 Reception to 21st Century Breakdown has been generally favorable , according to aggregating website Metacritic , which reported a rating of 70 / 100 based on 30 critical reviews . Dan Silver of The Observer awarded the record four stars out of five and likened it to both Bruce Springsteen 's music and the avant @-@ garde writing of Chuck Palahniuk . Rolling Stone 's David Fricke called 21st Century Breakdown " a compound bomb of classic @-@ rock ecstasy , no @-@ mercy punk assault and pop @-@ song wiles ; it 's like The Clash 's London Calling , The Who 's Quadrophenia and Hüsker Dü 's Zen Arcade all compressed into 18 songs " . Dan Cairns of The Times concluded : " Lyrically , it may succeed in capturing the contradictions , vulnerabilities and longing for harmony that thrum through Armstrong , Dirnt and Cool , their country , and humanity as a whole . But its real triumph , in an age of trimming , of market testing , of self @-@ censorship and lowest common denominators , is not simply to aim insanely high , but to make it to the summit . " 
