Much attention was made about Nirvana's influence in the last great rock music revolution. I don't wish to underscore their place in this, but I think that Green Day does a much better job at keeping the true rock and punk sound alive in today's music. In many ways, I hear influences from The Ramones, Sex Pistols, and The Clash in their sound. But Green Day doesn't just re-hash three-chord power rock. They make this sound uniquely their own and for a new generation that is bored with synthesized pop that dominates the radio. With nearly 10 solid years in making music, Green Day have enough solid hits to release a nice and comprehensive greatest hits set. For anyone who doesn't own any of their studio albums, "International Superhits!" is a perfect way to explore (or even re-discover) this exciting band.
This generous 21 track retrospective contains all the "essential" hits from Green Day. Their big break-through release was 1994's "Dookie", and there's a generous sampling from here. "Longview", "Basket Case", and "When I Come Around" hit the radio playlist at the perfect time. Billie Joe Armstrong's pouty vocals mixed in with buzz-saw guitar licks was a refreshing, if not highly unlikely, alternative to virtually every tired musical form out at the time. Green Day's other three studio albums are well represented also. The most popular of the bunch would be "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)". Green Day surprised everyone by including simple acoustic guitar accompanied by strings. Ironically, this folk-inspired track will probably be best remembered as Green Day's signature tune. The most refreshing moments for me on "International Superhits!" would be the two new tracks ("Maria" and "Pop Rocks and Coke") and two others from various movie soundtracks ("J.A.R. (Jason Andrews Relva)" and "Nice Guys Finish Last"). "Nice Guys" is basically a simple hard rock romp that never takes itself seriously. Probably never fitting well to one of their studio albums, the song is still a welcome addition here. Of the new tracks, "Maria" proves that the trio doesn't lose any of their punk attitude. Mike Dirnt's solid and "metallic" bass playing perfectly compliments the double-tracked guitar here. The song lyrics would make even The Clash proud; "She is the first voice of the last ones in the line. She'll drag the lake to keep the vendetta alive.". Simply put, this is a love song to a radical revolutionary! "Pop Rocks and Coke" has enough edge to keep the core fans satisfied, but enough pleasant melody to draw comparisons to the early Beatles. When listening to this collection, you soon discover that this trio is more than willing to experiment a little and broaden their sound, but still find ways to maintain their drive and energy.
Many die-hard fans of Green Day would complain that there isn't any tracks here from their first independent release "Kerplunk". I'm not sure if the band doesn't maintain the rights to these recordings, but it should not stop anyone from buying this collection. There is enough new and rare material here to satisfy almost any fan. I hope that Green Day has another good 10 years of music left in them!
