The Top Ten Songs by Green Day

Sometimes, a band surprises me and sneaks its way into my favorites. Green Day is one of those bands and this is my list of their top ten songs.

It's not that I don't like punk, it's just that "Dookie" was just sort of there. I liked some of the stuff from their early albums, "Brainstew" and "Longview" come to mind, but it wasn't until they released "American Idiot" that I could even name ten Green Day songs, much less make a top ten list.

Now, "American Idiot" is one of my favorite albums and while I love the title track, it's actually the way-too-long-for-radio-airplay "Jesus of Suburbia" that is my favorite Green Day track and in my opinion their best song.
The joy of the "American Idiot" album is that it is a concept album, something that has long been ignored by most mainstream music producers. Once upon a time, when I was young, concept albums were popular, but in recent years, it has seemed as though the record companies are more interested in putting together a collection of singles for radio play than in an album that's together because it belongs together.

This album actually has songs that are meant to be listened to together. And, the band got huge points when they announced that they would like to have a writer submit a screenplay based on the theme of the album. Yea for artists supporting artists!

"Jesus of Suburbia" is not a particularly happy song, but the sentiment is wonderful. The idea that we can be part of a society and not be identical to everyone else in it is encouraging and happy. My biggest disappointment with this song was its length. Not that I think it is too long, but that my local disc jockeys do. One confided that you would only hear the song on her station when the DJ needed to go outside to smoke.

Despite its general lack of airplay, the song is powerful and melodic, with a good strong punk beat underneath. Unlike my number two Green Day song, "Jesus of Suburbia" seems to actually remember the band's punk roots.
My number two song, "Good Riddance" doesn't really feel punk. It could have been any number of musicians, but the striped down, vocally intense song has a punk attitude if not beat. The message to a former lover that "it was worth all the while" is the essence of pain and forgiveness rolled into one.

"American Idiot" is my number three on the top ten Green Day songs. it took a listen or two before most people caught on to the message in the lyrics, and the encouragement to think for yourself.

The band's message throughout the album and especially in the title track is that people need to think for themselves and not just listen to what the television and media tell them to think. It's a powerful message with a heavy punk beat, a song that disguises its message in a fun tune. "Don't want to be an American idiot, one nation controlled by the media..."
The top ten list for Green Day wanders back to the ballads at number four with "Wake Me Up When September Ends".
Again, I am struck by the depth of the emotion in the lyrics. "The innocence can never last..." proclaims an early line in the song. The song reminds the listener that innocence is easily gone and though it seems in a literal translation of the lyrics that he might be talking about children and growing up, it is also very simple to hear a deeper message about the country in the song.

The song reminds us to let our memories come to rest and "never forget what I lost,". Perhaps it's coincidental that the song refers to lost innocence in September, but I personally hear a chilling reference to loss of a nation's innocence and the summer, or joyous time, when the nation could celebrate never being attacked by a foreign enemy on its own soil.
Whether it is meant as Green Day's national song of mourning, an encouragement to remember, but move on, or just a personal statement about growth and aging, it is a very powerful song.

The number five song on my top ten list is "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" also from the American Idiot album. The song is another ballad-esque tribute to the depth of emotion and personal insight in this album.

The song portrays both loneliness and self-reliance, depending on the frame of mind the listener has when the song begins. And, it is very deliberate. The song refers longingly to the chance that someone will find the singer, but acknowledges that he has always walked with no one but his shadow to accompany him.

At number six, my list actually finally leaves American Idiot, but it will return later. "When I Come Around" is a much more classic punk song that some of the entries on American Idiot and it comes in at number six.

At number seven is "Brainstew", perhaps one of the most beloved Green Day songs by others. The heavy bass line belies the quiet insanity that the singer is alluding too throughout the song, a nice juxtaposition.

At number eight is "Basketcase". another song about insanity, but a much more happy, bouncy look at trying to differentiate between depression, drugs and other forms of insanity. The gender-bending identity of the hooker in the verse is just a fun little twist.

For number nine, we go back to American Idiot for the final time with "Holiday". I think more than anything on the American Idiot soundtrack, this song annoyed purists who thought it was too "pop" for Green Day. And, to them I say, listen to the words!

The song is a tribute/warning about the holidays that come about because we send people to die for the things we believe in, like a flag. The spoken word is controversial with the line to "kill all the fags who don't agree", but the context is not a slur at sexual orientation. It's a statement regarding the rhetoric against people who have the nerve to disagree with what politicians and other leaders say.

"Longview" comes in a number ten, mostly because it doesn't engender strong feelings as the remainder of the top ten list do. However, I really like the song and it makes any green Day mix I put on the computer, so it made the top ten.
All in all, I am especially fond of Green Day's songs that have an underlying social motivation, encouraging people to consider the facts of the world around them.