Dookie (©1994 Reprise)

1: Burnout 2: Having a Blast 3: Chump 4: Long View 5: Welcome to Paradise 6: Pulling Teeth 7: Basket Case 8: She 9: Sassafras Roots 10: When I Come Arround 11: Coming Clean 12: Emenius Sleepus 13: In the End 14: F.O.D.

Hard to imagine that it's coming on a decade since this one first hit the shelves. I've had this one for a number of years, and when ever I play it, I really enjoy it, but for some reason when I'm looking for fun energetic music I don't think about playing Green Day. Strange that, I'll have to think on this for a while ... nope can't figure it out. Must be me.

Anyway, here I am listening to Dookie, and it's cranked. This is a pretty dang good album, and it has a lot going for it. One day Billie Joe with blow his nose, and he'll be able to sing properly without sounding so freaking nasally. But then again, that's his sound I guess.

I find it hard to imagine these guys getting older and still maintaining their pissed off little boys antics. Still, this is the new punk generation, and I'll give the boys full marks for putting the guitars loud and front and centre. Rock and roll may survive a little longer ... rock on.

Reviewed July 2003

Nimrod (©1997 Reprise)

1: nice guys finish last 2: hitchin'a ride 3: the grounch 4: redundant 5: scattered 6: all the time 7: worry rock 8: platypus (I hate you) 9: uptight 10: last ride in 11: jinx 12: haushinka 13: walking alone 14: reject 15: take back 16: king for a day 17: good riddance (time of your life) 18: prosthetic head

These guys essentially kick started the new punk movement. Soon after Green Day broke wide open a host of similar bands started getting noticed. But the young fellows in Green Day got it going. This is good stuff, full of power chords and angst. I really like this stuff, but it doesn't get played very often for some reason - I always think I don't like these guys, then play the album and go, "Oh yeah, I like these guys." And then I won't play it for a couple of years.

Well, it had been a couple of years, and I was listening to Brian Greenway (see below) and there was Green Day looking at me, begging to be played. So I put it on, and the more it played the more I remembered how good this was - it's chock full of great head boppin' tunes.

There are a lot of people who will only know this album from Good Riddance a song that was also featured quite prominently on the last Seinfield episode. It's not exactly typical of the album, which I'm sure a lot of horrified people found out by accident. Hats off to the boys for pulling one of the best bait and switches in a long time.

I'm going to have to remember more often that these guys don't suck.

Reviewed July 6, 2003

Warning: (©2000 Reprise Records)

1: Warning 2: Blood, Sex And Booze 3: Church On Sunday 4: Fashion Victim 5: Castaway 6: Misery 7: Deadbeat Holiday 8: Hold On 9: Jackass 10: Waiting 11: Minority 12: Macy's Day Parade

Say what you want about Green Day there’s no denying their place among the greatest rock and roll bands. One day, these little shits will be in the Hall of Fame (mark my words!) and they’ll be there in their fifties giving the crowd the musical finger. There are a lot of copy cats, some of whom really rock, but there’s only one original. Which is funny when you consider that these guys were hardly original to begin with. So who has the last laugh?

Warning: is one of my favourites from their impressive catalog. It’s their most organic album, and showed a surprising depth of musical expression. The guys dig out accordions, mandolins, and horns – and it all works. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t like David Gates meets Green Day – this is Green Day you idiot. I’m not sure what the hard core punkers thought of this when it came out, and frankly I don’t give a crap – music is broader than narrow labels, and I for one applaud the guys for just putting out good pop. To paraphrase the guys, “I’m not getting any younger if you’re not getting any older.”

Youth is indeed wasted on the young.

Reviewed November 9, 2005

International Super Hits (©2001 Reprise) *****

1: Maria 2: Poprocks And Coke 3: Longview 4: Welcome To Paradise 5: Basket Case 6: When I Come Around 7: She 8: J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva) 9: Geek Stink Breath 10: Brain Stew 11: Jaded 12: Walking Contradiction 13: Stuck With Me 14: Hitchin' A Ride 15: Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) 16: Redundant 17: Nice Guys Finish Last 18: Minority 19: Warning 20: Waiting 21: Macy's Day Parade

This album should have been subtitled “The little shits that could, did, and are rubbing your nose in it”. The guys are more often than not labelled a punk act, but to me they’re just a bunch of self absorbed hooligans who have taken the traditional power trio and infused it with new life. No one can deny their staying power either – after more than a decade of giving the musical establishment the finger, they’ve become the elder statesmen of angry bouncy pop. This collection of frenetic power pop songs is a testament to the band, over 20 songs and NO FILLER! One could argue a collection of “greatest hits” at this point in the band’s career was premature as the band shows no sign of slowing down.

