kara, Scott (September 20, 2012). "Album review: Uno! - Green Day". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
4. Cooke, Robert (September 21, 2012). "Green Day". The Fly. London. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
5. Montgomery, James (February 15, 2012). "Green Day Start Recording New Album". MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
6. ^ Byrne, Katie (April 11, 2012). "Green Day Recording a Trilogy of Albums". MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
7. ^ Fricke, David (June 20, 2012). "Q&A: Billie Joe Armstrong on Green Day's Album Trilogy". Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
8. Gallo, Phil. "Green Day: The Billboard Cover Story". billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
9. Corner, Lewis (June 11, 2012). "Green Day confirm new albums '¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré!' release dates". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
10. "GREEN DAY IN THE STUDIO RECORDING THREE ALBUMS". greenday.com. April 11, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
11. Eames, Tom (June 14, 2012). "Green Day unveil new album '¡Uno!' cover, trailer". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
12. "Green Day: ¡Uno! Official Trailer with Album Cover". www.youtube.com. Green Day on YouTube. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
13. ^ Gilman, Hannah (June 14, 2012). "Green Day Unveils 'Uno!' Album Artwork". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
14. Montgomery, James (June 14, 2012). "Green Day Reveal ¡Uno! Artwork in Trailer". MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
15. Lamb, Bill (June 25, 2012). "Green Day Announce 'Oh Love' as First Single from Three Album Project". About.com. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
16. ^ Trust, Gary. "Green Day, No Doubt Make Rockin' Returns to Radio". Billboard (magazine). Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
17. "iTunes - Music - Let Yourself Go - Single by Green Day". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
18. "Yahoo! Video Premiere: Green Day 'Nuclear Family'". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
19. ^ Heisel, Scott (September 19, 2012). "Green Day - ¡Uno!". Alternative Press. Cleveland. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
20. ^ "Review: ¡Uno!". Entertainment Weekly. New York: 72. September 28, 2012.
21. ^ Simpson, Dave (September 20, 2012). "Green Day: ¡Uno! – review". The Guardian. London. section G2, p. 21. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
22. ^ Price, Simon (September 23, 2012). "Album: Green Day, Uno! (Warner Bros)". The Independent. London. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
23. ^ "Review: ¡Uno!". Mojo. London: 82. 2012. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
24. ^ Nicolson, Barry (September 21, 2012). "Green Day - '¡Uno!'". NME. London. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
25. ^ "Review: ¡Uno!". Q. London: 92. 2012. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
26. ^ Fricke, David (September 13, 2012). "Uno". Rolling Stone. New York: Jann S. Wenner. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
27. ^ Douramacos, Yorgo (September 23, 2012). "Green Day: Uno". Slant Magazine. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
28. "iUno! by Green Day reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
29. ^ "Uno! Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
30. Bennett, Kim Taylor (September 22, 2012). "Green Day – '¡Uno!' album review". Time Out. London. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
31. Winwood, Ian (September 21, 2012). "Review of Green Day - ¡Uno!". BBC Music. BBC. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
32. Power, Ed (September 21, 2012). "Green Day: Uno". Hot Press. Dublin. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
33. Burrows, Marc (September 18, 2012). "Green Day - iUno!". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
34. Gill, Andy (September 21, 2012). "Album: Green Day, ¡Uno! (Reprise)". The Independent. London. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
35. Roberts, Randall (September 24, 2012). "Critic's Notebook: Green Day's '¡Uno!' is, No. 1, overly commercial". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
36. Mardles, Paul (September 22, 2012). "Green Day: Uno! – review". The Observer. London. The New Review section, p. 30. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
37. "¡Uno! - Green Day : Credits". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
38. Glickman, Simon (July 30, 2012). "Rob Cavallo on Green Day: Good Things Come in Threes". HITS Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Retrieved September 25, 2012.

External links

• Official website
• ¡Uno! at Discogs (list of releases)
• ¡Uno! at Metacritic
• ¡Uno! at MusicBrainz (list of releases)

• Pages with empty short description
• Green Day albums
• 2012 albums
• Albums produced by Rob Cavallo
• Reprise Records albums