Top 5 ... Favorite Songs From "Insomniac"

A look back at Green Day's Insomniac.  The 1995 follow-up to the hugely successful Dookie did not reach the same levels of sales or accolades as it's predecessor, but there are some really strong songs on this underrated album. Here are my five favorites...

1. “Geek Stink Breath” – The first post-Dookie single has been my fave since the first time I heard it.  It’s a shame the video for this song got pulled from daytime rotation (too gory showing a dentist yanking a tooth), thus costing it a chance at being on TRL.  And as anyone knows, in 1995, if you weren’t on TRL, you may as well not exist.  But the song itself kicks ass: a great opening-line of lyrics, catchy chorus, and Tre Cool’s nice decision to use the open high-hat on the drums, rather than a closed high-hat, because he’s a musical genius.  My point is, this song should have been much bigger than it was!

2. “Babs’ Uvula Who?” – I dare you to name a better 2-minute punk rock song than this one.  I’ll put it up against anything!  If someone that had never heard Green Day before said to me, “Why do you like Green Day so much?  Convince me to like them in one song.”  I’d put on this track, crank it to 11, and let them absorb this gem.  Then, after the song is over, I’d look over and say, “That’s fucking Green Day.”  It’s impossible to hear this song and not be fully energized by the end of it.  Best 2-minute punk rock song ever!

Fun Fact: Dirnt came up with the title for this song, as he’s the go-to guy for wacky one-liner song titles (also Emenius Sleepus, Armatage Shanks, Do Da Da, etc…).  I love Dirnt, he’s the perfect side-man!

3. “Brain Stew” – You knew this song was going to be a single the first time you heard Insomniac.  You just knew it!  It’s a standout track on the album, and the one most people said they liked the most when the album first came out.  A lot of people also bashed Green Day for the song, saying they “shouldn’t try to be metal”.  Get real!  Just because one of their songs isn’t 200 beats-per-minute doesn’t mean they’re trying to be Black Sabbath, you know?  As with most songs on this album, this song’s got great lyrics, like “My eyes feel like they’re gonna bleed” and “Fucked up and spun out in my room”.

4. “Armatage Shanks” – This song actually got a head-start on the competition because Green Day played it at the MTV Video awards in September of ’94, when Dookie was still out and very popular (Insomniac wasn’t released til October of ’95).  It’s very melodic, I liked it immediately.  I really like the opening line, “Stranded, lost inside myself”, it’s a great way to kick off the album.  Really good music, too, lots of good fills by Tre and Dirnt.  For most bands, this would be the best song they’ve ever written.  But for Green Day, it’s simply one of many good songs on just one of their multi-platinum albums.  You could say the same for a lot of Green Day songs, actually! 

5. “Panic Song” – It took a while for it to rise up to the Top 5, but it’s there now.  This song rocks!  Clocking in at 3:35, this one has the feel of an epic back when they only wrote Dookie-style songs!  It builds from a solo bass guitar all the way to a full on rock song, much more in line with 21^st Century Breakdown and American Idiot than the stuff they were doing then.  It’s quite possibly Tre’s best performance on the album, tons of great fills and stuff.  This was the only song Dirnt got a co-writing credit for on the album, and I’d bet money that he wrote that line in the chorus, “Well the world is a sick machine, breeding a mass of shit.”  That sounds like a Dirnt line!  Most the songs he writes are 100%, pure hate.  Case in point, Dirnt wrote “Ha Ha, You’re Dead”.  I mean, enough said! And at the end of “Panic Song”, when they’re singing “I wanna jump out…”, that part just rocks!