Editing 39/Smooth (section)

==Reception==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="AMG">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/39-smooth-mw0002824578|title=39/Smooth - Green Day / Album|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|author=Raggett, Ned|access-date=29 April 2011|archive-date=December 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208223209/https://www.allmusic.com/album/39-smooth-mw0002824578|url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|publisher=[[Omnibus Press]] |edition=5th concise |year=2011 |last=Larkin |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin (writer) |isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[NME]]''
| rev3score = 7/10<ref>Williams 1991, p. 29</ref>
}}
''39/Smooth'' was met with acclaim within the local community and on a national level due to Lookout Records' outreach.<ref>Spitz 2010, p. 66</ref>

Some critics praised the songwriting found on ''39/Smooth''. Spitz and Gaar said the writing had positively evolved from ''1,000 Hours'', with the former praising the lyrics,<ref name=Spitz65/> and the latter impressed with the progression in such a short time frame.<ref name=Gaar35/> Myers said the band were able to mould a sonic direction "bubbling with energy, melodies and lyrical themes that struck a chord."<ref name=Myers60/> Al Shipley of ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' saw the album as a "revealing listen", as it "sounds shockingly close to the skate punk sound which with the band would conquer the world four years later."<ref name=Spinranked/>  [[Metal Hammer|Louder]] writer Alistair Lawrence wrote that the album had the "hint of something special, ... ''39/Smooth'' takes the raw ingredients that make Green Day unique and starts them simmering."<ref name=Louderbest>{{cite web|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/green-day-albums-ranked|title=Every single Green Day album ranked from worst to best|publisher=[[Metal Hammer|Louder]]|author=Lawrence, Alistair|date=February 2, 2024|access-date=April 14, 2024|archive-date=March 17, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317154244/https://www.loudersound.com/features/green-day-albums-ranked|url-status=live}}</ref>

A few reviews focused on the individual aspects of the band members. Robbins and Neugebauer complimented Armstrong for his "well-mannered lyrics - hopeful, uncertain, self-conscious", which "manage only mild psychic discomfort ... and romantic tension rather than any rebellious insurgence."<ref name=TPreview/> Raggett said his vocal "balance of disaffection and nervous, goofy passion is well in place, while he's already showing his effective, no-frills approach to chewy feedback melody.<ref name="AMG"/> Reed Strength of ''[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]'' said Armstrong's voice was the album's biggest weakness, referring to it as "ear-grating, brow-furrowing singing."<ref name=PasteRanking>{{cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/green-day/ranking-every-green-day-album|title=Ranking Green Day's 12 Albums|work=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]|author=Strength, Reed|date=October 28, 2016|access-date=April 17, 2024|archive-date=December 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201032437/https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/green-day/ranking-every-green-day-album|url-status=live}}</ref> Raggett remarked that Dirnt was "no slouch himself, providing good backing vocals when needed for harmony ..."<ref name="AMG"/> Robbins and Neugebauer said Dirnt and Kiffmeyer push "the songs along, and Billie Joe sings them earnestly, without the contrived English accent he would later affect. A very tentative start."<ref name=TPreview>{{cite web|url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/green-day/|title=Green Day|work=[[Trouser Press]]|author1=Robbins, Ira|author2=Neugebauer, Delvin|access-date=April 14, 2024|archive-date=February 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055754/https://trouserpress.com/reviews/green-day/|url-status=live}}</ref> Raggett highlighted Kiffmeyer for the "most prominent performance throughout" the album,<ref name="AMG"/> while Shipley thought he was not "quite a force of nature like Tre Cool, but he has similar instincts on how to keep the tempos brisk and the drum fills splashy."<ref name=Spinranked>{{cite web|url=https://www.spin.com/2024/01/best-green-day-albums/|title=Every Green Day Album, Ranked|work=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|author=Shipley, Al|date=January 17, 2024|access-date=April 14, 2024|archive-date=March 17, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317154244/https://www.spin.com/2024/01/best-green-day-albums/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Others were more negative of ''39/Smooth'', with some only highlighting a single track. AllMusic reviewer Ned Raggett said it "isn't a truly great album in the first place. It's not bad, by any means ... It's just little more than a fun punk-pop album with some entertaining metallic flash here and there," akin to a multitude of albums created in the late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref name="AMG"/> Finn White for ''[[IGN]]'' found it to be lackluster, lamenting that the tracks were dissimilar from one another, though clarified that as it shows the band at their "least refined, ... therein lies its charm and primary appeal."<ref name=IGNbest>{{cite web|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/05/12/green-day-worst-to-best|title=Green Day: Worst to Best|work=[[IGN]]|author=White, Finn|date=May 12, 2009|access-date=April 14, 2024|archive-date=May 21, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521015152/https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/05/12/green-day-worst-to-best|url-status=live}}</ref> For ''[[Kerrang!]]'', writer Ian Winwood said upon hearing the album in the present day, it comes across as a "collection rich in promise but lacking in real-time impact."<ref name=KerrangInside>{{cite web|url=https://www.kerrang.com/features/green-day-the-inside-story-of-their-debut-album-39-smooth/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219234023/https://www.kerrang.com/features/green-day-the-inside-story-of-their-debut-album-39-smooth/|title=Green Day: The Inside Story Of Their Debut Album, 39/Smooth|work=[[Kerrang!]]|author=Winwood, Ian|archivedate=February 19, 2019|access-date=April 15, 2024}}</ref> Ira Robbins and Delvin Neugebauer of ''[[Trouser Press]]'' said the album was a "relatively tame power-pop affair. Although plucky and brash, the music is too timid to even flirt with punk intensity levels."<ref name=TPreview/> Papandreas said that the album was evidently the creation of a "924 Gilman band" that was not "anything to write home about. ... The record itself is middling, disposable pop-punk until you get to 'Going To Pasalacqua,' which gives the best glimpse of what Green Day had to come."<ref name=SGbest>{{cite web|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2247936/green-day-albums-worst-to-best/lists/counting-down/|title=Green Day Albums Worst To Best|work=[[Stereogum]]|author=Papandreas, Jay|date=January 18, 2024|access-date=April 14, 2024|archive-date=March 10, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310172336/https://www.stereogum.com/2247936/green-day-albums-worst-to-best/lists/counting-down/|url-status=live}}</ref> Winwood, reviewing for [[BBC Music]], also highlighted "Going to Pasalacqua",<ref name=BBCreview>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/b9hf/|title=Green Day 39/Smooth; Kerplunk Review|publisher=[[BBC Music]]|author=Winwood, Ian|date=2011|access-date=April 14, 2024|archive-date=March 17, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317154306/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/b9hf/|url-status=live}}</ref> Marc Hogan of ''[[PopMatters]]'' singled out "I Was There" as a songwriting achievement.<ref name=PMreview>{{cite web|url=http://popmatters.com/music/reviews/g/greenday-1039.shtml|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040409121817/http://popmatters.com/music/reviews/g/greenday-1039.shtml|title=Green Day 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours|work=[[PopMatters]]|author=Hogan, Marc|date=March 11, 2004|archivedate=April 9, 2004|access-date=April 15, 2024}}</ref>

