thinking of these guys on this september 11th. go back and listen to what green day was actually doing just before american idiot, if you dare; they were in clear and present danger of fully turning into noodly acoustic guitar guys.
green day managed to stick the landing on a second act career resurgence and pivot that's kept them beloved to this day just by doing a rock opera with some cool hooks and a general kinda unfocused, allegorical-at-best message of "damn this kinda sucks huh"