Green Day

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Green Day is a band from California, consisting of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre 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.DeRogatis, Jim. Milk It!: Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the 90's. Cambridge: Da Capo, 2003. Pg. 357, ISBN 0-306-81271-1 Their success has influenced prominent pop punk 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. 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 has nine).

History

Lookout: the beginning(1986–1992)

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 (now Green Day), 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.

Larry 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", according to Livermore's biography of the band on Lookout! Records' web page. 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 they made it clear that they were loyal to Lookout! Records and that I.R.S. was a "cheesy" and "washed up" labelTheir letter of response is printed on the lyrics sheet of 39/Smooth.

They recorded two other EPs this year; Slappy and Sweet Children, which included some older songs for the Minneapolis, Minnesota indie label Skene! Records. In 1991, 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours was released, which included both 39/Smooth as well as the tracks from Slappy and 1,000 Hours.

In mid 1990, Al Sobrante left the band temporarily to attend college in Arcata, California, shortly after the band's first tour. By this time the Lookouts had become mostly inactive, and Tré Cool, now 17 and living in Berkeley, began playing with Green Day as a temporary replacement that hasn't left.

In January 1991 they wrote and recorded their second album, Kerplunk!, releasing it on Lookout! Records. Touring through 1992 and 1993, expanded to Europe. 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.

Mainstream success with Dookie (1993–1994)

Kerplunk!'s underground success got Green Day at the center of many major-labels wanting them, and eventually they left Lookout on friendly terms and signed with Reprise Records. Signing to Reprise caused some problems, as they had long since said ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} 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."Smith, RJ. "Top 90 Albums of the 90's". SPIN. August 1999.. They spent the greater part of the year recording their major label debut, Dookie. Released in January of 1994, 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. 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.

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 started the infamous mud fight. After the performance, a guard mistook Mike for a mud covered hippie and knocked out two of his teeth. They rushed out aboard a helicopter.

Insomniac (1995–1996)

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 Charts, and was included as a B-Side on their new album, Insomniac. Green Day fired their managers for releasing the single early, putting money before the music. Also in 1995, Green Day released their fourth album, Insomniac. Insomniac was a much more darker response to the poppy, melodic Dookie. Winston Smith designed the cover art, titled God Told Me To Skin You Alive. On the cover art, several hidden images can be seen. A naked woman, and 3 skulls, one skull for each member of the band.

Green Day's appearance changed in 1995, too. Instead of the cartoony hair dye that Billie Joe used in the Dookie days, he dyed his hair to be the grungy, natual hair color, bottle blonde. Insomniac also had one 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 label" policy, this is appropriate. 86`s lyrics include lines such as "There's no return from 86". Although it did go double-platinum in the U.S., it did not have the sales endurance of its predecessor, and also had no signature track like Longview or When I Come Around on Dookie. Still, it sold 8 million units worldwide and is still considered musically successful.

nimrod. (1996–1998)

Following Insomniac, Green Day was back in the studio by 1996, at work on a new album. The result was nimrod., an experimental deviation from the band's classic pop-punk brand of music. This new album was released in October 1997. It provided a variety of music from upbeat pop-punk to an acoustic ballad. "nimrod." entered the charts at number 10, thanks to the surprise hit Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) was official theme for the 1998 PGA Golf Tour, and was played on the final episode of the TV show Seinfeld, which was perhaps the most watched finale in the history of television. It was also played when Wendel Clark retired. This ubiquitous song was also heard on "ER".

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

Warning: (2000–2002)

In 2000, they released , a step further in the style that they had hinted at with nimrod. The album's recording was marked by band members' significant reduction of marijuana intake, which had marked most of their adult lives. Critics' reviews of the album were mixed, some of them deeming the album simply mediocre. 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, not only from fans but by the band members also.

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 time off after the Pop Disaster Tour closed, to spend time with their families and, ultimately, to decide whether maintaining the band was in anybody’s best interest anymore.

American Idiot and Bullet in a Bible (2003–2005)

Fighting burnout after Warning:, the band went into a studio to write and record new material for an album, believed to be 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.

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..."Di Perna, Alan. "Combat Rock". Guitar World. Holiday 2004. 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.

