Green Day are everyone’s favourite punks and over their 31 year career, they’ve released countless albums and hit singles! The trio have released their second greatest hits album, following 2001’s International Superhits! But Greatest Hits: God’s Favorite Band also sees the inlcusion of two brand new tracks!
Opening is 2000 Light Years Away, a nice throwback to the band’s early days, coming from the band’s second album Kerplunk! It shows the listener (be they seasoned fans of the band or brand new) the early promise shown by Green Day. Album three Dookie is the next to be represented with Longview. The inclusion of Basket Case, Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) and Warning take me back to some of my favourite times when Green Day was one of the main soundtracks to my youth. It’s also nice to see what is arguably Green Day‘s most successful album – American Idiot – featured four times in the compilation, although missing Jesus Of Suburbia and St Jimmy is quite disappointing for me.
The first of the newer tracks is a duet with country singer Miranda Lambert called Ordinary World. It’s a mellow, acoustic duet where the harsh tones of Billie Joe and the soft vocals of Miranda compliment each other well. The album closes with the second new track; Back In The USA. It’s a mix of the Green Day we grew up loving but the maturity we’ve come to see in recent years. It shows that even after 31 years, they still have it!
Creating a greatest hits compilation is hard for anyone, but when you have had a career as successful as Green Day, it must be near impossible! There’s a good variety of early fan favourites and also some of the newer ones that have gone down well. While it is safe to say that there will be plenty who will disagree with some of the 20 tracks chosen for the compilation, there is no denying that they are some of their most popular songs.