Of course, as a stodgy old fart I could have done with a few less f-bombs. My kids love this stuff too, and they’re old enough to start hearing the words and not just the energy of the music – and I hate not being able to play some of the songs on the big stereo upstairs. Oh well, for the most part the band has developed a keen sense of being absurd and poignant at the same time. Pretty cool trick that.

Here’s hoping the boys can stay one jump ahead of all the clones that have followed in their wake. The future of rock and roll is alive and well thank you very much.

Reviewed October 24, 2005

Shenanigans (©2002 Reprise)

1: Suffocate 2: Desensitized 3: You Lied 4: Outsider 5: Don't Wanna Fall In Love 6: Espionage 7: I Want To Be On TV 8: Scumbag 9: Tired Of Waiting For You 10: Sick Of Me 11: Rotting 12: Do Da Da 13: On The Wagon 14: Ha Ha You're Dead

How is it that some bands are able to assemble so much "A" list material that just gathers dust until such time as the band needs to release a bunch of left over bits and b-sides (there was a time you could play both sides of a disc ...)? These so called punks (it's just rock and roll kiddies - if it's called punk today, then punk it is) are a wicked trio of talented tricksters (to all you wannabees out there, here's a novel concept: learn to actually play your instruments). They may come across as a bunch of wise-ass kids, but they aren't kids anymore, and they're growing up and doing just fine thank you very much.

There are some blistering moments here, probably the best and most unexpected is the near surf instrumental Espionage. The little raspberry on Sick of Me, is so perfect I have a new respect for the band. Of course, these guys can carry a grudge with the worst of them - such as Ha Ha You're Dead. I'm not a big fan of profanity (asshole is pretty mild, but try explaining it to a five year old who had his mouth washed out for saying something similar) in music - there are a lot of ways of expressing yourself without taking the cheap way out. Besides, bad words equals no play on the big stereo just in case the kids are around. And since these guys are growing up and have their own kids and stuff, I wonder how long until they have to explain why daddy uses bad words on his records.

I will admit that it took me a few years to really warm up to these guys. I guess you could say I'm good and hooked now. I thought I was supposed to be too old to like this kind of shit. Er stuff. Crap, what a bad influence these guys are.

Reviewed September 16, 2004

Song of the Century (©2009)

1. Song of the Century 2. 21st Century Breakdown 3. Know Your Enemy 4. ¡Viva La Gloria! 5. Before The Lobotomy 6. Christians Inferno 7. Last Night On Earth 8. East Jesus Nowhere 9. Peacemaker 10. Last Of The American Girls 11. Murder City 12. ¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl) 13. Restless Heart Syndrome 14. Horseshoes And Handgrenades 15. The Static Age 16. 21 Guns 17. American Eulogy (Mass Hysteria/Modern World) 18. See The Light 19. A Quick One While He's Away (bonus) 20. Another State of Mind (bonus)

This is what happens to kids as they get older and get an over inflated sense of their own self importance. Green Day was a band at home writing about masturbation and became the poster boys for a generation of slackers. They also knew how to write a kick ass pop song. If you thought the guys were pretentious on American Idiot, they were just getting started …

Here we are a couple of decades after their inception, the boys are now men, and oddly enough are the new generation of elder statesmen. The band now has a social responsibility, and they want to let you know how they feel about things. Now I know that this latest effort is some sort of multi-act rock opera and the boys are using the genre that killed progressive wanking to create another sonic opus, thereby becoming what they were originally trying to destroy.

If this is starting to make about as much sense as the time travel paradoxes from those Terminator movies, then you're not lost - because I don't really care if this makes sense or not. I'm writing about a Green Day album for pities sake - despite the intentions or the aspirations to high art, this is really nothing more than a Green Day album (a good one at that) with some sophomoric lyrics tossed in to sound relevant.

For all the talk about this being a new and invigorated band, it's really just more tried and true Green Day. My son who is almost a teenager now gave this a cursory spin and dismissed this as "okay, but it's nothing special." Me, I felt I had to spend a little more time trying to get through it before arriving at pretty much the same conclusion.

Don't get me wrong, there are some real nuggets interspersed throughout the album. I get a goofy grin on my face, and crank it up - and when it's over I find that it's just gone in one ear and out the other. This is probably why I keep playing this over and over.

No doubt many will disagree with me, and proclaim this to be the best thing ever released by Green Day, or any other band - EVER. These are more often than not the same kids who rate everything with 5 stars on iTunes or Amazon.

Oddly enough I really do like this album - songs of the century? Not likely, but the tunes had enough legs to last at least a week or two. Ask me in a few years and we'll see where this lands in terms of their legacy.

Reviewed June 15, 2009