EDITORS’ NOTES

Green Day get back to basics. After more than a decade of rock operas and stunt releases, the Bay Area trio sound liberated by their 12th LP’s lack of conceit. This is simple yet ferocious pop-punk, from a band that can deliver it—as they do with flame-throwing single “Bang Bang,” and the bouncy delirium of “Youngblood,” wherein frontman Billie Joe Armstrong rhymes “supernova” with “cherry cola.”