Top 10 Green Day Songs of All-Time (Or That We Really Like)

by Radley Little and Neil Evans  
Neil
I'm not going to lie and say that I was a Green Day fan from before the Kerplunk! days. When Green Day first hit the mainstream with Dookie I was 10 years old and cared more about baseball than anything involving music. I did come around and buy the cassette of Insomniac which I enjoyed thorougly but I wasn't obsessed with the band.

Over the next few years I bought their albums and loved a bunch of their songs but I never considered Green Day one of my favorite bands. I fell in love with more poppy bands like New Found Glory and had a major detour into ska. But unlike the majority of of my former favorite bands (see: Mest), Green Day was never a huge disapointment. They've always been there and in my opinion, gotten better over the years. But really, I've probably changed more over the years than Green Day.

I remember going to Radio 104 Fest with Green Day and Blink-182 and getting annoyed at Billie Joe for spending too much time on call and answer crowd participation. Radley and some of our other friends, left after Green Day and didn't give a shit about Blink. I didn't understand. Some years later while I was in L.A. I caught them on the American Idiot tour at the Home Depot Center (a giant soccer field) and sat a mile away but it was the best overall show I've ever seen and I sang loudly everytime Billie asked.

While it's obvious that I prefer their more well know and commercial songs, I don't apologize for it. I like melody, solid chord progressions and singers that can hold a note, all of which Green Day has covered.

#10 - JAR (Angus Soundtrack, 1995) and Stuart and the Ave. (Insomniac, 1995)
Right off the bat I'm breaking the "top 10" rule by putting two songs at number ten. Now, some point to "Longview" as the most recognizable bass driven Green Day song but I love Mike Dirt's work on both these songs more. Mike proves that a bassist doesn't just have to double up the rhythm guitar.

#9 - I Fought the Law (Single, 2004)
Numerous bands have covered this song but this Green Day version is my favorite due to Billie's vocals. It's just a great song with tons of attitude and defiance.

#8 - Paper Lanterns (1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, 1991)
Most probably remember this song as the backdrop for the famous mud fight at Woodstock '94, another crucial event that helped launch their career. "Paper Lanterns" is a song that is fairly simple but is the perfect combination of three chords and a great melody. Like another song on this list, the identifiable lyrics made me love the song even more.

#7 - Hitchin' a Ride (Nimrod, 1997)
Essentially this is a faster version of "Brain Stew". "Hitchin' a Ride" has a much heavier breakdown and outro though. I think this song has gotten better with age.

#6 - The Grouch (Nimrod, 1997)
This song should probably be higher on my list. I love classic Billie Joe delivery and I remember being 13, memorizing the lyrics and thinking I was so bad ass for liking a song that said "fuck" a bunch and had tons of rebellion and apathy behind it. Oh, adolescence. It was a phase, but 11 years later, the song still holds up and proves that you don't need crazy overdriven guitars to rock.

#5 - American Idiot (American Idiot, 2004)
After a long absence, Green Day came back in 2004 with "American Idiot" and I knew it was a wrap. I had gotten down on the band after Warning but coming out the gate with this fast, energetic and smart song proved that they hadn't lost touch with their punk roots. It set the tone for their album and made them the biggest band in the world for the next three years. Also, I love the use of the word "faggot" without being a direct homosexual slur.

#4 - Basket Case (Dookie, 1994)
The song that started it all for Green Day. Yea, they had been a band for several years before Dookie came out but if they never made the jump to a major label, wrote this song and got support from MTV, Green Day would just be another unknown band to never make it past Gilman Street. It's not #1 because I just don't think it's the best thing they've ever done.

#3 - King For a Day: Live (Bullet In a Bible, 2005)
This live arrangement epitomizes what Green Day has become: the greatest live band I've ever seen. While "King for a Day" is a decent song on its own, Billie Joe becomes an entertainer and showman for this signature song in their set. Busting into "Shout" to transition the song, all members' musicianship shines and it becomes evident that they are more than just a three chord punk band. While the live CD recording will do, to get the full experience, the DVD version must be watched.

#2 - 2,000 Light Years Away (Kerplunk!, 1992)
"Sit alone is my bedroom, staring at the wall..." lyrics that sum up a good portion of my early high school years. I learned to play this song on a shitty acoustic guitar and I never felt better. It sounds corny but music does help you make sense of things and it's comforting hearing other people sing about topics you can relate to, even though I never had a girlfriend 2,000 miles away.

#1 - Jesus of Suburbia (American Idiot, 2004)
It's epic. It's a story. It's everything. Technically, there are several parts to this song but everything flows smoothly and the track hardly seems like it's nine minutes long. They manage to weave hard rock, acoustic guitars, pianos and killer vocals into one coherent story. This song can be listened to on it's own or within the context of the American Idiot narrative. There's even a drum solo! Bass, guitar tones, harmonies; Green Day may have had bigger hits but this song is the crowning achievement in their collection. It really doesn't get better than this, for now.

Honorable Mention: Waiting, Christie Road, Homecoming, Walking Contradiction, Redundant, Worry Rock
 

   Radley
Throughout my life, there have been a few things I've never been able to get enough of. The first is beef, which my mom tells me I've been consuming in unhealthy quantities since before I entered pre-school, and the other is Green Day, whose music I've been blasting throughout my house since Christmas 1994. I know it's lame to say, but they've been with me throughout my adolescence, and I'm afraid to imagine the person I might have become without them.

