Green Day

Green Day is a musical trio from California, consisting of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool. Green Day is widely credited, along with fellow California bands The Offspring and Rancid, with reviving mainstream interest in and popularizing punk rock in the United States during the mid 1990s. Their success has influenced prominent pop punk revival bands like Sum 41, Good Charlotte, and blink-182.

The band has sold over 24.2 million albums in the United States, and over 53.1 million records worldwide. Green Day's breakthrough album Dookie has been certified diamond in the United States since its 1994 release, and won the Grammy Award for Alternative Album. Their second best-selling album American Idiot (2004), has been certified quadruple platinum in the U.S., and won the 2005 Grammy Award for "Best Rock Album". Green Day has won three Grammy Awards, and several MTV Video Music Awards and other industry and fan-based awards. They are also second to the Red Hot Chili Peppers for most number-ones on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart with eight (the Red Hot Chili Peppers currently have nine).

History

Formation and Lookout years (1986–1992)

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1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours

At the age of twelve, Tré Cool became a member of the band The Lookouts. Their album "One Planet One People," released in 1986, attracted some attention, and Tré began performing at an early age at the Berkeley, California punk-rock all-ages venue 924 Gilman Street. In 1986, Billie Joe Armstrong (aged 14) and Mike Dirnt (also aged 14) formed Sweet Children, with Armstrong on lead vocals and guitar and Dirnt on bass and backing vocals. Despite rumor to the contrary, John Kiffmeyer (also known as Al Sobrante) was not a part of this endeavor. Their first show was on October 17, 1988, at Rod's Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California where Armstrong's mother was working.

In 1989, Kiffmeyer's band Isocracy broke up. Kiffmeyer sought out Armstrong and Dirnt to form Green Day, while other members went on to form Samiam. They chose the name Green Day after a marijuana reference. Laurence Livermore, who played guitar for The Lookouts and ran the Berkeley independent label Lookout! Records, offered the band a record deal after having the band play. The band, he said, played like "The Beatles at Shea Stadium" In early 1989 they recorded their first EP, 1,000 Hours. The first Green Day show was played at Contra Costa College in San Pablo where Kiffmeyer attended as a journalism student.

In 1990, I.R.S. Records attempted to recruit Green Day, but the band made it clear that they were loyal to Lookout! Records and that I.R.S. was a "cheesy" and "washed up" label.

They recorded two other EPs this year: Slappy, and Sweet Children, the latter of which included some older songs for the Minneapolis, Minnesota indie label Skene! Records. In 1991, the band's first full-length album, 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours was released. The album fused 39/Smooth as well as the tracks from Slappy and 1,000 Hours. In mid-1990, shortly after the band's first tour, John Kiffmeyer left the band to attend college in Arcata, California. By this time the Lookouts had become mostly inactive, and Tré Cool, now 17 and living in Berkeley, began playing with Green Day after Armstrong and Dirnt were introduced to his drumming via Livermore's reference.

In January 1991, Green Day wrote and recorded their second album, Kerplunk!, the first featuring Tré Cool on drums, releasing it on Lookout! Records in 1992. Touring through 1992 and 1993,their tour even expanded to Europe, surprising for an album released on an independent label. The album, quoted as Tré "really, really" liking it, sold about 650,000 units in the U.S., which was considered quite a large amount for the independent punk scene in 1992. It eventually topped 2 million albums sold worldwide. The booklet of Kerplunk! features a completely ficitonal 'diary entry' by the fictional Laurie L. entitled "My Adventure with Green Day". It can be found in its entireity here.

Reprise and the 90s (1993–1999)

Kerplunk!'s underground success put Green Day at the center of many major-labels wanting them, and eventually they left Lookout! on friendly terms and signed with Reprise Records after attracting the attention of producer Rob Cavallo, who would produce all of the band's albums from then on. Signing to Reprise caused some problems, as they had long since said that they would never sign to a major label. Reflecting on the period, Armstrong told SPIN magazine in 1999, "I couldn't go back to the punk scene, whether we were the biggest success in the world or the biggest failure ... The only thing I could do was get on my bike and go forward.". They spent the greater part of the year recording their major label debut, Dookie. Released in Februrary of 1994, and recorded in a mere 3 weeks, Dookie was a commercial sensation, helped by extensive MTV airplay for the videos "Longview", "When I Come Around", and "Basket Case". Dookie topped 10 million units in the U.S. and was certified diamond in 1999. The album also garnered the band the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. Green Day, with Dookie and The Offspring with their big-selling album Smash, are credited with bringing punk rock back into the mainstream and popularity.

