Green Day - 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours review

Back in 1988 a small American Punk-band made up of three adolescents had created an EP under the name 'Sweet Children'. However, two weeks before it's release frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer John Kiffmeyer decided to change their band name to 'Green Day'. The EP itself was '1,000 Hours' and was released through the label Lookout records, who were ready to turn this group of 16-year olds into something big. 28 years later and Green Day are one of the biggest bands on the planet - but how did they get there?

'1,000 Hours' makes up one of four sources of songs for what is essentially Green Day's debut album. '39/Smooth' is the actual debut album, and makes up the first 10 songs of the disc, but the other 9 are the band's second EP 'Slappy', '1,000 Hours' and a track from a compilation. The album is essentially a look at the origins of Green Day - although perhaps not a lot else.

The album starts off well with 'At the Library', 'Don't Leave me' and 'I was There', a trio of raw pop-punk anthems that Green Day would soon become famous for. They're all filled with energetic drumming, prominent bass work and distorted power chords with sing along choruses. 'Disappearing Boy' is more of the same although is one of the songs here to feature some noticeably strange vocal delivery from Armstrong that we arguably haven't heard since. Next is 'Green Day'. which once again is quite similar to the rest of the album (You might see a pattern here.) and is only really notable for being a song named after the band.

'Going to Pasalacqua' showcases the background vocals provided by Dirnt, something which has stuck throughout Green Day's discography up until 2005. '16' stands out a little from the songs around it due it's slightly quieter and less shouty tone, but addresses the same lyrical themes as much of 1,039' - growing up and the pressures that come with it. 'Road to Acceptance' is the same, if it wasn't obvious from the title and once again doesn't particularly stand out.

'Rest' is the worst song on the album and one of the worst Green Day songs in general. It's an obvious attempt to make a 'slow song' for variety's sake, While this should be welcome on an album as breathless as this, 'Rest' is too slow, meandering and empty-feeling. The original album section of the disc ends with 'The Judge's Daughter', which is one of the better punk tracks. The 'Slappy EP' section begins with the pretty decent 'Paper Lanterns', which has one of the more memorable hooks of the album.

'Why Do You Want Him?' was apparently the first song written by Armstrong (when he was 14.) and as such I can forgive the predictable rhymes, and the tune is actually surprisingly good otherwise, as well as being an interesting look at the very start of Green Day. '409 in Your Coffeemaker' is unremarkable, and is followed with a cover of 'Knowledge' by punk band Operation Ivy - The songwriter from this band, Jesse Michaels, even contributed cover art for the album! The cover of 'Knowledge' isn't amazing but decent enough to justify a place on the disc.

To round off the album, '1,000 Hours' and 'Dry Ice' are loud mid-to-fast tempo punk pop by numbers, with 'Only of You' being a more accurate portrayal of what Green Day would soon become known for, with melodic, breathless verses and vaguely harmonising backing vocals. All 3 of these songs are squarely focused on one simple topic - girls - which is continued in the final track of the EP 'The One That I Want'. The final track of the whole album is 'I Want To Be Alone', which was contained on a compilation, and is a good end to the album, with a more obvious hook and structure.

Overall, the album is exhaustingly full, at 56 minutes with very little variation in structure, sound tempo or lyrical content. As such, many of the songs merge into each other and so although 'Rest' is the only individually bad song on the album, the LP is only really for those who are interested in Green Day's origins.

5/10