"Redundant" by Green Day

The California punk rock band Green Day is full of surprises. They burst onto the scene with their slacker ode to pleasuring oneself in 1994 when "Long View" reached #36. It came from the band's third album, "Dookie," which produced four additional charting singles, the most successful being "When I Come Around" (#6).

Some would say their follow-up record was a sophomore jinx, but technically it was their fourth record. Nevertheless, it did not match the success of "Dookie" and the band looked like it was falling off the radar to up-and-coming punk acts like Blink-182.

In 1997 they released "Nimrod," whose first single, "Hitchin' A Ride," hit a mediocre #59. Then Green Day mounted what I will call their first comeback. An atypical acoustic track was buried in the attitude and noise constituting "Nimrod" called "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)." The song soared to #11 and made the world take notice of this unexpected side to the band and the blossoming songwriting talent of Billie Joe Armstrong.

Unfortunately, the band seemed destined to fall off the radar again when the excellent record "Warning" failed to produce a hit in 2000. But the band took a four year break and mounted their second comeback, which was even bigger than the first. "American Idiot" was a masterpiece, the work of a band that grew by leaps and bounds since the 90s. It produced big hits like "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" (#2 for 5 weeks and Grammy for Record of the Year), "Holiday" (#19), and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" (#6).

Green Day continues to be one of the most prolific and consistent bands on the planet and a third comeback would not surprise me.

One of my favorite cuts goes back to "Nimrod." "Redundant" is an amazing song released after their monster hit "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)." How "Redundant" failed to strike a chord continues to puzzle me to this day.