GREEN DAY - “GOOD RIDDANCE (TIME OF YOUR LIFE)” (1997)

When recording what would be the album version of this acoustic ballad, Green Day leader Billie Joe Armstrong flubbed the opening G/D chord – twice – and after the second time deadpanned, “F***.” Fortunately, he soldiered on, and despite the uttered expletive, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” enjoyed huge crossover success and stands as the band’s biggest hit to date – which was hardly anticipated.

At the time, Green Day were considered little more than snot-nosed (albeit multi-Platinum) Bay Area ruffians, and an acoustic guitar-and-strings ballad wasn’t what most people expected to hear from them. For that reason, bassist Mike Dirnt called the song the ‘most punk’ thing they could have done. Which just goes to show that even punks can wear their hearts on their sleeves.