“Minority” by Green Day

"Minority" kicked off the Warning era for Green Day. The lead single from their sixth album, it reached American rock stations on August 29, 2000, with a commercial release following in September. It's a punk band trying on a stomping, sing-along swagger without losing its sneer: Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the words and sings them with a grin that's half dare, half hymn, Mike Dirnt's bass bounds underneath while he joins in on vocals, and Tré Cool keeps the beat rattling like a parade drum.

The band produced it themselves, with Rob Cavallo credited as executive producer, Ken Allardyce engineering and Jack Joseph Puig mixing it into something bright and big-hearted, a street-corner chant with its chest puffed out.

Radio took to it fast. It spent five straight weeks at number one on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart in late 2000, topped the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, and got to 18 in the UK and 19 in Italy.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.