Green Day

As a follow-up to Dookie, Insomniac was only ever going to be considered lackluster in comparison. Perhaps it's the snotty 'tude of songs like "Brat" and "Jaded" that aren't nearly as compelling after a band's reached platinum-selling status. Or the band may have simply gotten freaked by their sudden success, regressing back to the comforts of raw, two-minute attacks instead of the calculated sprawl of some of Dookie's best. Green Day still keep themselves relevant, though, the greatest material being the singles: "Geek Stink Breath," "Brain Stew" and "Walking Contradiction."

The beauty of classic punk rock lies in its utter simplicity: Crude rhythms, rude attitude,
pumping adrenaline and a loudly pronounced point of view are key. Once you get sucked
in by that formula, any punk band sounds good at first – because the musical rush is so
basic, familiar and overwhelming. That's also the reason most punk bands – and records –
ultimately turn out to be crap. In punk the good stuff actually unfolds and gains... More >

Billie Joe has an instinctive hold on the rock and roll virtue of sounding like you mean--his songs conceptualize his natural whine with a musicality that undercuts his defeatism only don't be so sure. "I'm a smart-ass but I'm playing dumb": eight million sold and all he admits to knowing is the futility of Telegraph Avenue losers who dis the rich occasionally and each other all the time. How he'll feel when this one doesn't sell two million we should all want to know. (Grade - A-)