Best To Worst: Green Day

Sop I used to only ever listen to Green Day. Long nights were spent trying to rank their discography. But now that I actually know how to analyze albums, I ranked them one more time.

Only studio albums, and despite it actually being really good (check it out if you like Green Day), I'm not counting Stop, Drop And Roll.

Obviously my opinion. Please tell me that I'm a terrible critic in the comments.

12, 11, 10: TRE, UNO, DOS (in that order)
I'll keep this brief. These albums are BAD. Inexcusably so. They are nothing resembling rock, let alone punk. No good songs and a horrifying sound doom these albums and solidify Green Day as sellouts.

Rating: 0/10 for all three.

9: 21ST CENTURY BREAKDOWN
This sucks. It wants to be good so badly, and it almost is! It's how they should have followed up American Idiot: another political concept album. And it's a double album, so there's room for more development of the story. But that's where it falls short. The narrative is AWFUL. There's characters with personalities that are alright, but they never do anything or learn anything. Top it off with almost exclusively bad songs.

Rating: 1.5/10

8: REVOLUTION RADIO
Go ahead. Tell me I'm wrong. I know people liked this album. And it's easy to see why. I liked it at first, too. I loved the sound they returned to. But it's (surprise surprise) a political album. Annoyingly so. There is not an ounce of subtlety in the whole album, and it feels like they're writing about what people want to hear instead of what Green Day was good for (funny, relatable songs about women, boredom, and hash). Also, there are only two standout songs, being Youngblood and the title track, and the rest are forgettable.

Rating: 4/10

7: 39/SMOOTH
Not much to say about this album. It's very good for a debut album (especially for a 90s pop-punk band), but it's way too short and Green Day have yet to find their groove.

Rating: 7.5/10

6: NIMROD
A bit low for most fans, but this is my list, not theirs. Anyway, this has a lot of great songs, and a few clunkers. Good Riddance is debated, and I think it's ok. The song would be forgettable if it weren't overplayed.

Rating: 8.5/10

5: INSOMNIAC
People compare this to In Utero (if Dookie was Nevermind). There's just one tiny little problem: it doesn't really hold up as well to Dookie as In Utero does to Nevermind. It's still worth listening to, though.

Rating: 9/10

4: KERPLUNK
Surprisingly good. It's like Dookie's younger, somewhat dumber sibling. Also, Tre Cool's first appearance. Not really much to say, just that all the songs are good.

Rating: 9/10

3: WARNING
Now we're getting into the good stuff. Warning is often overlooked as the preceding album to American Idiot, but it's really, really, serviceable. To the point where I'd call it one of the more underrated albums of any band's discography. The songs work really well and it's got a bit of unique charm that they never really replicated.

Rating: 9.5/10

2: DOOKIE
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not my favorite Green Day album. Go ahead with the flames. But really, this is perfect in its own right. It absolutely deserves all the praise it receives. What else can be said that hasn't already been said?

Rating: 10/10

1: AMERICAN IDIOT
Obviously, as it's the only one left. Funny enough, very few of the individual songs hold up well. But the narrative is what defines it for me. The story is incredible. A perfect tale of boredom leading to restlessness leading to love leading to heartbreak leading to acceptance. There's political stuff, but it's fun. And when Green Day has fun, so do we.

Rating: 10/10

Comments

1.5's too low, ain't it? - visitor

Out of the trilogy, what was the absolute WORST song? For me it was easily Nightlife. - Pony