By 2000,
Green Day
had long been spurned as unhip by the fourth-generation punks they popularized, and they didn't seem likely to replicate the MOR success of the fluke smash
"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)."
Apparently, the success of that
ballad
freed the band from any classifications or stigmas, letting them feel like they could do anything they wanted on their fifth album,
Warning
. They responded by embracing their fondness for
pop
and making the best damn album they'd ever made. There's a sense of fearlessness on
, as if the band didn't care if the album wasn't
punk
enough, or whether it produced a cross-platform hit. There are no
ballads
here, actually, and while there are a number of punchy, infectious rockers, the tempo is never recklessly breakneck. Instead, the focus is squarely on the songs, with the instrumentation and arrangements serving their needs. It's easy to say that
have matured with this album, since they've never produced a better, more tuneful set of songs, or tried so many studio tricks and clever arrangements. However, that has the wrong connotation, since "mature" would indicate that
is a studious, carefully assembled album that's easier to admire than to love. That's not the case at all. This is gleeful, unabashed fun, even when
Billie Joe Armstrong
is getting a little cranky in his lyrics. It's fun to hear
adopt a
Beatlesque
harmonica on
"Hold On"
or try out
Kinks-ian
music hall
on
"Misery,"
while still knocking out
punk-pop
gems and displaying melodic ingenuity and imaginative arrangements.
may not be an innovative record per se, but it's tremendously satisfying; it finds the band at a peak of songcraft and performance, doing it all without a trace of self-consciousness. It's the first great pure
album of the new millennium. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine