Green Day - International Superhits! 
Label: Reprise Records
Rating: 
 

Either you like Green Day, or you don't, so there's not too much that has to be said about a "Greatest Hits" collection by them. Personally I love them, so there! The 60-minute, 21-track package starts with two new songs, then follows the band's major label releases in chronological order. The 2 new songs are good but not mind blowing.

They don't suck either. "Maria" and "Poprocks & Coke" are both strong songs on par with their other material. The rest of the CD of course has the singles from their four prior albums. Actually, putting the songs in chronological order shows that the band has improved their songwriting ability over time, as I tend to skip to the newer stuff.

Green Day are experts at the 3-minute pop/rock/punk song, so even though it weighs in at 21 tracks there is plenty of room for more material.  It's a minor let down there wasn't more included, whether it had been choice tracks from their two obscure indie albums or a video for one of the new singles, but oh well. What else is there to mention? The packaging is nice, sort of a retro 70's Charlie's Angels vibe, and surprisingly they include the lyrics to each song. "International Superhits!" has about everything you could ask for a Greatest Hits package and is a good reminder of how cool Green Day is. Pick it up, even if you don't like Green Day, because your friends will eventually root through your CD collection and then think you suck less for having it between your Winger and Styx box sets. And you'll also discover Green Day is better than you thought, as I was surprised by the amount of tracks that I really did like by them after listening to this compilation. In the age of Nu-Metal and Bubblegum Pop, I'll take Green Day over that junk any day.