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Dookie

On Rolling Stone Magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Dookie was listed as number 193, meaning it was in the top 39% and was the highest placed punk rock album released since 1980, quite the accomplishment considering the album was released 14 years after 1980.

That year Green Day embarked on a nationwide tour with queercore band Pansy Division as their opening act. The band also joined the lineups of both the Lollapalooza Festival and Woodstock 1994, where they partook in the infamous mud fight, further adding to Green Day's growing publicity and recognition. During Woodstock, a security guard mistook bassist Mike Dirnt for a fan and punched out some of his teeth.

In 1995, a new single for the Angus soundtrack was released, titled J.A.R.. The single went straight to number 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was followed by their new album, Insomniac, which was released in the fall of 1995. Insomniac was a much darker response to the poppy, more melodic Dookie.

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Insomniac

Insomniac also had one particular song, "86", which was about never being able to return to the local punk scene. "Eighty-sixed" is a term commonly used to describe banishment or firing. As Gilman has a strict "no major label" policy, this is an appropriate title for a song of such subject matter. Following the release and immense success of Dookie, and cries of "sell-out" and "mainstream" from the band's former admirers and friends, Green Day as a band realized that its former home at Gilman Street had been lost. "86"`s lyrics include lines such as "There's no return from 86," indicating this realization, the ceaseless need to move forward, and the band's new attitude towards their music and their fans, old and new.

Although it did go double-platinum in the U.S., Insomniac did not have the sales endurance of its predecessor, and also had no signature track like Basket Case, Longview, or When I Come Around, all of which found a recognizable home on Dookie. Still, the album managed to sell 8 million units worldwide and is still considered musically successful.

Singles released from Insomniac were Geek Stink Breath, the radio favorite Brain Stew/Jaded, Walking Contradiction, and Stuck With Me. The fourth single, Stuck With Me, was mistakenly given the incorrect name. Due to a mix up in the studio, the title of the song was printed as Stuck With Me, which was the title that Green Day was going to give its b-side. The band felt that the title was appropriate and named the b-side the nonsensical title Do Da Da. Coincidentally, 'Do Da Da' features the lyrics 'stuck with me', while Stuck With Me does not. Also, many see the double single Brain Stew/Jaded an inspiration for the double single Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams on the American Idiot iTunes track listing.

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nimrod.

After taking break in 1996, Green Day was back in the studio by 1997, at work on a new album. The result was nimrod., an experimental deviation from the band's classic pop-punk brand of music. The new album was released in October 1997. It provided a variety of music, with everything from upbeat pop-punk, laid-back surfer rock, and peppy, silly ska, to an acoustic ballad. nimrod. entered the charts at number 10, thanks to the surprise hit "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)". Reject, the 8th track on the album is based on a letter Billie Joe recieved from an angry mother who said the album Insomniac offended her, and her 8-year old son. He replied by saying "I write for myself, not for 8 year old boys and their mothers."

The first single released from nimrod. was Hitchin' a Ride which sported a violin introduction and has become a staple of Green Day's live performances. During the instrumental parts of the song, Billie Joe often interacts with the crowd, most notably at Milton Keynes, when the song length was extended by over 8 minutes, as seen in Bullet in a Bible. The music video is somewhat strange and has the band acting in a dark-themed play featuring a cast of quirky characters as fellow actors. Nice Guys Finish Last, the second single from the album, is a straightforward punk rock song with an accompanying music video featuring the band on a football field (a parody of the football team from 'Green Bay'). Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) was released next and is often seen as the force behind the albums' double platinum certification from the RIAA and sucess. It is an acoustic ballad, with no rhythm section (drums, bass), instead featuring a mellow and delicate string composition. Despite being a break-up song about going on with your life (as evidenced in chorus: I hope you had the time of your life.), it became the number one most played song at weddings for 1998, somewhat strange considering just 4 years ago they were writing songs about masturbation (Longview). It went straight to the number two spot on the Modern Rock charts, the highest position for Green Day in 3 years and the highest off of nimrod. Redundant was the last single released.

After the release of nimrod., Green Day took a two-year break, deciding to step back from the spotlight and spend some time with their new families.

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Warning:

The New Millenium (2000–present)

In 2000, they released Warning:, a step further in the style that they had hinted at with nimrod. The album's recording and definitive sound were marked by band members' significant reduction of marijuana intake, which had marked most of their adult lives. As a result of this reduction, the band members adopted a more mature and straightforward approach to their music, replacing nearly adolescent mantras of masturbation with more introspective statements. Critics' reviews of the album were fairly postive, although the album was greeted with mixed reviews within their fan base, who had grown accustomed to their 1990's Punk-pop sound. Though it produced the #1 hit Minority and a smaller hit with Warning, some observers were coming to the conclusion that the band was losing relevance, and a decline in popularity followed. While all of Green Day's past albums had reached a status of at least double platinum, Warning: was only certified gold. Although the band felt this was some of their strongest work to date, the lack of success fueled questions regarding the band's future.

