The results are in for Rolling Stone's readers' poll asking who the best punk-rock bands of all time are, and Green Day has topped the list, understandably stoking a bit of controversy. Given that online polls usually wind up being popularity contests, it's not surprising that the California trio would garner the most votes. (And Rolling Stone points out that fan site Green Day Authority and GreenDay.com both posted voting links.)
If you want a true list of the best punk bands of all time, you ask a scenester from the golden age, like Legs McNeil, who founded Punk magazine in 1975. He undoubtedly would have the number two and three finishers, The Clash and The Ramones respectively, ahead of Billie Joe and the boys. And Green Day themselves would probably agree with that. Although who you prefer is subjective, you have to give it up to bands who were at the epicenter of an antisocial youthquake, a genre's founding.
The rest of the list is a pretty representative and expected lineup of "mainstream" punk legends: The Sex Pistols, The Dead Kennedys, Iggy and the Stooges, Black Flag, The Misfits, Social Distortion, and Bad Brains. This list can easily be shuffled around with additions and subtractions. Green Day is a kickass band, but they're not known for cutting themselves with glass onstage, or writing songs entitled "Nazi Punks Fuck Off." At least The Offspring didn't make the list.