19. GREEN DAY - American Idiot

Another album which is a really good one, but ultimately a disappointment.  I prefer this to Warning [Note, 2014 - weirdly I've really grown to love Warning in subsequent years, while I never ever play American Idiot], but it has nothing on Insomniac.  The killer song is the title track – awesome.  And so I expected every track to be like that, to make me feel 15 again.  Perhaps that was the problem; I approached this in the wrong way.  Having said that, this has grown in stature from my initial outburst of ‘that’s it! I’m never buying a Green Day record again!’ to find its place within this list.  ‘Extraordinary Girl’ is fantastic, as is ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’.  Plenty here to enjoy, with Billy stretching his wings.  A grower.