The release of a Greatest Hits compilation, International Superhits!, and the token complementary assemblage of B-sides, Shenanigans, only fueled the theory that Green Day's career was on the rocks. A 2002 co-headlining tour with blink-182 helped to resurrect some of the band's popularity, and earned the group many positive concert reviews. The band decided to take some more time off after the Pop Disaster Tour closed, to spend time with their families.

Fighting burnout after Warning:, the band went into a studio to write and record new material for a new album, believed to be tentatively titled Cigarettes and Valentines. After completing 20 tracks, the master tapes were stolen from the studio. The band, understandably upset, chose not to try to re-create the stolen album (Armstrong feared that it would take their fan base "back to about 50"), but instead started over with a vow to be even better than before. In addition, they underwent serious "band therapy," engaging in several long talks to work out the members' differences after accusations from Dirnt and Cool that Armstrong was "the band's Nazi" and a show-off bent on taking the limelight from the other band members

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American Idiot

After a restoration of band democracy, the creative floodgates opened as well, with each member trying different things every day in the studio — most notably the creation of two 9-minute tracks for the forthcoming Green Day record. Billie Joe also stated he previously feared playing "corny" guitar solos if he let loose, but eventually decided "I'm gonna play the fucking thing..." on this album whenever needed. The resulting 2004 album, American Idiot, debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, the band's first ever album to reach #1, backed by the success of the album's first single, "American Idiot." The album was billed as a "punk rock opera" which follows the journey of the fictitious "Jesus of Suburbia". Also the album marked a significant growth in the band as musicians. On the background of their pop punk landmark albums Kerplunk and Dookie, American Idiot was noted by critics as far more mature and musically eclectic than its predecessors and is often cited as their best work to date.

American Idiot won a Grammy in 2005 for "Best Rock Album" and was nominated for five other Grammy awards. The music video for "American Idiot" was voted 'The Greatest Rock Video Ever' in a Kerrang! Magazine Poll. In the Australian Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2005, Jesus of Suburbia entered at #61 making it the longest song ever to place in the chart at 9 minutes and 8 seconds. Green Day also won two Kids Choice Awards Blimps in 2006 for Favorite Musical Group and Favorite Song (Wake Me Up When September Ends).

Through 2005, the band toured, promoting the album with about 150 dates — their longest tour in their career — visiting Japan, Australia, South America and England, where they drew a crowd of 130,000 people over a span of two days - one of the largest crowds ever drawn for a rock concert. While touring for American Idiot, they filmed and recorded the two concerts at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, which was voted 'The Best Show On Earth' in a Kerrang! Magazine Poll. These recordings were released as a live CD and DVD called Bullet in a Bible on November 15, 2005. This CD/DVD featured hits from American Idiot as well as older songs from Dookie and nimrod., among others. The DVD featured behind-the-scenes footage of the band, and showed how the band prepared to put on the show. The final shows of their 2005 world tour were in Sydney, Australia, and Melbourne, Australia, on December 14 and 17 respectively. On January 10, 2006 the band was awarded with a People's Choice Award for favorite group.

On August 1, 2005, it was announced that Green Day had rescinded the master rights to their pre-Dookie material from Lookout! Records, citing breach of contract regarding unpaid royalties that had been ongoing for some time, and with other Lookout! bands as well. As of October 2005, it is unknown whether a label affiliated with the band (Reprise, Armstrong's own Adeline), a reissue specialist like Rhino, or another label entirely will reissue the Lookout!-era material.

Next album

The band has emerged from their half-year rest and said that they are working through demos and new songs.

In an interview with MTV News on June 2, Green Day said that their next album will be "an event" when it is released. Armstrong stated, "At this point, to put a record out with like 12 songs on it and turn it in sounds a bit boring for us. So we want to definitely make something that is well thought-out and [that] all of our blood is put into."

It was recently announced that one of Green Day's songs (which one is currently undisclosed) will be parodied on Weird Al's upcoming album Straight Outta Lynwood.

Criticism

The mainstream success of "American Idiot" drew many new fans to Green Day, due to it's more pop-punk style than other albums such as "Dookie", which made many fans from the "Dookie" era considered the band to be sellouts, although some have claimed the band merely progressed.

