Published on Nov 30, 2017
Well, this was a botched opportunity. Here we are, 16 years after the release of International Superhits!, Green Day’s first best-of. Bringing together every single the band had released up to that point with two new songs, the record was a smash, everything a greatest hits record should be.
Since then, the band has returned to the big time and has had numerous other singles. But you won’t find all of those here. What you have here is a primer for almost novice Green Day fans, containing all of the smash hits from their entire career. But if you’re a fan like me, you already have every song and the two new tracks here aren’t much to entice.
What this should’ve been was simply International Superhits! Vol. 2. Starting off with “American Idiot” and working its way through “Revolution Radio,” it would’ve encapsulated every single the band have released since 2004. Would it have been a double disc? Maybe, but it would’ve been cooler than this disc. How can you have “Brain Stew” and not have “Jaded” right after? How can you have one song from Insomniac (1995) and one track to represent 2012’s Uno, Dos and Tre? (Particularly when that song is the obnoxious “Oh Love”).
The two new tracks here aren’t even exciting. There’s a new version of Billie Joe’s acoustic movie theme “Ordinary World” featuring Miranda Lambert on vocals for some reason. While the harmonies are interesting, it feels unnecessary. The same goes for “Back In The USA,” which I at first was hoping was an MC5 cover. It is not, and feels like an outtake from Revolution Radio that doesn’t go anywhere.
All in all, this gets a good grade as a result of the decent tracklist, but at the same time its gets a low grade because overall it feels like a contractual wrap-up or something to that effect.