Sitting here as 2025 hits the final leg of the tour, it’s easy to think of Green Day as something of a relic of days gone by. Calling them has-beens seems harsh, but it’s not as if they have commandeered the zeitgeist in recent years. Their most recent album Saviors is damn good fun, they still sell out big rooms and are incredible live. So Green Day is still around, of course, but they’re not like, around.

Green Day has entered that phase that so many other acts do when they reach that third decade of existence, grappling with attempts to stay relevant as they stave off becoming solely a nostalgia play. A new album is great and all, but it’s more than likely to draw attention to past glory as opposed to reignite it.

But yeah, Green Day has been around for thirty fucking years. I don’t know how that happened, but it did. And actually, it’s been more than 30 years. Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt got together in 1987, with drummer Tre Cool joining three years later. What’s even crazier than them being around for so long is that they had two different stints as One of The Biggest Bands in the World. Most acts would kill for a shot at one such moment, but Green Day managed to have two.

The first time Green Day was One of The Biggest Bands in the World was when they released their breakthrough album, Dookie, in 1994. Crashing through the seemingly impenetrable wall of melodic sludge constructed by grunge like the Kool-Aid Man, Green Day’s infectious and exuberant brand of smooth-around-the-edges punk rock was a breath of fresh air in the same way Weezer was when they released The Blue Album around the same time. Dookie recklessly and steadily picked up steam through the late winter and spring before becoming something of a wrecking ball by summer, a summer that was highlighted by the band’s mud-soaked set at Woodstock ’94.

Of course, nothing lasts forever, and Green Day’s fire started to settle down as we crept towards the end of the decade. The albums that followed Dookie were popular in their own right, but none of them reached the fever pitch of Dookie. The band released Warning in 2000, and after the album kind of popped and fizzled, the band took a knee before charting their next course of action, a course that was then derailed when the master tapes for their first recording sessions following their break were stolen. The incident caused them to make a choice: should they try and re-record the lost album or start over?

They elected to start over, and what came next was American Idiot, and the second time Green Day was One of The Biggest Bands in the World. The album sold over 14 million copies worldwide, inspired a Broadway musical, and made Green Day an arena/stadium act, a role that they happily assumed and surprisingly excelled at.

American Idiot was a much-needed jolt of mainstream political activism, generational reckoning, and super-charged next-level pop-infused punk rock. A punk rock opera about loneliness and disillusionment turned out to be not just what fans needed, but what Green Day needed to get their juices flowing again. Their live shows especially became glorious, revivalesque celebrations and made people both rethink what they thought of the band and revamp their appreciation of the Bay Area punks.

But alas, that moment also lost momentum, and again by the end of another century, Green Day was coasting on past highs. They released four albums in the 2010s, with 2016’s Revolution Radio perhaps being the most noteworthy.

Yet despite the ups and downs, at their core, Green Day has never really changed. They play loud and fast and speak their minds. They encourage you to come out of the shadows and be your true self. The music of Green Day is and has always been incredibly fun, which I think speaks to their being able to withstand the peaks and valleys of their career.

So, as we continue to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Dookie and the 20th anniversary of American Idiot, here are Green Day’s 20(ish) best songs.

Optional musical accompaniment can be found here.

20. “Revolution Radio” (2016,) “Mother Mary” (2008) 

“Revolution Radio” is a delightful jolt of manic energy and a testament to relying on a formula. It’s fast and loud and has a chorus that anyone with a pulse would want to sing along to. I’m sure this will come up again, but it’s wild that so far into their career, the band can still wield such a fantastical pop/punk jackhammer.

As for “Mother Mary,” it’s from the band’s side project, Foxboro Hottubs. With the dust having settled following the American Idiot run, the band had some garage rock fun, and yeah, they nailed it. I love this album because I love fun. It really is that simple.

19. “Meet Me On The Roof” (2020)

I can’t remember if Father of All… was released during the pandemic, but it did come out in 2020, and pandemic or not, those were heady times, kid. Heady times call for music that is fun and full of life, which “Meet Me On The Roof” is. This album is probably somewhat forgotten and overlooked, but this song shouldn’t be. It’s wonderful, like ice cream. This song is ice cream for your ear holes, kid.

