Green Day: Ultimate Playlis

Green Day are a pop-punk band from the Berkley area of California and formed in 1987, originally composing of Billie Joe Armstrong (Guitar and lead vocals), Mike Pritchard (Bass and backing vocals) or has he is better known Mike Dirnt; He chose the surname/ nickname "Dirnt" because of the way as a teenager when he used to play air bass while listening to music he used to imitate the noise a bass guitar made by saying "Dirnt". The third and final original member of Green Day was John Kiffmeyer (Drums and backing vocals). Green Day's first full length album was titled 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours was released April 13th 1990. It consisted of 19 tracks and was a collaboration of four previously released EP's from the band; 39/smooth, Slappy, 1,000 Hours, The Big One.

1. At The Library
2. Don't Leave Me
3. I Was There
4. Disappearing Boy
5. Green Day
6. Going To Pasalaqua
7. 16
8. Road to Acceptance
9. Rest
10. The Judge's Daughter
11. Paper Lanterns
12. Why Do You Want Him?
13. 409 In Your Coffeemaker
14. Knowledge (Cover of Operation Ivy)
15. 1,000 Hours
16. Dry Ice
17. Only Of You
18. The One I Want
19. I Want to Be Alone

Green Day's second studio album Kerplunk was released January 17th 1992, during the two year gap of 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and Kerplunk John Kiffmeyer left the band to attend college and so to replace him Green Day enlisted the help of Tre Cool who was the drummer of a band called The Lookouts and he has been a member of the band ever since. Kerplunk Originally consisted of 12 tracks, however versions released on CD and cassette also included another four tracks from the Sweet Children EP.

1. 2000 Light Years Away
2. One For The Razorbacks
3. Welcome To Paradise
4. Christie Road
5. Private Ale
6. Dominated Love Slave
7. One Of My Lies
8. 80
9. Android
10. No One Knows
11. Who Wrote Holden Coulfield
12. Words I Might Have Ate
Bonus Tracks
13. Sweet Children
14. Best Thing In Town
15. Strangeland
16. My Generation (Cover of The Who)

Green Day then left their current label Lookout! and in Europe Epitaph and they signed with the major record label Reprise in the summer of 1993. On February 1st 1994 Green Day released their first major label album and their third studio album Dookie reaching immediate success reaching No. 2 in the U.S Billboard top 200 and went on to chart in seven other countries. Dookie has become something of an icon; As of 2010 it had sold over 16 million copies, In 1995 it won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album and in 2003 it placed 193 on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and more!

1. Burnout
2. Having A Blast
3. Chump
4. Longview
5. Welcome To Paradise
6. Pulling Teeth
7. Basket Case
8. She
9. Sassafras Roots
10. When I Come Around
11. Coming Clean
12. Emenius Sleepus
13. In The End
14. F.O.D Fuck Off and Die/ All By Myself (Hidden Track)

Following the success of Dookie Green Day Released their fourth studio album entitled Insomniac in early October 1995. Insomniac had a completely different sound to that of Green Day's previous albums, their songs had changed from light hearted songs about dealing with teenage life such as; Falling in love, Falling out of love, Masturbation, Smoking Pot and so on. The band put more of a Grungy and darker feel to them, their songs were now more about dealing with a darker side of growing up such as; Dealing with those who dislike you, and Coping with your anxieties and depression. Insomniac however didn't have the hard hitting edge that it's predecessor had, to this date it has sold more than 8 million copies and is the bands third best selling album. Insomniac reached No.2 in the US Billboard 200.

1. Armatage Shanks
2. Brat
3. Stuck With Me
4. Geek Stink Breath
5. No Pride
6. Bab's Uvula Who?
7. 86
8. Panic Song
9. Stuart And The Avenue
10. Brain Stew
11. Jaded
12. Westbound Sign
13. Tight Wad Hill
14. Walking Contradiction

After a 2 year leave Green Day released their fifth album entitled Nimrod on 14 October 1997, it was seen as somewhat of a concept album due to the nature of the songs on the album. Nimrod has reached sales of over 5 million and placed No. 10 in the US Billboard top 200. The album featured aspects which Green Day Have never really gone near before such as acoustic, instrumentals and even scream-o. Unlike the rest of the albums lyrics could not be printed with Nimrod because of the explicate content, especially in a song titled Platypus (I Hate You) in which a whole verse is a run of swear words.

1. Nice Guys Finish Last
2. Hitchin' A Ride
3. The Grouch
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

On October 3rd 2000 Green Day released their sixth Studio album Warning, following the expectation of their previous release Nimrod they were expected to follow the same unique line, Instead Green Day followed yet another genre of rock Warning was more of a light hearted pop punk style, for this they came under a lot of heavy scrutiny for being so light and not as in you're face. Although Warning reached No. 4 on the US Billboard 200, the album was statistically their worst selling album since signing to Reprise.

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

We now move on to possibly the most famous Green Day album ever produced, on the 21st of September 2004 Green Day brought out American Idiot. The album was possibly the most popular album the band have released, charting in 26 different countries and reaching number 1 in 19 of them. From the time of its release American Idiot has sold more than 14 million copies, including more than a quarter of a million in its first week! The album won numerous awards and sent a big middle finger to their critics who said they were losing their edge when they released Warning. An amazing thing to think about is that we only had American Idiot through unfortunate circumstances when the master tracks for an album which Green Day had previously been working on were stolen and so they decided to record a whole new album.

