10 Most Underrated Green Day Songs
1. Restless Heart Syndrome - 21st Century Breakdown
It's hard not to see 21st Century Breakdown as just an extension of Green Day's American Idiot in retrospect. Though there are two distinct storylines going throughout each record, the way everything is broken down feels like the band just trying to make lightning strike twice with another batch of epic material. While the album is a bit of a mixed bag from one track to the next, Restless Heart Syndrome is the one moment where they capture that rock opera energy all over again.
Set to a dark piano passage (a weird look for Green Day), this tale of medical assistance is much more grand than even the Green Day faithful would have expected. With the help of producer Butch Vig, the sound of this song is also massive, as Billie's effected vocals sound like he's on the verge of a breakdown, an overdose, or both at the same time.
The song also does a great job at calling back to other points on the album, with Billie echoing "know your enemy" before exploding into one of the best guitar freakouts on any Green Day album period. The journey of this song is so amazing that it would be strong enough to close any other record, but for Green Day, it showed that the action was just getting started.
Despite being accused of going too lofty and ambitious, Restless Heart Syndrome might even go beyond American Idiot as one of the most badass moments of the band's career.