Green Day

At the tail-end of 2004, Green Day stormed back into the pop-culture consciousness like few had any reason to expect, delivering a stunning reminder of their bristling brand of punk rock genius, American Idiot. A decade removed from their mud-caked Woodstock '94 breakthrough, the snot-nosed punks have grown into legends.

Behind the man-child fronts, the Berkeley boys are staggeringly talented songwriters, a fact all the more apparent as the band continues to evolve (punk rock opera, anyone?). As far as we're concerned, some of Green Day's flat-out finest are located left of the dial and just below the surface, like the crafty "Jackass" on Warning.

Caught between the lunatic fringe and the mainstream, Green Day's second album, Kerplunk, is the connoisseur's choice of their pre-big-time output, bursting with the raw energy of a wanton rampage and peppered with dry laughs. Standouts with pop leanings include "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?" and "One of My Lies".

Back in '94, if you'd have claimed that Green Day would emerge as one of the most consistently brilliant bands in the land, or that they'd top the charts with a punk rock opera, you'd rightfully have been thrown out of the bar. Blinded by the vision of a leopard-print-Speedo-clad Billie Joe Armstrong, no one could've seen the stately ballads, nine-minute suites, and clever covers dancing on the horizon. We stand corrected.