Another noticeable difference was the members of the band having discarded their trademark instruments. Billie Joe Armstrong changed his guitar from the replicas of the Fender Stratocaster Copy he had been playing since the age of 10 to a Gibson Les Paul Jr.. Armstrong does however continue to use his Strat copy at some point in every live show. Mike Dirnt used his Gibson G-3 bass guitar for several of their albums leading up to Nimrod, but now plays a custom Fender Precision Bass. Exact duplicates of his guitar are made by Fender, and they are called the Mike Dirnt Precision Bass. Tré Cool also severed his longtime association with Slingerland, which he had been using since Nimrod years, and started using Ludwig-Musser drums.

American Idiot also marked a major change of image. While in the past they had dyed their hair in different colors (ranging from red to green to pink and back again) and appeared in mostly variegated clothes, here they started wearing fitted black shirts with skinny neckties and also dyed their hair in more plain colours like platinum and black. In addition, Tre and Billie Joe began to wear heavy eyeliner in their media appearances.

American Idiot won a Grammy in 2005 for "Best Rock Album" and was nominated for 5 other Grammy awards. The song "American Idiot" was featured in the video game Madden NFL 2005 and "Holiday" in the game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, in which Billie Joe Armstrong is also an unlockable character. 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 two days - one of the largest crowds ever drawn for a rock concert. This tour continued the theatrics of the shows from the Warning: and Shenanigans tours by featuring a horn section dressed as a pink rabbit and a bumblebee, Armstrong donning a crown and silk cape for the song "King For A Day," and drawn-out performances of certain songs like "Hitchin' a Ride" and "Minority", where Armstrong used the instrumental sections to make popcorn with the crowd, a staple of Green Day's live performances. 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 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 (where, eerily enough, the show saw small bursts of rain during "Wake Me Up When September Ends", an odd occurrence for the Australian mid-summer). 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 (2006-present)

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. Billie Joe 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."

Discography

• 39/Smooth (1990)
• 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours (1991
• Kerplunk! (1992)
• Dookie (1994)
• Insomniac (1995)
• nimrod. (1997)
• (2000)
• International Superhits (2001)
• Shenanigans (2002)
• American Idiot (2004)
• Bullet In A Bible (2005)

Line-up

• Billie Joe Armstrong: Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals (1989-present)
• Mike Dirnt: Bass, Backup Vocals (1989-present)
• Tré Cool: Drums, Backup Vocals (1991-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 (from The Enemies): Third Guitar (2004-present)
• Rob Cavallo: Piano (for the 2004 Recording of American Idiot)

Former members

• John Kiffmeyer, also known as Al Sobrante: Drums (1989-1991)

Other projects

The Network

In 2003, during time Green Day spent time in the studio, a New Wave band appeared on the scene, known as The Network. Three of five members of the band are allegedly the three members of Green Day. The frontman, known only as "Fink", is 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 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 then broke out in 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?"[link]

The end of the American Idiot tour saw The Network support Green Day three times, along with Jimmy Eat World, Simple Plan, 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, . 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 1999 Bridge School Benefit.

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

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

• [The Green Day Story] (Broadcast on Radio 1 Mon 20 June 2005) (Alternate [Link])
• [Green Day Biography]

Notes

External links

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

Green Day
Billie Joe Armstrong | Mike Dirnt | Tré Cool
Jason White | Jason Freese
Discography
Albums: 39/Smooth | Kerplunk! | Dookie | Insomniac | nimrod. | | American Idiot
Compilations / Live: 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours | International Superhits! | Shenanigans | Bullet in a Bible
Singles: "Longview" | "Basket Case" | "Welcome to Paradise" | "When I Come Around" | "She" | "J.A.R." | "Geek Stink Breath" | "Brain Stew/Jaded" | "Walking Contradiction" | "Hitchin' A Ride" | "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" | "Redundant" | "Nice Guys Finish Last" | "Minority" | "Warning" | "Waiting" | "Macy's Day Parade" | "Poprocks & Coke" | "Maria" | "American Idiot" | "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" | "Holiday" | "Wake Me Up When September Ends" | "Jesus of Suburbia"

 

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