1. American Idiot
2. Jesus Of Suburbia
I. Jesus Of Suburbia
II. City Of The Damned
III. I Don't Care
IV. Dearly Beloved
V. Tales Of Another Broken Home
3. Holiday
4. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
5. Are We The Waiting
6. St. Jimmy
7. Give Me Novacaine
8. She's A Rebel
9. Extraordinary Girl
10 Letterbomb
11. Wake Me Up When September Ends
12. Homecoming
I. The Death Of St. Jimmy
II. East 12th Street
III. Nobody Likes You
IV. Rock And Roll Girlfriend
V. Were Coming Home Again
13. Whatsername

Finally we have Green Day's latest studio album 21st Century Breakdown. Released on May 15th 2009, the album was Green Day's second "Rock Opera" style release after American Idiot. 21st Century Breakdown was created to give an insight into the political fight which is faced by the average person and how the government is affecting them.
21st Century Breakdown was the bands best albums to perform in the charts, topping the charts across the world including in the US, the UK and all across Europe.

1. Song Of The Century
2. 21st Century Breakdown
3. Know Your Enemy
4. ¡ Viva La Gloria !
5. Before The Lobotomy
6.Christian's 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
I. Mass Hysteria
II. Modern World
18. See The Light

Now I have finished the history and discography of Green Day I can now move on to my "Ultimate Playlist" and i must stress that this is a reflection on my own opinion and I am not trying to give a forced opinion on weather this playlist is the best of the best. I will be choosing one Song off of every album and will give a brief explanation as to why i chose said song.

Fist of all off of 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours i have chosen At The Library. Besides this song being such a great song to have a good ol' rock-out too, I think that we can all relate to the lyrics especially the first verse.
"Hey there lookin' at me,
Tell me what do you see,
But you quickly turn your head away,
Try to find the words I could use,
Don't have the courage to come up to you,
My chance is looking a bit grey"
This explains that scary situation we all find our selves in where you're eyes meet another persons across a room but you dont know what to say let alone have the courage to say anything and you cant help but have a feeling of hopelessness because you're too scared to get up and chase them.

Off of Kerplunk I have chosen the song One Of My Lies. Although it is not the most popular song off of Kerplunk the lyrics are again very meaningful. The lyrics tell a story of what we all realise when we grow up; That life isn’t as easy as it seems, that when we grow up we have to make sacrifices and that life isn’t as easy as our parents made it seem.

Off of the ever popular Dookie I have chosen Basket Case. Not only is this song great because of its grungy, 3 chord, in your face sound but also; and I realise this may sound cliché, because of how much it explains my teenage years growing up and dealing with depression and anxiety. Basket Case made me realise I am not the only person who feels the way I do that the world is against me and it felt reassuring knowing there are other people out there going through the same thing as I was. Also as I mentioned before the general 3 chord punk sound it has to it makes the song stand out as possibly one of my favourite songs of all time.

Choosing only one song off of Insomniac was difficult because there are a lot of very good and under rated songs on that album but out of them all I have chosen the song Walking Contradiction. I chose it because this song has to be one of Green Day's most under rated songs. Walking Contradiction is one of those songs that I can just listen to over and over again, it is for the reason that it is such a "toe tapper" that it makes my list.

Nimrod I personally my favourite Green Day album so i had to have a good long think about this one but i have came to a decision and I have decided that King For A Day is going to make this list. I know there were many potential candidates especially the timeless "Good Riddance" but I chose King For A Day for the specific reason that the song so much fun to listen to, it never fails to make me smile. Any song that has the ability to put a big silly grin on you're face, like a four year old on Christmas, definitely has to make you're ultimate playlist.

Off of the album Warning I have chose the song Minority purely for the reason that it is possibly one of the only songs on the album that sticks to Green Day's punk/ punk-pop sound from previous albums rather than pop sounding songs such as Macy's Day Parade.

From the iconic American Idiot I have chose a relatively unusual song Letterbomb, I say it is unusual because of my other choices such as American Idiot and Holiday and many more. I chose Letterbomb because as it wasn’t released as a single and was one of the last songs on the album it is taken for granted and not really listened to a lot and is very under rated, the song its self is so under rated i feel that it should be given a chance and so I am pleading with you all who read this and have not yet heard it or given it a fair chance, please do you won't be disappointed.

Finally from 21st Century Breakdown I have chose a song which ever since the first time I heard it, it has always been a personal favourite of mine, it is one of those songs I could listen to over and over again. The song I have chose is Last Of The American Girls I don’t know weather it is the strumming of the bass at the beginning or the particular harmony of Billie Joe and Mike's voices but something about that song just gives me shivers.

So to recap, here is my ultimate Green Day playlist:
1. At The Library
2. One Of My Lies
3. Basket Case
4. Walking Contradiction
5. King For A Day
7. Minority
8. Letterbomb
9. Last Of The American Girls

Well that is everything, this is my first review so please give me any feed back possible, all criticism is welcome (just make it constructive) and thank you for taking the time to read!