Between September and December of 2012, Green Day released three full-length albums entitled ¡Uno!,¡Dos! and ¡Tre!. Green Day intended these albums to be a return to their former blaze of glory, even boldly stating that the trilogy would be a throwback to the Dookie era. I was wholly disappointed. While this trilogy is not a rock-opera like their past two albums, it strays as far from their classic California punk sound as I have heard.

The first single on ¡Uno!, “Oh Love” was released in July. Falling under the category of arena rock, I had high hopes. Even though it quickly became clear that we would not get another punk staple, this single was on par with “American Idiot” and “21st Century Breakdown.”

Clearly, I spoke too soon, as this single was not representative of the whole album. In their next single released, “Kill the DJ,” an attempted tongue-in-cheek stab at the up-and-coming rave culture, Green Day only succeeded in making themselves look childish. Their cool swear words and “too hip for dubstep” attitude made me want to turn on a Diplo and Friends mix and flush the shame out of my ears. This one will be a big hit with Hot Topic cavemen.

In its entirety, ¡Uno! is hit-or-miss. The good songs like “Nuclear Family” and “Stay the Night” are fresh and memorable, but it is rife with songs that made me green in the face, like “Kill the DJ” and “Carpe Diem.”

Looking down the track listing for ¡Dos!, I dreaded having to actually listen to the album. If the quality of music was anything like the quality of titles, which included “F*** Time,” “Makeout Party,” and “Lady Cobra,” I could tell I was in for a long 39 minutes.

Fortunately, my judgment was incorrect. The music itself is decent, but the lyrics remind me of something that I would have written in eighth grade. When Billie Joe Armstrong croons, “Hey you got yourself a pretty little mouth/I think I wanna rub it the wrong way,” it becomes clear that he used the last of his clever subtleties in 2008.

After these two relative disappointments, ¡Tre! swooped in and saved the day. The first single, “X-Kid,” would fit in on Fall Out Boy’s From Under the Cork Tree, and the rest of the album feels like Green Day’sWarning. “A Little Boy Named Train” and “Dirt Rotten B***ards” showcase this well, as they are catchy without being gimmicky. Simple, fun and sarcastic, this album shows that Green Day doesn’t need to try for a radio hit to be good. Needless to say, this was a breath of fresh air after the first two-thirds of the trilogy.

“The Forgotten” was released as a single for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, which is a new low for Green Day, but they probably got paid a lot of money for that, so I guess I’ll let it go. Surrounded by the likes of Passion Pit and Ellie Goulding, their track fits in well with the rest of this ”sparkling” soundtrack.

Over all, this trilogy is not what I was led to believe it would be. Rather than a trip to the good ole’ days of 1994, Green Day is continuing down their path towards radio pop. These albums were certainly not the kind of Dookie I was looking for. They conclude on a high note with ¡Tre!, but that is not enough to save the trilogy.