10 Best Rock Ballads Of The 90's
4. Good Riddance - Green Day
The late 90's were definitely an usual time to be Green Day. After attaining massive success with the pop-punk masterpiece Dookie, the band quickly were branded as sellouts by their hometown punk scene and were even being labeled too soft by the old guard of punk. Instead of cowering to their detractors, the pop-punk trio doubled down by releasing one of the best ballads of the decade.
Written before the Dookie sessions, Billie Joe Armstrong initially tested "Good Riddance" for Dookie but decided to leave it off. After slogging it out on the road, the band's 1997 release Nimrod was full of sonic twists and turns, a setting where "Good Riddance" would fit right in. While the tune was originally just supposed to feature Armstrong's solo performance, it became something beautiful once producer Rob Cavallo added a string quartet to the mix.
The song was inspired by a breakup with one of Armstrong's old flames, but the poignancy of the lyric can apply to anyone who has had to deal with a transition in their life. Given their standing with the hardcore punk rock community at the time, releasing one of the greatest ballads as your next single was probably one of the most punk things the band could have done at that point.