Warning - Green Day
Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 19
  2. Negative: 1 out of 19
  1. Warning may not be an innovative record, per se -- it's a pop album through and through -- but it's tremendously satisfying, finding the band at a peak of songcraft and performance. There hasn't been a better pure pop album since Supergrass' In It for the Money, another record by a young band that did it all and did it without a trace of self-consciousness.
  2. The California-based trio continues its exploration of more straight-ahead rock and pop with surprisingly strong results.
  3. At first, it may sound void of the instantly accessible pile of hits from Dookie and the handful more from Insomniac, but the album's social conscience and cunning lyrics make it a Warning to be heeded.
  4. The band's musical range has also broadened a bit.
  5. 90
    Warning may not only be the most beautiful Green Day LP but also the bravest. [#48, p.93]
  6. 20
    Warning is the sound of three men growing old far too gracefully.
  7. Green Day have created a great punk-meets-rock album.
  8. The Day's trademark bubblegum punk rock guitars have all been turned down in favour of a less electric, more organic sound. Where once they rocked out, now they polka on the awful Levellers-like 'Fashion Victim' - a song about Gianni Versace. Please.... 'Warning' is the sound of a band losing its way.
  9. Mar 8, 2011
    80
    Old fans who would have enjoyed such messages in the past might not like them packaged with such clean music, but they'd be missing the point. Real old school punks know that punk is about following your own path, and that's just what Green Day are doing.
  10. Hugely likeable, terribly noisy and cute, as well as being jammed with proper pop songs... [Nov. 2000, p.102]
  11. The once-giddy melodies now settle for midtempo jangle or novelty...
  12. 60
    Green Day remain the ultimate big-shorts party band. [Nov. 2000, p.116]
  13. Green Day's melodies are as delicious as ever, and the band continues to integrate acoustic guitar into its sound without getting all granola on us. But as a songwriter, Armstrong's neither here nor there, unable to fully abandon his goofball roots but not stretching far enough to score the breakaway great album he's always seemed capable of writing.
  14. 60
    By design, the band doesn't rock as hard as it used to. Doesn't punk as hard as it used to, either. [12/2000, p.215]
  15. You're going to have to dig through a barrage of radio-ready songs to find the excitement of previous albums.
  16. Green Day has never made a record so slick and musically mature.
  17. The album's darn spooky good... Shelving the old Green Day wall of guitars (Dookie and Insomniac) in favor of the youngest (and best) Pete Townshend mod-clanky buzz opens up the band's sound dramatically; it's airy and spacious, lots of room for the vocals. The whole thing breathes with neat ambiences.
  18. Crucially, his knack for simple punk tunes remains unchanged; also crucially, these do fine at moderate tempos, and one even gives off a whiff of Brecht-Weill. There are worse ways to come down off a multiplatinum high-lots of them.
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 48 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 15
  2. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Excellent work by Green Day. I think it's better than Nimrod, although there isn't a real masterpiece (like Good Riddance). However Minority, Waiting and Macy's Day Parade are nice. I also like Warning and Castaway. Full Review »
  2. Green Day ventures out of of the punk arena into folk rock and pop rock. The album is enjoyable and well-written. Thematically, their music remains the same but musically different. They show newfound maturity and development in their new style. "Minority" is full of 1-liners and catchy lyrics without going too pop. Full Review »
  3. j30
    9
    Really an underrated album. A departure in a sound they've been so comfortable with. It's my second favorite album from them. Up to this point they had been rehashing ideas from Dookie. This, poor critically received record, was their much needed creative breakthrough. Full Review »