[img=050212_billiepowerballads.jpg]"I fucking hate power ballads" - words straight from the horses mouth. Billie Joe uttered this phrase only a few weeks ago at the induction of Guns and Roses into the Rock and Roll hall of fame. Slightly ironic given the number of Green Day fans, including myself, who would say that Green Day has penned several of them. I'm not sure what Billie Joe would classify songs such as '21 Guns' as but for the unwashed (and generally musically uneducated) masses I would put it in the bin labeled 'ballads'.

But where did Green Day's ballads come from? When Insomniac was released in 1995 it was full of pent up fury, angst and bile directed at various people or society as a whole. The idea of a ballad was the furthest thing from anyone's mind. Had they always been there, however, underlying in the melodies that Green Day has always been famous for?

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