GREEN DAY
MEET "GOD'S
FAVORITE BAND"
THE BEGINNING
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Billie Joe Armstrong met Mike Dirnt in Rodeo, California, when they were about 14 years old. The two of them formed a band called Sweet Children when they were in early high school.
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After failing to book even the lowest spot at 924 Gilman Street (a music club that would eventually launch their career), Billie Joe and Mike enlisted John Kiffmeyer as their drummer, and Sweet Children soon began gaining recognition in the Bay Area music scene.
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The band soon began releasing EPs after being signed to Lookout Records by Larry Livermore. Right before the release of their 1989 EP, 1,000 Hours, the band changed their name from Sweet Children to Green Day, inspired by a song Billie Joe wrote for the album.
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Lookout! Records released Green Day's first studio album, 39/Smooth in 1990.
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After an album tour and two more EPs, John Kiffmeyer left the band to pursue an education. He was replaced by Tré Cool - Green Day's current drummer.
THE BASICS
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Formed in 1986.
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Members include: Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, & Tré Cool.
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Created 12 albums, not including compilation albums and re-released albums.
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Won 91 awards.
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Most famous songs: "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "21 Guns", & "Wake Me Up When September Ends".
THE BREAKTHROUGH
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Green Day gained more recognition with their second album Kerplunk, which sold 50,000 copies in the U.S. With their newfound success, the band signed to a Reprise Records, in 1993.
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After Kurt Cobain’s death and the fading of the grunge scene in early 1994, Green Day became the unlikely heroes of a mourning rock scene with their third album, and their debut album on a major record label, Dookie.
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Dookie was recorded in three weeks, released February 1st, 1994, and soon shot to the top of the Modern Rock Tracks charts. It would become one of the biggest albums of the decade; it sold over 10 million copies in America and won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album that year.
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“That’s the main thing, you know it was like all these short pop songs, it’s like the album isn’t even that long. It kind of goes along with a generation that has no attention span at all.” - Billie Joe Armstrong interview with MTV.
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Dookie brought Green Day into mainstream success with appearances on MTV, magazine covers, and major tours - but their new-found fame was not taken well by the Bay Area music scene who labeled the band as “sell-outs.” Green Day was put on Gilman Street’s official blacklist of bands that were never allowed to play at the venue again.
ONE OF THE “50 GREATEST
POP-PUNK ALBUMS"
- ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE
“FROM ITS HUMBLE ROOTS IN
THE BAY AREA PUNK SCENE TO
ITS MASSIVE HOOKS, DOOKIE
HAS BECOME ONE OF THE
GREATEST TEENAGE
WASTELAND ALBUMS OF ANY
GENERATION."
- PITCHFORK MAGAZINE
THE DECLINE IN
COMMERCIAL SUCCESS
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The band embarked on their first headlining tour in 1995, accompanied by the band Pansy Division, an openly gay rock band. Green Day's next three albums, Insomniac (1995), Nimrod (1997), and Warning (2000), did not quite live up to the success that Dookie had brought the band (Insomniac and Nimrod sold 2 million copies each, and Warning only sold 1 million copies).
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With the political climate changing as the Bush era was beginning, the band's musical inspirations were expanding from their own lives and into the world they lived in. After the low success of Warning in 2000 and the events of 9/11, the band decided to take a brief hiatus. To fill the gap they left, Green Day released albums of old material: compilations of greatest hits and videos, B-sides, and cover songs.
THE COMEBACK
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In 2003, Green Day recorded an album called Cigarettes and Valentines. After all twenty tracks had been recorded, they learned all of the master recordings had been stolen. Instead of re-recording the album, Green Day decided to write a better one. That album would soon be known worldwide as American Idiot.
FOLLOWING EVENTS
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Green Day did not release their next album (21st Century Breakdown) until the summer of 2009. The album was well received and reached Number One on the charts in fourteen countries. They took the album on a world tour from late 2009 and early 2010.
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The musical adaptation of American Idiot opened at Berkeley Repertory Theatre at the end of 2009 and opened on Broadway in 2010.
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Green Day performed “Bang Bang”, a song from their newest album Revolution Radio, at the American Music Awards in 2016. The awards show occurred shortly after the election of current U.S. President Donald Trump, which Green Day made a political statement about by chanting, “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA” during their performance.
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After releasing numerous albums, Green Day has established a legacy as one of the bands that popularized punk rock music in the US. As of 2015, Green Day has sold more than 85 million records worldwide. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Fall Out Boy in April 2015 - their first eligible year for induction.
