Green Day
"Kerplunk!"
1992, Lookout! Records
Even for the uninitiated, this indie pop/punk outing is a decent introduction to the slackers-turned-gazillion-selling rock stars that are known to the rest of the world as "Green Day". While trendy mags like SPIN and Rolling Stones painted these diminutive green-haired goblins up to be more anarchic and exciting than the Sex Pistols, that is hardly the case (crowd mooning is as dangerous as Green Day will ever get)! However, Billie Joe Armstrong & Co. have managed to put together a decent batch of catchy three-chord punk tunes with every release, and "Kerplunk!" is certainly no exception. Kicking off with "2,000 Light Years Away", the sugar-coated harmonies and loud guitars dominate the album, although only a handful of tunes (including the original version of "Welcome To Paradise") come close to emulating the lead-off track. Footnote: CD version contains the band's "Sweet Children" EP, recorded when Green Day were still in their mid teens...Needless to say, it sucks. =)
RATING: 7.5
"Dookie"
1994, Warner Brothers/Reprise
Then along comes the piece de resistance for America's jaded youth, circa 1994. Regardless of how your fickle mind feels about Green Day now, every last one of you people reading this review MUST admit that this CD rocked your world back when you were 12 or 13. This CD made young boys and girls want to dye their hair fruity colors, practice air guitar on a tennis racket, and jump around breaking stuff while thier parents upped the Ritalin dosage. Although nearly every track sounds the same, the CD doesn't really start to wear thin until Side 2 has run part of its course. Standout tracks like "Basket Case", "Longview", "When I Come Around", and "Welcome To Paradise" proved to be more than potent for keeping young minds with small attention spans utterly focused on the songs' big hooks and harmonic vocals. While I consider this to be more of a power-pop record than a punk record (Let's face it. There's no inflammatory political rhetoric, or even a hell of a lot of content that would make parents wince.), it is still one of the best mainstream records of the 90s. However, listening to it today seems to bring out feelings of nostalgia, and nostalgia alone.
RATING: 8
"Insomniac"
1995, Reprise
"Insomniac" is the closest Green Day has ever come to making a true punk rock record. The CD is fast, heavy ("over-produced" would be the correct word...and yes, that is where The Offspring gets their heaviness.), and brief, and contains more than its share of juvenile snottiness. Lead single "Geek Stink Breath" kicks off with a primitive heavy metal riff that stomps all over most of the stuff from "Dookie", even though the song itself is not extremely catchy. Although better than "Dookie" in some aspects, "Insomniac" still has unnervingly blatant flaws. Side 2 is mediocre compared to Side 1 (save for "Walking Contradiction"), and it still baffles me why "Brain Stew"/"Jaded" was issued as a single (and a lame video). You'd think that with sales dipping, the suits at Warner Brothers would market the catchiest songs on the CD (which they finally did with "Walking Contradiction"). However, "Insomiac" is only a notch below "Dookie" and well worth getting if the band's previous releases rocked your world.
RATING: 7.5
"Nimrod"
1997, Reprise
"Nimrod" comes dangerously close to being an absymal experimental abortion of Clash-like proportions, but just manages to remain mediocre with cuts like "Nice Guys Finish Last" and "Good Riddance". Many critics would aruge that every great band has to "experiment" at one point or another, but it usually butchers the band's sales...this pedestrian alterna-rock outing is no exception. NOT recommended for first-time listeners.
RATING: 6
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