10 Most Underrated Green Day Songs

As the decade turned a corner, Green Day had started to grow up past their pop punk roots. Even though these guys were the masterminds behind songs about boredom, watching TV, and masturbation, albums like Warning set them up nicely for the colossal kissoff to the US government on American Idiot. While many decide to draw the line at the end of the '90s, no artistic switch happens that quickly.

Coming directly after their smash hit Dookie, Insomniac explodes with anger from the first track, with Brat being one of their most scathing indictments to date. As opposed to talking to a generic authority figure or lost lover, this song shows Billie painting a character portrait of a yuppie who hangs out on the college circuit in California. Despite having big dreams, this kid is just waiting for his parents to die so he can dive into their inheritance money and live like a king.

This kind of move was a bit of a mixed bag though, with many of the band's detractors assuming that Billie was describing his new life as the pampered rock star who moved out of the punk rock squats. There was no going back to the safety of the underground anymore, but this venomous takedown of the beautiful people showed that these punk brats still had their heart in the right place.