10 Flawless Rock Songs That Were Never Released On An Album

Considering how ugly the War in Iraq became, it's strange how little protest music there was to show for it. While we had acts like System of a Down that were proud to put the government in its place for its questionable practices, the rest of the music world pretty much kept their head down as if nothing was happening. In the midst of the carnage though, Green Day made their stance abundantly clear on American Idiot...but kept their harshest shot for the B-side.

If you go through all of American Idiot, the political side of the album is more or less window dressing for the concept of kids trying to find their way in this landscape. Now that Billie Joe Armstrong was free from the confines of the album, Favorite Son was his opportunity to write anything he wanted about George Bush, and he does not hold back in the slightest. While Bush's name is never mentioned in full or anything, this practically reads like a pastiche of what someone corrupt with power looks like, turning every single important meeting into a complete joke.

If anything, this feels like an update of the kind of parody tracks that Green Day had made way back in the days of Insomniac, like the satire of college kids on Brat. Things haven't really changed though, and that yuppy kid is all grown up and is tainting every single thing he puts his hands on.