Photo: Sven-Sebastian Sajak (Sven0705), CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Our Green Day albums ranked list looks at 10 of the best Green Day albums ever released throughout their 30-plus year career. Green Day is a band that hails from the West Coast of the United States from the sunny area of East Bay California. The band first arrived on the scene at the start of the 1990s with their first album entitled 39/Smooth. The second album was released a year later in 1991 entitled Kerplunk! Both of these albums were independent releases. However, in 1994 they signed a record deal with a major label and released what would become their legendary album Dookie. From that point on Green day would become one of the most important new rock and roll bands in classic rock history fueling a punk revival that had not been seen since the late 1970s.
Even if you’re not a die-hard Green Day fan, it’s hard to deny how talented they are. The music has stayed consistently fresh and groundbreaking during the long run at the top. It’s a little shocking that a group who rose to fame singing about a lack of motivation and things that teenage boys brag about in the locker room has had two greatest hits albums, a Broadway Play, has had such amazing success. But that’s the story of rock and roll.
# 10 – Tre!
Although this album only peaked at number thirteen, it was a great addition to Green Day’s catalog. This album hit the shelves on December 7, 2012. It was the third album in a trilogy released in 2012. The album’s title was a tribute to the band’s drummer Tre Cool who had just made it into his 40s. Tre! is a great Green Day album. It’s a loose record. The band just plays and has fun. Isn’t that what Green Day has always been about. Of course sometimes they have gotten serious with albums like American Idiot, but on TRe! their just a rock and roll garage band that sounds like they’re playing stadiums. It wasn’t their biggest selling record of all time, but so what, it’s a great Green Day album and a perfect way to open up this top 10 Green Day albums list.
# 9 – iDos!
On November 9, 2012, they released the album entitled iDos! The iDos! album peaked at nine after staying on the charts for nine weeks. This album was stuck in the middle of the trio as well as riddled with mixed reviews. Yet, like we always say, who cares what reviewers say.We would like to see some of those critics come up with their own albums that match the brilliance and intensity of these great Green Day albums. Buy this one, you will love it!
# 8 – Nimrod
This album was released in 1997, peaking at number ten. It stayed on the charts for seventy weeks. Good Riddance, Time of your Life ended up as a very popular songs at high school graduations that year. Another standout track on the album was the cut “Walking Alone.” It’s actually a very uplifting song that has probably been a go to for so many of their fans who have struggled at times with personal issues. I also have to respect a group that can title a song Platypus and makes it work.
# 7 – Warning
On October 3, 2000, Green Day released their Warning album. After twenty weeks on the Billboard Top 200 Album charts, it peaked at four. Even though it wasn’t one of their most critically acclaimed albums, this album has some great standout tracks like Fashion Victim. There were also some great acoustic songs on the album to compliment Green Day’s in your face loud rock and roll style. One can definitely hear musical growth on the Warning album as the band’s experience and age really start to stand front and center in their writing.
# 6 – Uno!
In the number six position on our Green Day Albums ranked list we present the first one of the trio of albums the band released in 2012. It spent sixteen weeks at number two on the Billboard Top 200 albums charts. For many Uno! was the best out of the three trop albums released in 2012. The song “Oh Love” was immeasurably addictive as a pop rock songs that seemed aimed at the 90s generation. This was an album of high energy pop rock that fans just could not get enough off.
# 5 – Insomniac
Green Day’s album spent thirty-nine weeks on the Billboard Top 200 charts and peaked at number two. The Insomniac album was released on October 10, 1995. This album didn’t have as many standouts as some of its other albums. They stay true to the style that made them famous. Our favorite song on this album is Bab’s Ulva Who? It’s another excellent song to help you escape the doom and gloom of a bad day.
# 4 – Revolution Radio
In the number four spot on this Green Day Albums Ranked list is the band’s great album Revolution Radio. The album was released on October 7, 2016. In similar fashion to their grand American Idiot album, Revolution Radio is a socially charged album. Lets’ face it, these guys were in their mid 40s when they released this album and their age is going to have a huge impact on their writing. This is a terrific album that speaks to their loyal fans as they age along with the band.
# 3 – 21st Century Breakdown
On May 15, 2009, Green Day released the album, and it went to the top of the charts and stayed there for thirty-eight weeks. Another chart-topper, debuting on May 15, 2009, and peaked at number one. Green Day favors albums that tell a story. Even on the ones that don’t, their lyrics are short stories. The title song is a prologue to the rest of the story, album. Many critics didn’t think they would make it to this eighth album, mainly because their music and lyrics only resonate with a limited audience.
# 2 – Dookie
The band’s third album and first on a major label was released on February 1, 1994. It peaked at two and spent 116 weeks on Billboard’s Top 200 albums charts. Every decade there are less than a handful of albums that are released that will fuel a shift in musical direction or at least popular musical genre that is brewing in the underground. Green Day’s Dookie album took the punk genre that had become rather stale and catapulted it into the mainstream with their mix of pop melodies with a punk attitude. It worked so perfectly. Dookie turned Green Day into a household name as there audience ranged from junior high school kids who loved the cartoonish nature of the band to twenty somethings who just loved the band’s energy and songs.
Five singles were released from the album including the songs Longview,” “Basket Case,” “Welcome to Paradise,” “When I Come Around,” and “She.” The album Dookie won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album. This is one of the all time great albums released in the 1990s. It’s right up there with Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s 10 and the great Guns N’ Roses albums Use Your Illusion I and II
# 1 – American Idiot
In the number one spot on our Green Day Albums ranked list is the band’s rock and roll masterpiece entitled American Idiot. Green Day released the album on September 21st, 2004. American Idiot is the band most politically and socially charged album. After the events of 9/11 and the unpopular Iraq War, there was much unrest in the United States. Many artists were not happy with the George Bush Presidency although there was a great fear against speaking out. Only a handful of artists responded in their work such as Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow and Neil Young. However, Green Day were one of the first. However the band did it an a much less direct way in this brilliant artistic concept album.
If you still have an old CD player and a copy of Green Day’s album Dookie laying around, now might be the time to find it. If not, hopefully, this list inspires you to make a Green Day playlist if you don’t already have one. If you’re not a big fan and missed a lot of their work over the years, it might be time to change that. Fan or not, spending a little time with Green Day music, especially the albums on this list, will prove why this group is still relevant today.
Green Day Albums Ranked article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2021
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