Even by Green Day's standards this is stripped-down: seemingly reacting to sudden fame by cranking up the amps and rocking out a handful of not particularly carefully written songs, the Berkley pop-punkers are merely treading water here. Quirky tunes like "Brain Stew" and "Panic Song" stand out, but mostly this is just a big brick wall of crunchy power chords. Formulaic punk with nothing new to say.
Bah! Any album which contains the three minutes of punk perfection that is "Stuck With Me" can pad itself out with fart noises for all I care. Mostly filler, but a great album anyway by virtue of that one song. Plus, I played this to death when I was eighteen so it has nostalgia on its side.
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