The Top 6 New Green Day Songs, and How to Remember Them

Billie Joe in the new video for "Nuclear Family."

It's only a few weeks until Green Day begins firing its trio of new albums -- ¡Uno! ¡Dos! and ¡Tres! -- out into the world. And surprisingly, given the stature of the band, a great deal of the new songs have already been posted or leaked to the Internet. With ¡Uno! due Sept. 25, it's high time we rate some of the new Green Day songs out so far -- many of which, it must be said, sound eerily like some other bands you've probably heard of. Here then are the top six new Green Day tunes, along with a quick 'n' dirty suggestion for how to remember each one.

6. "Oh Love": The boneheaded one

Okay, so of all the new Green Day songs, this one is the lamest. That big obvious riff sounds like a toddler playing with a guitar-sampling toy keyboard, not an actual guitar-playing musician. And the video -- a bunch of supermodels standing around bored watching Green Day play -- only underscores that we've got a slow-churning fountain of ennui here. Naturally, it's already getting played on the radio.

5. "Let Yourself Go": The fast one

If you have an itch for Insomniac-era Green Day -- when the band reacted to the success of the crossover hit Dookie by putting out its hardest, fastest set of songs yet -- this will scratch it. Even the bubblegum undertones of the chorus can't blunt the verses' brutality. Billie implores you to let go, and this song will make you want to.

4. Carpe Diem: The one that sounds a whole lot like that one by the Clash

Replace Joe Strummer's "I fought the law" with a nasally "carpe diem," and you basically end up with this song. But hey, "I Fought the Law" was good, and Green Day's Clash debt is old news (even if this reminds us just how big that debt is). But at least Uno! will be a fist-pumper?

3. Lady Cobra: The White Stripes one

Do you smell that? 'Cause we're getting strong whiffs of "Fell in Love With a Girl" -- and general Jack White-ness -- here. This version of "Lady Cobra" comes from the time Billie Joe played parts of the new albums over BBC Radio 1 from his iPhone, so the sound sucks. But the club-footed drumming and bluesy riff sure sound a lot like another band that loved to wear red, white, and black. Also, it's pretty good. Look for this one on ¡Dos!, out Nov. 13.