Shenanigans

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Performer: Green Day
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: SHENANIGANS compiles b-sides, an import-only release, and vinyl single cuts recorded during sessions for the band's studio albums. It also contains one previously unreleased song. Green Day: Billie Joe (vocals, guitar); Mike Dirnt (vocals, bass); Tre Cool (drums). Compilation producers: Rob Cavallo, Green Day. Shenanigans is the companion piece to 2001's International Superhits. Where that compilation collected Green Day's singles, this rounds up the B-sides and such ephemera as soundtrack compilations, gathering the best (plus the new "Ha Ha You're Dead") for a 14-track trek through the band's alternate history. Now, any serious rock listener knows that B-sides don't necessarily mean subpar material, and such '90s bands as Oasis and Suede have had B-sides every bit as good as the material that made the official albums, and their subsequent B-sides albums have been gems in their discographies. This is largely because both bands had prime periods where everything they did pretty much turned to gold. Green Day never quite had an equivalent prime period. After they made their mark with Dookie, they maintained a high level of quality, constantly expanding their vision and refining their craft with each album, but they never had a time where they burned so brightly they couldn't fit all the great songs onto the proper albums and had to spill 'em out over the B-sides. Green Day knew what their best songs were, and apart from "J.A.R.," which they threw out to the Angus soundtrack, they kept 'em on the albums, and they turned out material for B-sides largely because they had to; that was the game in the '90s -- you had to make sure the multi-part singles in the U.K. had unique material, and if a soundtrack came calling, you had to ante up. So, the songs that comprise Shenanigans are an appealing mixed bag since they were, by and large, songs Green Day finished because they had to. Since they're an excellent, restless band, there's variety here -- bits of surf rock, classic British Invasion, classic British punk, and singalong pop -- nothing is less than enjoyable, and some of it is quite good. But it's never terrific, revelatory, or amazing, giving the dedicated fans songs they just can't live without (to reduce it to the Oasis/Suede terms, no "Acquiesce," no "My Insatiable One"). It's fun, to be sure, especially for the fans who are the compilation's target audience, but everything here sounds like the classic definition of B-sides -- good and familiar, but not as good as what made the album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Serving as the perfect companion compilation to 2001's INTERNATIONAL SUPERHITS! collection, SHENANIGANS delivers an assortment of rarities, B-sides, covers, and previously unreleased material. Throughout this 14-track anthology, it's easy to hear how Green Day was able to successfully make the transition from scruffy skate-punks to unofficial heads of the nouveau-punk movement that became the mainstream in the mid-'90s. Staccato riffs, hooks aplenty, and lots of harmonizing are just part of the engine that drives cuts like the thunderous "Suffocate," the relentlessly driving "I Want To Be On T.V." and the pogo-worthy workout that is the previously unreleased "Ha Ha You're Dead." Surprises include the ambling pop of "On The Wagon," sterling surf instrumental "Espionage," and spot-on covers of the Ramones (a wildly infectious "Outsider") and The Kinks (a worthy "Tired Of Waiting For You"). SHENANIGANS reinforces Green Day's rep for creating quality pop-punk. This collection of odds and sods could easily pass as any other group's A list canon.

Q (8/02, p.138) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Consistently charming....Even the least essential tracks here could teach pretenders to the their crown a thing or two..." Alternative Press (8/02, p.78) - 7 out of 10 - "...An infectious collection of unrealeased tracks..." NME (Magazine) (7/13/02, p.38) - 7 out of 10 - "...30 toned minutes of, erm, Green Day. No acoustic stinkers. No Live And Unrehearsed At K-ROQ radio sessions. No remixes. Just Green Day, playing solid, familiar idiot-savant punk rock..."

Coming out of the grass-roots Gilman St. punk scene of the early-1990s Bay Area, Green Day exploded into the mainstream with their third album, 1994's DOOKIE. The trio's punk energy and pop hooks, influenced by first-generation punks like the Buzzcocks, in turn inspired a huge legion of punk-pop followers. Their energy level flagged a bit following the smash success of DOOKIE, but the band's enormously successful 2004 Grammy-winning political concept album, AMERICAN IDIOT, proved they were mature artists and far from a one-trick pony.

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