10 Legendary Rock Songs That Feature Weird Instruments

Green Day knew the kind of project they were taking on when tackling American Idiot. From the minute that Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the title track, the bar was aimed a lot higher for the rest of the record, being a look at what an average teenager's life might be like growing up in the Bush era of America. This is a rock opera though, and you needed something a bit more than just guitars to get your point across.

While we see some of the more bombastic side of the rock opera with the use of a timpani on Homecoming, the wildest left turn in Green Day's entire career is the intro to Extraordinary Girl, featuring tablas played by Tre Cool. Since this was the band that was known for songs like When I Come Around, this was the kind of strange Eastern music that we hadn't heard since the days when the Beatles were expanding their musical palette. It may have seemed out of left field...if you weren't in tune with the deep cuts.

Considering Green Day had already flirted with some strange gypsy punk sounds on Misery off of Warning, this was just another change of pace, as every one of the drum hits creates a hypnotic groove before the guitars actually hit you in the face. Whereas some pop punk bands could barely play their own guitars some of the time, Green Day came correct to capture a certain vibe on this song. It might only be there for a few seconds, but it's like being in a dream state before being knocked back into reality.