GREEN DAY - Nimrod - Amazon.com Music (original) (raw)

I'm old school. Actually, I'm just old. I'm 31 and I've been listening to punk since I was 13. I was introduced to Green Day back in 1991, when 39/Smooth was their only album. I saw them play live, and I loved them. 39/Smooth, Slappy, 1000 Hours, these remain some of my favorite records. I liked the records that came later, but never as much as I loved the ones on the first CD. I loved Dookie, I thought it was cool at the time that they took on a harder, heavier, more "punk rock" sound. And while I can't deny that I also liked Insomniac, it seemed to me that Green Day had stagnated into a generic riff style. So, when Nimrod was released, I didn't care. I never bought it. The only song I ever heard off of it was Good Riddance, and it certainly didn't make me want to buy the album. (Not that it's a bad song... it's just Billie Joe's "Yesterday".) Well, last week I was listening to the radio on the way home from work and heard a song that I'd never heard before. I instantly knew it was Green Day. The DJ said that it was off of their brand new album, so I stopped at a record store and picked up both Nimrod and Warning right then and there. Anyway, the short version is: I really wish I'd bought Nimrod back in 1997. It's already my 2nd favorite Green Day album, just behind 39/Smooth. (Unfortunately I think Warning is probably their weakest album so far, though it does have a few very good songs on it.)