Holiday Gift Guide : Calendar’s little helpers offer suggestions in pop, jazz, holiday, family and classical music, plus videos, computer games and books. (Good news: They’re easy to wrap.) : POP MUSIC

* * * GREEN DAY, “Insomniac,” Reprise. An extension of “Dookie,” complete with short, fast and addictive songs with sure-fire, sing-along choruses. User-friendly punk for older folks who were spooked by Sid Vicious.

* * RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, “One Hot Minute,” Warner Bros. New guitarist Dave Navarro helps make this the Peppers’ most versatile album yet, but no matter what persona singer Anthony Kiedis takes on, he’s always unbelievable.

* * * SONIC YOUTH, “Washing Machine,” DGC. One more reliable yet predictable Sonic Youth album. The band takes no radical new steps, holding on to its original groundbreaking formula and watching the big pop world come to it.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (f a ir), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).