Hmmm. Having just trawled through pages of bickering on the Punk Frontman thread, I get the feeling that your perception of Green Day is based on being subjected to them on MTV over the last 10 years or so. I would also (rightly or wrongly) place you as being fairly young (below 18??).
I first stumbled upon Green Day by accident. Our local music venue (an old converted terrace house) used to put on loads of up and coming bands. I turned up one night to see an American band that they advertised as being influenced by Hüsker Dü. Needless to say the band turned out to be Green Day, who at this stage had only released a couple of E.P.s and the 39 Smooth album.
They proceeded to play a blistering, thrash out set to the 40 or 50 assembled people and were certainly one of the best live bands I saw that year. Punk? In terms of attitude, energy and performance - back then they were certainly as 'Punk' as many other bands I saw around the early 90s (Strung Out / 88 Fingers Louie / Bracket - even down to UK bands like Snuff & Leatherface). Personally, I've never classed them as punk - although they had a certain 3 minute blast, pop-punk charm back then, which was perfect for what they offered.
In conclusion: Green Day - originally not as bad as you would think, but definitely not punk.
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