Green Day
Insomniac

THE REVIEW

October 11, 1995. “Dookie”, the breakthrough album for the Berkeley band, has sold more than ten million copies. The success is enormous, at times overwhelming, and this is precisely what sends Billie Joe Armstrong and his bandmates into a tailspin.

Criticism from the genre's purists is not lacking, and the sound of the door at 924 Gilman Street slamming in the face of those who were first spectators and then contributors to the club is still ringing in our ears.

And so, just twelve months after the powerful shake-up to their careers, Green Day releases “Insomniac”. A commercially risky move but musically necessary, to demonstrate that yes, the level of success is increasing but their identity hasn't shifted an inch.

The common thread of the fourteen tracks (as seen in the past) is anxiety, this time accompanied by anger. Billie Joe has recently become a father, and it is his psychophysical state and lack of sleep that suggest the album's title.

The cover is called “God Told Me to Skin You Alive” and its collage of images is the work of artist Winston Smith. It is an explicit tribute to the Dead Kennedys' song “I Kill Children”. Among other things, the dentist featured among the various subjects on the cover is taken from another collage, this time present on the cover of “Plastic Surgery Disasters”, also by the Kennedys.

The production is of course entrusted to Rob Cavallo, the fresh King Midas and mentor of the trio, and the label remains Reprise Records. The songwriting (all Armstrong's work) is filled with humor and sarcasm, and musically, the entire work presents a more hardcore punk sound, generally darker and heavier.

The opening track “Armatage Shanks” immediately shows the direction taken, revealing a state of disorientation and a sense of lack of identity with the cry “Stranded/Lost inside myself”. Armstrong declared that he wrote the lyrics before the release of “Dookie”, already sensing at the time a total disagreement with the direction the band's path was taking. The same tendency is seen with “Geek Stink Breath”, which is a full-on slap in the face to those who dared call Green Day sellouts.

The fresh and at times conflicting relationship with fame is addressed through “Stuck With Me”, “No Pride”, and the frenetic “Tight Wad Hill”. The anger surges powerfully with “Bab's Uvula Who?” and “86”, where the band talks bitterly about their feelings after being rejected by the Gilman club and in general by their early fans. These two tracks, along with “Walking Contradiction”, contain catchy choruses, unlike the remaining eleven, which maintain a darker tone. “Brain Stew”, the third single extracted, reprises the theme of insomnia and perfectly conveys the idea with stuttering riffs and drumming, which then transition into a powerful wall of sound.

The theme completely detaches from the anxiety and concerns with “Brat”, “Stuart and the Ave”, and “Westbound Sign”, which harken back to the early nineties and the genuine, crazy desire to make punk without any constraints or pressure. Merely pure fun and a desire to create chaos:

Seasons change as well as minds, and I'm a two-faced clown
You're Mommy's little nightmare drivin' Daddy's car around Well, destiny is dead
In the hands of bad luck
Before, it might have made some sense
But now it's all fucked up

“Panic Song” is the most emotional and explicit track, where the world is painted (already in the nineties) as a crazy machine that produces only crap (see “Dookie”). It is the only song exceeding three minutes in length, as opposed to “Jaded”, the most rapid and frenzied (just a minute and a half) but similar in accusatory and pessimistic content (“There is no progress, evolution killed it all, I found my place in nowhere”). The syncopated introduction of “Panic Song”, which extends for a third of the track's duration, leads abrasively to a vocal expression that relates to Billie Joe's anxiety and Mike Dirnt's panic attacks, caused by the incessant thoughts about the bassist's small congenital heart issue. Legend has it that Tré Cool finished recording the track with his hands full of a mixture of calluses and blood, due to the frenetic drumming.

“Insomniac” sold around two million copies, not exactly a failure when all is said and done. But the set goal was not achieved, respecting the saying that reminds us how the album following a massive success is always destined to grow in the cold shadow of its predecessor.

Once the score was settled, a tidal wave of fatigue and stress arrived, and Billie Joe, Mike, and Tré found themselves increasingly uncomfortable in that new artistic dimension, made of large and distant arenas filled with thousands of fans. From the stables to the stars, in a snap of the fingers and without even realizing it fully. Until they realized they felt much more comfortable in that stable, and from there they could still see the stars. This led to a temporary renunciation of live music to dedicate quality time to loved ones. The moments spent at home with the family brought new maturity, inspiration, and a handful of unreleased songs. But that is another story, which leads to the birth of “Nimrod”.

Personally, I am very attached to this album, always underrated but very powerful and convincing with every listen, even after a long time. Next year, “Insomniac” will blow out thirty candles and will surely be suitably honored, following the double vinyl released in the midst of the pandemic, exactly twenty-five years after that mid-nineties autumn. The double release of 2021 contains an LP dedicated to nine tracks performed live during the Prague concert in 1996.

A lifetime has passed since the first notes strummed by the then “Sweet Children”, later led to history as “Green Day”, and despite the criticism and the freak waves of time, we are still here talking about this Californian punk rock, which has overturned the rules of the game, inventing their own.