International Superhits!

Green Day's introduction of a Greatest Hits album had a downfall factor attached to it. The bands stamp on punk was quietly dying without a yelp of mercy. This was an act that inflicted the sweet nostalgia of Dookie, a band the redeveloped a vast part of a derailing genre. International Superhits showcased the outfits most accomplished scores, Longview, Welcome To Paradise, Basket Case, were all there to tantalise the ears of newcomers. But was that enough? for the faithful that drenched themselves in the Green Day vibe for over 11 years? Of course it wasn’t, it may have suppressed the cravings for a substantial while, but it was nothing new. It was a honourable charge, a fundamental ease into retirement life for a Berkeley Trio getting sick of publicity, music and all of its components.

Green Day were growing older, rising through a decade of touring and insomnia. The Dookie inspirement was long gone, its influence was growing stale, gathering dust on the mantelpiece of punk/rock’s hall of fame. International Superhits crash landing came in 2001. Containing fresh blood in the form of Maria and Pop Rock’s And Coke, two new songs to add to already emphatic track list. Songs that were fully charged with the Green Day tone, but fans were purring for more than a couple of appetisers. Relieving that pressure would take a colossal charge, the bands grip on punk was releasing slowly.

Nimrod and Warning were moderate, never really hitting any height in terms of album sales or hype. Public perception was raging thin, punk/Rock was laying down, taking the brunt from a new era fuelled in Pop music and the old iron fist of mainstream. As the millennium took its toll on Music, bands of generic stance would stray away from their cotton wooled armour and inflict mediocre songs that infected the eardrums. There was nothing inspirational about the new breed of acts that tried to assert themselves on the musical platform, they were uncompromising, thin in lyrics, growing dead on their feet. Green Day needed to uplift their own revival, they needed to flush out bands that had half their talent and none of the spirit.

Breaking down under the beady eyes of music can hurt you. Any lapses, or inferiority can see a band unbolted, embarrassed and shifted away to nowhere land . Green Day couldn’t fall into that bracket, they are to successful, to proud to falter at the peak of their prized laden careers. International Superhits was a agony aunt, a helpful remedy for better days. It stopped the band from falling down a shaft of uncertainty, it was a oil used to kick-start a rusted engine.

International Superhits may have been and indication of a band sweltering under the heat of their own denial. But it was a taster for something creative, something ultimately groundbreaking. That shattering truth would come 4 years later in the form of a flamboyant, political diluted rock opera. American Idiot hit the World with an explosion to wipe away the countless critics ready to disarm them of their crown as rock gods. Green Day were not giving up that accolade just yet.

By Mark McConville