Prior to the release of Green Day's major label debut, ''[[Dookie (album)|Dookie]]'' (1994), ''39/Smooth'' had sold 75,000 copies. Lookout Records' [[operations director]] [[Chris Appelgren]] said the joint efforts of ''39/Smooth'' and ''Kerplunk'' boosted sales of other albums in the label's catalog.<ref>Morris 1994, p. 119</ref> In 1995, ''39/Smooth'' peaked at number five on the US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Top Pop Catalog Albums]] chart; ''Kerplunk'' appeared in the same listing, topping the chart.<ref name=BillCat/> Publications have ranked the album towards the lower end of the band's discography: number six by ''IGN'' and ''Stereogum'';<ref name=IGNbest/><ref name=SGbest/> number seven by Louder;<ref name=Louderbest/> number 10 by ''Kerrang!'' and ''Paste'';<ref name=PasteRanking/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kerrang.com/green-day-every-album-ranked-from-worst-to-best|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220221430/https://www.kerrang.com/green-day-every-album-ranked-from-worst-to-best|title=Green Day: Every album ranked from worst to best|work=Kerrang!|author=Carter, Emily|date=July 22, 2020|archivedate=February 20, 2022|access-date=April 18, 2024}}</ref> and number 11 by ''Spin''.<ref name=Spinranked/> The [[tribute album]] ''A Different Shade of Green: A Green Day Tribute'', issued in 2003, included covers of "Going to Pasalacqua" and "Rest".<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=A Different Shade of Green: A Green Day Tribute|author=Various artists|year=2003|type=booklet|publisher=Skunk-Ape Records|id=SAR-011}}</ref>  [[Jaret Reddick]] of [[Bowling for Soup]],<ref name=NMEcelebrate/> and [[Brett Gurewitz]] of Bad Religion, expressed admiration for the album, with the latter saying that whenever bands came to his studio, they also hyped up the release.<ref>Spitz 2010, pp. 66–67</ref>