Trying to pick my favorite Green Day songs is like trying to pick a presidential candidate that isn't full of shit: it's incredibly difficult, if not impossible. Being limited to only 10 or so, what I've tried to do here is highlight some of my favorite aspects of a few of their less recognized album tracks and impart a little of my trivial knowledge to you. This is in very loose order and by no means an exhaustive list.

#10 - Panic Song (Insomniac, 1995)
The only song on the album where the guitar track isn't composed completely of power chords. With regards to the drawn out intro, I've heard more convincing "panic" music from other bands. But this song is a great example of delayed gratification. If you stick with it you're rewarded with a sweet melody dripping with pessimism, as is the case for most of Insomniac.

#9 - Haushinka (Nimrod, 1997)
This song is notable for a few reasons. 1). There are no chords in the verse-- a simplistic riff keeps the listener in an ambient sonic limbo until the chorus 2). The bridge is phenomenal, particularly the "waiting for you" bit 3). This song was written even before Dookie was released. A bootleg copy of it recorded around the 1,039-Kerplunk era surfaced a few years back. How many bands can say that material written in their earliest stages can stand alongside some of their best? That's natural talent for you.

#8 - JAR (Angus Soundtrack, 1995 & International Superhits, 2001)
When I was 8, I begged my dad to take me to see the movie Angus because I heard there was a new Green Day song in it, and my second grade logic led me to believe that the band would therefore be starring in the film. I was rather disappointed when this wasn't the case. This song in it's entirety however, would have been worth the price of admission to me. As Neil said, the bass work is so fitting, but I think every other part of this song deserves a nod. The verse is just as catchy as the chorus (a rarity for contemporary music), the chorus is mellow yet not disjointed from the rest of the song, the bridge builds the proper amount of tension and sets the stage for great a solo, albeit one that mimics the vocal melody, but a fitting one nonetheless. I believe Mike Dirnt wrote this song, which shows the band's songwriting depth goes beyond just Billie.

#7 - Scattered (Nimrod, 1997)
This song is a great representation of the band's progression up to this point in time. The lyrics are mature and evocative and the instruments are all powerful and well produced. On an album that marked the beginning of the band's foray into lighter material, this song is a gem for fans who have always appreciated a more aggressive Green Day.

#6 - I Want to Be Alone (1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, 1991)
I love it when Billie delves into riffs that aren't just composed of power chords. This song is a nice example of that, and has a killer chorus and an instrumental break which really bring it all together. It boggles my mind to think that Billie was writing songs this good when he was only a teenager.

#5 - Dry Ice (1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, 1991)
All in all, I don't think there are many people out there who consider this one of their best songs, but I will argue that this has one of, if not the best guitar solos in their entire catalogue. Thinking back, the one phrase of music that may have inspired to me pick up a guitar in the first place occurs between 2:01 and 2:06. It's definitely not the fastest or most inventive fill in the world, but it does make this solo completely perfect. What I love about Billie Joe is that he can take the simplest thing like a 3 chords, or in this case, a few notes of a scale, and somehow make them unforgettable.

#4 - Sassafrass Roots (Dookie, 1994)
A simple song in which the subtleties come together together to make the whole 2:38 very enjoyable with a boring moment. The open chords, backup vocal harmonies, bass line, and the two chord bridge create a no-nonsense song that's short, sweet, and a welcome inclusion on one of one of the best albums ever.

#3 - Private Ale (Kerplunk!, 1992)
Another obscure early song. I love how the chorus is catchy, simple, to the point while highlighted with aggressive drumming -- something I've always wished Green Day would do more of. Recording quality aside, I think this song could sit on any of their pre-American Idiot major label releases and fit right in... assuming they cleaned up the bridge a little bit. One of my all time favorite songs.

#2 - Do Da Da - (Shenanigans, 2002)
You're probably thinking "What? A B-side?!" Yeah, even Green Day's B-sides kick ass (also see: JAR). This song has been one of my favorites since the first time I downloaded it on Napster back in middle school. The arpeggiated vocal line in the verse spans almost an entire octave (which is pretty rare for a punk song), is arguably one of the catchiest things I've ever heard, and the melody I hold all others to in comparison. Fun fact: this song was originally supposed to be called "Stuck With Me" but someone labeling the back cd graphic on Insomniac put that song title on the album by mistake. The original name for the song we know as "Stuck With Me" was something like "World vs. World."

#1 - Basket Case - (Dookie, 1994)
Yes, an obvious choice, but I have to give credit where credit is due. This is the song that started it all for not only me, but a whole generation of Green Day fans. I've probably listened to this song over 400 times in my life. It's hard to say anything about it that hasn't already been said by someone more qualified (that's also the reason why I've omitted all songs from American Idiot), so I'll share an anecdote. On Christmas 1994, I got the best present I could ever remember, which was Dookie and a stereo that was probably about half the size of my 8 year old body. After an hour, I figured out how to skip the other songs and put the melodious track that was "Basket Case" on repeat... it was the only thing I'd wanted to hear for months. After a few weeks of spinning it non-stop, my brother who shared the room next door complained that he "used to like the song," but I had ruined it for him forever. Now he listens to Alter Bridge.
If I'm ever hospitalized and in a coma, try playing Dookie to wake me up, repeating Basket Case 2 or 3 times. If that doesn't work, just go ahead and pull the plug.


 
Oh, and we both hate our friend Mike who got to play drums on stage with Green Day. We're actually just really jealous. Maybe someday he'll recount his experience on the site. Lucky bastard.

And this is why I love YouTube: