Green Day is a punk rock or post-punk band consisting of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt (born Michael Pritchard), and Tré Cool (born Frank Edwin Wright III).
They are credited as being the pioneers of the pop-punk genre popularizing the genre to the mainstream with 1994's smash album Dookie .
History
At the age of 12, Tré Cool became a member of the band The Lookouts. Their album attracted some attention, and Tré began performing at an early age at the Berkeley, California punk club 924 Gilman Street. In 1988, Billie Joe Armstrong (16 years old) and Mike Pritchard (16 years old) formed The Sweet Children, with Armstrong on lead vocals and guitar, Pritchard (a.k.a. Mike Dirnt), on bass and backing vocals, and John Kiffmeyer (a.k.a. Al Sobrante), on drums.
Their first show was in 1988 at Rod's Hickory Pit in Rodeo, California. A couple months later, they played a high school party with the Lookouts in a remote mountain location near Willits, California, where Tré and Kain Kong of the Lookouts lived and attended school. Only five kids showed up for the party, and there was no electricity in the house, so Sweet Children had to play using a generator and candlelight, but they played, as Lookouts singer/guitarist Lawrence Livermore put it, "As if they were the Beatles at Shea Stadium."
Livermore, who also ran the Berkeley independent label Lookout! Records, immediately offered Sweet Children a deal, and in early 1989 they recorded their first EP, "1,000 Hours," and then decided, weeks before the EP release, to change their name to Green Day, slang in the San Francisco area for a day spent smoking marijuana. The record came out, with the cover changed at the last minute to reflect the new name, in April 1989.
One year later, in April 1990, Green Day released their first album, 39/Smooth, and that summer set out in a van on their first national tour. Before leaving, they recorded another four-song EP called "Slappy," and while in Minneapolis-St. Paul they recorded a four-song EP of some of their old songs for the local label Skene Records, and called it "Sweet Children". (In 1991, 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours was released which re-issued on CD 39/Smooth with 9 additional tracks from "Slappy" and "1,000 Hours".)
After this tour, at the end of the summer of 1990, Al Sobrante left the band on what was supposed to be a temporary basis to attend college in Arcata, California. By this time the Lookouts had become mostly inactive, and Cool, now 17 and living in Berkeley, began playing with Green Day as a temporary replacement. The combination worked out so well that he soon became Green Day's permanent drummer.
During 1991, the band toured and played locally, building up a large following, and also wrote and recorded their second album, Kerplunk!, released on Lookout Records in January 1992. The CD version also included the four tracks from the "Sweet Children" EP. They continued to tour through 1992 and 1993, ranging as far afield as the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland, Poland, and Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic).
Attention
By 1993, Green Day had sold about 55,000 copies of each of their first albums, a huge amount for the independent punk scene in those days, and attracted a great deal of attention from the major labels. Eventually they decided to sign a deal with Reprise Records, leaving Lookout on friendly terms, and spent the greater part of the year recording their major label debut, Dookie, which proved to be an almost instant sensation, helped by extensive MTV airplay for the videos "Longview" and "Basket Case."
In 1994, Green Day embarked on a nationwide tour and chose queercore band Pansy Division as their opening act. At the time this was regarded as quite controversial; nonetheless, the tour was a success. Green Day had made their audience aware that they were not just another 'pop' band with a couple of hit singles. The band joined the lineups of both the Lollapalooza Festival and Woodstock 1994. Green Day's Woodstock gig included a gigantic mud fight between the band and the audience, leading to a melee in which Dirnt lost his front teeth.
They recorded a single called "J.A.R." in 1995, and followed it up with the album Insomniac. Though the album didn't approach the success of Dookie, it still sold several million copies in the U.S. Their third major label album, Nimrod, was released in 1997, and Warning: in 2000.
In 2003, during time spent in the studio, a New Wave band appeared on the scene, known as The Network. This 5 piece band, at first look/listen appears to be Green Day. The front man "Fink" bears a striking resemblance, visually and vocally to one Wilhelm Fink (Billie Joe Armstrong's pseudonym). John Roecker, director of soon to be released '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 808, including a New Wave album and a christmas album, during the American Idiot sessions. Studio 808 is the credited studio in The Networks Money Money 2020 album and Green Day's American Idiot.
American Idiot
Fighting burnout after Warning:, the band went into the studio to write and record new material for an album. After completing 20 tracks — an impressive album according to those few who heard it — the master tapes were stolen from the studio. The band chose not to try and re-create the stolen album but instead started over with a vow to be even more ambitious.
The resulting 2004 album, American Idiot, is being billed as a "punk rock opera", or more accurately a concept album telling the story of characters such as St. Jimmy, Jesus of Suburbia (probably each the same person,) and Whatsername. Two of the tracks, "Jesus of Suburbia" and "Homecoming", composed in 5 different parts, are multi-movement suites that are both more than nine minutes long. The song "American Idiot" has been hailed by the band as their public statement in reaction to the confusing and warped scene that is American pop culture since 9/11. The album as a whole is more political than their previous ones, if for no other reason than their aging. Armstrong has said that they chose to write this way because the band has obtained respect and sway in the music world, and that this social commentary is part of the natural evolution of a band.
Their album American Idiot won a Grammy in 2005 for Best Rock Album along with 5 other Grammy nominations. The song "American Idiot" was featured in the video game NFL Madden 2005.
Samples
Discography
Studio Albums
| 1990 |
1. 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours |
Lookout |
Contains material from "39/Smooth", "Slappy" and "1,000 Hours". Has been re-released with rare live videos, photos from their childhood, extra pages in the book, and other CD extra content. |
- |
| 1992 |
2. Kerplunk! |
Lookout |
The second record on Lookout. Has been re-released with some of the songs from the "Sweet Children EP". Notable songs include "2000 Light years Away" and an early version of "Welcome to Paradise". |
- |
| 1994 |
3. Dookie |
Reprise |
Their first major label debut, Dookie is Green Day's most critically acclaimed album with popular singles "Basket Case" and "Welcome to Paradise". It is quadruple platinum seller. |
#2 US, #13 UK |
| 1995 |
4. Insomniac |
Reprise |
The album features generally darker, harsher subject matter and lyrics than Dookie's poppy leanings. Despite solid reviews, Insomniac failed to match the sales and buzz of the previous album. Contains the hits "Brain Stew/Jaded" and "Geek Stink Breath". |
#2 US, # 8 UK |
| 1997 |
5. Nimrod |
Reprise |
Green Day's first conceptual album. Includes the hit song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", which is still played at many weddings and proms. |
#10 US, #11 UK |
| 2000 |
6. Warning |
Reprise |
A folkish-pop album. Although the material of the album is drawn from The Kinks ("Warning" resembles much the hit song "Pictures Book") and Beatles, it wasn't received so well by critics and fans. |
#4 US, #4 UK |
| 2002 |
* Shenanigans |
404 Music |
B-side album with rareties, covers and movie hits, including "Ha Ha You're Dead" - a song exclusive for this album. It's a gap-filler between the preceding and following albums. |
#27 US, #32 UK |
| 2004 |
7. American Idiot |
Reprise |
Conceptual punk rock-opera. The album was well-received by critics and fans, contrary to previous releases. It has sold 6 million copies since its release. |
#1 US, #1 UK |
EPs
Compilations, Lives and Videos
Popular singles
- from "Warning"
- 2000 "Minority " #18 UK
- 2000 "Warning " #27 UK
- 2001 "Waiting " #34 UK
See also
External links
