Green Day
Punk has been a vital part of the landscape of rock for at least four decades. Imagine a world without the Ramones or the Sex Pistols? It would be a lot less interesting, wouldn’t it? There’s a subset of the punk genre that’s not worth listening to. Call it pop-punk, for lack of better terminology. The flagship band of this lame, watered down take on punk is Green Day. For starters, there’s Billie Joe Armstrong’s voice — the punk equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. And the fake accent? I can’t tell if he’s trying to mimic a British frontman or if he’s just aiming for something totally annoying. It seems like everything they try to write is supposed to be some kind of statement. However, it’s really nothing more than reactionary liberalism. An entire album slamming the majority of Americans in the Bush era? So brave, guys.