Green Day Essentials

In the great American punk rock tradition, Green Day kicked off their career as sneering skids playing snotty, three-chord ragers about sexual frustration and substance abuse. They quickly branched out into sweeping acoustic ballads and even rock opera epics, but their punk roots are audible in everything they do, in no small part because of Billie Joe Armstrong's bratty vocals. These cuts are a cross-section of their many sounds: some might draw tears, some might draw blood, and they're all worthy of raised, rocking fists.