Discography

Main article: Green Day discography

• 1989 - 1,000 Hours
• 1990 - 39/Smooth
• 1991 - 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours
• 1992 - Kerplunk!
• 1994 - Dookie
• 1995 - Insomniac
• 1997 - nimrod.
• 2000 - Warning:
• 2001 - International Superhits!
• 2002 - Shenanigans
• 2004 - American Idiot
• 2005 - Bullet in a Bible

Line-up

• Billie Joe Armstrong: Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals (1989-present)
• Mike Dirnt: Bass, Backup Vocals (1989-present)
• Tré Cool: Drums, Backup Vocals (1990-present)

Backing members

• Jason White: Guitar, Backup Vocals (1999-present)
• Jason Freese: Piano, Keyboard, Trombone, Saxophone, Accordion, Acoustic Guitar, Backup Vocals (2004-present)
• Ronnie Blake: Trumpet, Timpani/Percussions, Backup Vocals (2004-present)
• Mike Pelino: Third Guitar, Backup Vocals (2005-present)
• Rob Cavallo: Piano (for the 2004 Recording of American Idiot)

Former members

• John Kiffmeyer, also known as Al Sobrante: Drums (1989-1990)

Other projects

The Network

Main article: The Network

In 2003, during time Green Day spent time in the studio, a New Wave band known as The Network appeared on the scene. Three of the five members of the band are allegedly the three members of Green Day. The frontman, known only as "Fink", is believed to be Billie Joe Armstrong. Armstrong has referred to himself as Wilhelm Fink in the past, and a Pinhead Gunpowder fansite bio of Billie Joe Armstrong confirms Fink's identity. Armstrong's voice is also unmistakable on The Network's albums. The Network's bass player, known as "Van Gough," is supposedly Mike Dirnt; and The Network's drummer, "The Snoo," is thought to be Tré Cool. John Roecker, director of Live Freaky Die Freaky, starring Green Day and other East Bay punk alumni, and Green Day's DVD Documentary Heart Like a Hand Grenade, has spoken of various projects recorded at Studio 880, including a New Wave album and a Christmas album, during the sessions of their latest album. Studio 880 is the credited studio in The Network's Money Money 2020 album and Green Day's American Idiot. No official connection has been made between the two bands, and both bands have defended, sometimes aggressively (in a probably staged press conference where some members from both bands engaged in a heated argument that broke into a minor conflict), the lack of connection between the two. Green Day's management has always declined to comment on the ongoing situation between Green Day and The Network. On October 6, The Network agreed to support Green Day with Jimmy Eat World on the American Idiot tour. Sources close to Green Day have been quoted as commenting, "That's a really bad idea," and, "Can we just make them go away?"[1]

The end of the American Idiot tour saw The Network support Green Day three times, along with Jimmy Eat World, Simple Plan, and Taking Back Sunday, playing the opening slot.

American Idiot: The Motion Picture

In 2005, a 12-minute video for Jesus of Suburbia was completed, as well as a live video for St. Jimmy. The video of Jesus of Suburbia is stated to be a prequel to their upcoming film, American Idiot: The Motion Picture. In an interview with Billboard magazine, Billie Joe Armstrong revealed that the group are still considering turning their punk rock opera into a film, in much the same spirit as the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, Marillion's Brave, Pink Floyd's The Wall and the Who's Tommy and Quadrophenia. Shooting of the movie is planned to start in 2006. The band has stated they have no intentions of acting in the movie, although they may make an appearance. Lou Taylor Pucci and Kelli Garner from the "Jesus of Suburbia" music video could make an appearance if the motion picture does go into production.

Charity events

Green Day performed at the 1999 Bridge School Benefit.

Armstrong was part of an ensemble of musicians that sang The Beatles' "Across the Universe" at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards as part of a tsunami relief production. The band also pledged to give the profits from the downloading of their song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" to the tsunami relief fund.

Green Day performed at the Live 8 concert on July 2, 2005, in Berlin, Germany, where they played "Holiday," "American Idiot," "Minority," and a rendition of Queen's "We Are the Champions."

The band also contributed a prerecorded performance to the Hurricane Katrina Benefit relief event on September 10, 2005 from their performance the prior week at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The televised portion (shown on MTV and VH1) showed the trio performing their single "Wake Me Up When September Ends."

References

• Cohen, Johnathan (2004). "Green Day's 'Idiot' Fueling Banner Year" (http). Billboard.com. Retrieved July 27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Cohen, Johnathan (2005). "Green Day not ready to rest 'Idiot'" (http). Billboard.com. Retrieved July 27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• The Green Day Story (Broadcast on Radio 1 Mon 20 June 2005) (Alternate Link)
• Green Day Biography

External links

• Green Day Official site
• Green Day Concerts
• Green Day discography at MusicBrainz
• Green Day at All Music Guide
• RIAA Top Bestselling artists
• Green Day Authority