18. “21 Guns” (2009)

The follow-up to American Idiot, 21st Century Breakdown, was yet another rock opera, albeit a less successful one. But to come in hot with rock opera after a rock opera is a bold move, my friends. Makes sense, though. Green Day is a bold move kind of band. Of all the songs on Breakdown, “21 Guns” is the one that really rises to the occasion, hitting those big rock anthem notes that so much of what American Idiot did.

17. “American Idiot” (2004)

So if I’m being honest, I didn’t really think much of this song when it first came out. Green Day were still an afterthought for me, at least when the single from American Idiot hit the airwaves, and no one, and I mean fucking no one, knew what was in store for us with the rest of the album. Context is key, and context helps boost this song. On its own, it’s fine and classic Green Day. But as the lead-in to such a monumental album, it’s damn near historic.

16. “Coming Clean” (1994)

Dookie is a vibe, a feeling. It’s such a fantastic album that it features songs like “Coming Clean” which you could be forgiven for forgetting about it but it’s a damn shame that you did because it’s a damn good song on a damn good album that’s damn good fun and shaped a lot of damn good formative years. And that’s all I have to damn good say about that.

15. “21st Century Breakdown” (2009) 

There are good problems and there are bad problems. Donald Trump is a bad problem. Coming up with an album that follows an all-time great album is a good problem, and following American Idiot was a heck of a good problem for Green Day. There was no way they could again reach the heights of Idiot. But thankfully, they had experience because they found a way to follow up Dookie. 21st Century Breakdown was their follow-up to American Idiot, and it’s solid and no, it’s not American Idiot, but what is, what could be? If memory serves, there is still a rock opera buried in the album’s themes, but memory definitely serves that the title track rocks.

14. “Basket Case” (1994)

I mean, shit man, what can you say about “Basket Case?” You know what, nothing. Thirty years later, there really isn’t much to be said about the song that really served as the band’s breakthrough track. I’ll say this- I like when the drums come in. The part is like downing 5 shots of Fireball at once.

13. “Going to Pasalacqua” (1991)

There’s definitely a rawness to pre-Dookie Green Day. I’m not a big punk guy. Never really have. But I think I know enough about punk to know that Green Day wasn’t all-in punk but kind of more melodic punk. Even early on, there was a different gear to their style of punk that, if anything, helped make it more accessible to non-punk folks like myself. It’s kind of like Nirvana. Nirvana were dirty and rough and fucking rocked, but there was true beauty in their melodies. The same goes for Green Day.

12. “Minority” (2000)

“Minority” made some noise when it was released in 2000 on Warning, but I personally feel like it really got some legs during the American Idiot tour. It was on that beast of a tour when it became a mid-set celebration, stretching out to over ten minutes, complete with call and response sections and “Shout!” breakouts.

Being brought along for the ride and the wave created by American Idiot helped remind folks that the tune is another super-charged pseudo-anthem for the band and sounds flippin’ amazing live.

11. “Longview” (1994)

When it comes to cultural moments, it feels like things come in pairs. You know, like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, or Tupac and Biggie, or The Sopranos and The Wire, and if you’re keeping score, yup, that’s my one mention of The Wire per post I’ve decided to limit myself to. We did it! Anyway…when Green Day broke, first out of the gate was Longview, which was then eclipsed some by “Basket Case.” Of the two, “Longview” was a bit darker and grimier than the upbeat “Basket Case.” Individually, they can definitely stand on their own and both stand the test of time, but as a team, they’re pretty damn dynamic and do a good job showing the different speeds and gears of Green Day.

10. “2000 Light Years Away” (1992)

The early Green Day tunes recorded and released before Dookie have such a wonderful rawness to them, and they all sound like they’re being played in a shitty garage somewhere in Oakland. Billie Joe sounds younger; his voice is slightly thinner, but the drive of the band is there. It’s just that said drive sounds like it might not be old enough to drive. If that makes sense. It might not. I don’t know. At some point with these things, shit gets a little weird. Just go with it, and yeah, early Green Day rocks.

9. “East Jesus Nowhere” (2009)

Do you ever listen to a song and think about how much the band had playing it in rehearsal once it was done? I do. A lot, actually. I think about that with this song because it just sounds like such a fun song to play. It hammers, it’s dirty, it thumps, it’s gnarly, it soars, it’s raw in the most beautiful of ways. I feel like seeing Green Day play this song in a relatively small, dark rock club would be pretty sweet.

8. “The Pedestrian” (2008)

Green Day has no shortage of great driving songs. I mean, 75% of their catalog fit into that special category. They should be proud of accomplishing such a feat. Good work, guys. Now I bring this up because their post-American Idiot side project, Foxboro Hottubs, is ALL great driving songs. Every single one is perfect. If you don’t believe, put the album and go for a drive. The two fit together better than McNulty and Bunk solving a murder case, and shit, another reference from The Wire. I was so close to getting out of this one with my record intact.

7. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (2004)

As has been previously mentioned, I wasn’t fully on board with “American Idiot” when it was released. That was not the case with “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” which was the second single off of American Idiot. I remember being captivated by the song the first time I heard it, and I think it was that repeating guitar riff, just droning on throughout the verses and how Tre Cool’s drums were so definitive and locked in. I had never heard Green Day sound like they do on the song before, and it was legitimately interesting, which is kind of what you’d want from a band at their stage of their career.

6. “Hitchin’ a Ride” (1997)

By 1997, Green Day had started to really dip off the radar for me and I don’t think I was alone here. Guys, we had Y2K to worry about. We didn’t have time for pop/punk. 1997 was peak ration season. Yet amidst all that doomsday prepping, “Hitchin’ a Ride” came crashing into our lives with a nice little hitch in it’s giddy up. It wasn’t enough to bring the band back into the zeitgeist. Still, fast forward to the American Idiot tour, and much like with “Minority,” it was given a miraculous second life as a song that sounded fucking killer in a packed stadium.

No really, I’m serious. Fucking killer.

5. “Holiday” (2004)

Okay, so if we’re keeping track here, I wasn’t into “American Idiot” at first and was very interested in “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” But was I fully back into Green Day at this point? No, not really. “Holiday” was the difference maker. The song combines the high, manic energy of early Green Day and the stadium-ready anthem rock that the band was now leaning into. It was a bridge between eras, which was good because, as Green Day charted a new course, they needed to remind some of us older folks why we fell in love with them in the first place.

4. “When I Come Around” (1994)

“When I Come Around” was the song off of Dookie that made people realize that maybe there was more to Green Day than just power chords, fast tempos and songs about masturbating. They had some legitimate pop bona fides to them, which were on full display on the fourth single from Dookie. Even the video had a more mature feel to it. Honest and pure, the song is the kind of tune a band yearns for as it casts them in a different light without being overbearing or running from what people think of them. It gives them the best of both worlds, which is perfect for a band at the stage Green Day was at then. Oh, and it’s really just a fun song to hum along to, which is also perfect.

3. “She” (1994)

The fourth head on Dookie’s Mount Rushmore, “She,” has the feel of “Basket Case” but has a more melodic, pop feel to it because again, Green Day is a punk band with pop sensibilities and stadium rock tendencies. “She” is the song you wish was playing instead of “Basket Case,” and that’s not a knock on “Basket Case.” It’s just an admission that “She” is the better song.

2. “Welcome to Paradise” (1992)

I like that we live in a world where there are two versions of “Welcome to Paradise” out there. There’s the first one, which was recorded and included on Kerplunk in 1992, and then the second version that would go on to appear on Dookie. And as Green Day have gone on to stockpile a handful of anthems, “Welcome to Paradise” is their original. It’s a song about facing fears, striking out on your own, coming to various realizations, and dealing with the barrage of challenges that come your way when trying to make your way in the world as a young person.

There will come a time when Green Day are no longer part of our lives, but a song like “Welcome to Paradise” will be one of the ones that endure long after they’re gone.

1. “Jesus of Suburbia” (2004)

With American Idiot, Green Day were determined to go big or die trying and there isn’t a song that better epitomizes this way of thinking than the nine-minute “Jesus of Suburbia.” The song is the anchor for American Idiot but also it’s apex. Imagine telling someone in 1993 that a decade later, Green Day would be releasing a rock opera that included a song like this one and it would feature several movements, bobbing and weaving, hitting transitions and vibes, styles & moods along the way.

“Jesus of Suburbia” works because of how it incorporates key elements of Green Day’s sound while expanding on them when necessary. It’s a song driven by guts and finesse, seemingly everything the band had been working towards and would subsequently be working off of after. Anyone can put a plan together. Executing a plan is a different story. Green Day had their plan and nailed it.

Categories: Music

Tags: green day, rankings