Green Day

**Green Day** is an American rock trio that formed in 1987. The members of the band are Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar, vocals), and Tré Cool (drums, percussion). Jason White (guitar/vocals), Kevin Preston (guitar/vocals), and Jason Freese (keyboard) are touring members of the band that only participate in concert tours. **Green Day** is often celebrated as one of the best punk rock bands currently performing.

At first, Green Day was part of the punk rock culture at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California. Its album _Dookie_ (1994) became a success. Soon, it sold more than ten million copies in the United States alone, and 20 million copies worldwide. The album was well reviewed and the band were praised for its music and sales. Green Day had three more albums after that, _Insomniac_, _Nimrod_ and _Warning_. They were still successful albums, reaching double platinum, double platinum, and gold status respectively. However none of these albums sold as well as their third album, _Dookie_. Green Day's 2004 rock opera _American Idiot_ sold six million copies in the United States.

Green Day has sold over 75 million records worldwide,  32 million  of them in the United States alone. They also have won four Grammy Awards, Best Alternative Album for _Dookie_, Best Rock Album for _American Idiot_, Record of the Year for the song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Best Rock Album for 21st Century Breakdown and have also been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.

### Formation and Lookout! years (1987–1993)

In 1990, Lookout! released Green Day's first album _39/Smooth_. Green Day recorded two EPs: _Slappy_ and _Sweet Children_. Lookout! Records released _1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours,_ an album that had the _39/Smooth,_ _Slappy,_ and _1,000 Hours_ EPs in it. In late 1990, shortly after the band's first worldwide tour, Sobrante left the band. The Lookouts drummer Tré Cool became a replacement, and then became a permanent replacement because Sobrante did not want to come back. Green Day was on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a lot of shows overseas in Europe. Its second album, _Kerplunk_, sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S., which was a lot for the punk band in 1992.

### Breakthrough success (1994–1996)

_Kerplunk's_ success made major record labels interested in Green Day, and they soon left Lookout! and signed with Reprise Records after getting the attention of producer Rob Cavallo. Signing to Reprise made many punk rock fans think Green Day as sellouts.  After signing with Reprise, the band went to work on making its major label debut, _Dookie._

Released in February of 1994, and recorded in 3 weeks, _Dookie_ became a commercial success, making it to MTV for the videos of the songs "Longview", "Basket Case", and "When I Come Around", all of which made it to the number one position on the Modern Rock Tracks charts.

_Insomniac_ was a darker, more punk release for the band than the rocking _Dookie._ _Insomniac_ earned 4 out of 5 stars from _Rolling Stone Magazine_, which said "In punk, the good stuff actually unfolds and gains meaning as you listen without sacrificing any of its electric, haywire immediacy. And Green Day are as good as this stuff gets." _Insomniac_ won the band award nominations for Favorite Artist, Favorite Hard Rock Artist, and Favorite Alternative Artist at the 1996 American Music Awards. The video for "Walking Contradiction" got the band a Grammy nomination for Best Video, Short Form, and a Best Special Effects nomination at the MTV Video Music Awards.

In 1995, a new single for the _Angus_ soundtrack was released, titled "J.A.R.". The single went straight to number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. After that, _Insomniac,_ Green Day's new album, was released in the fall of 1995. After that, the band stopped from going on a European tour so they could rest for a while.

### _Nimrod_ and _Warning_ (1997–2000)

In 1997, Green Day began to work on a new album. They came up with _Nimrod._ The new album was released in October 1997. The success of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" won the band an MTV Video Award for Best Alternative Video.

In 2000, Green Day released _Warning,_ an album that had types of songs that _Nimrod_ did. Though the _Warning_ made the hit "Minority" and a smaller hit with "Warning", some observers thought that the band was losing popularity. _Warning_ was certified gold by the RIAA.

At the 2001 California Music Awards, Green Day won all eight awards that they were nominated for.

### _American Idiot_

In the summer of 2003, the band went into a studio to write and record new songs for a new album titled _Cigarettes and Valentines._ After making 20 tracks, the master tapes were stolen from the studio. The band was upset and chose not to try to re-create the stolen album, but instead start over with a vow to be even better than before. In this same year, Green Day went with Iggy Pop on two tracks for his album _Skull Ring._  They took "band therapy," talking for a long time 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.

The 2004 album, _American Idiot_, was number one on the Billboard charts, the band's first ever album to top the chart, even with success of the album's first single, "American Idiot.

Through 2005, the band toured for about 150 days— visiting Japan, Australia, the United States and the UK, where they had a crowd of 130,000 people in only two days. 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. The DVD had a behind-the-scenes footage of the band, and showed how the band prepared to put on the show. The final shows of its 2005 world tour were in Sydney, Australia, and Melbourne, Australia, on December 14 and 17. On January 10, 2006 the band was awarded with a People's Choice Award for favorite group.

In 2006, Green Day won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" which spent 16 weeks at the number one position of Billboard's _Modern Rock Tracks_.

In an interview with _Kerrang!_, Billie Joe said that 2008 would "be a fair estimate of the release date of their new Untitled Eighth Studio Album." In October 2007, Billie Joe said more on this new album, saying he had been writing new songs on the piano, and had around 45 of them. He said he wanted the new music to dig into what he's feeling during that time - which is middle-aged.

In 2009 _Kerrang!_ named _American Idiot_ the best album of the decade, _NME_ ranked it #60 in a similar list, and _Rolling Stone_ ranked it 22nd.

### _21st Century Breakdown_

In an interview with _Kerrang!_, Armstrong said that 2009 would "be a fair estimate of the release date of their new untitled eighth studio album for Green Day."  It was revealed that Butch Vig would be producing the upcoming album in an interview with Carson Daly. The gap of nearly five years between their previous album, _American Idiot_, and their newest release was the longest gap in Green Day's career. While the band had been working on new music since January 2006, by October 2007 Armstrong had written 45 songs, the band showed no further signs of being close to releasing a new album until October 2008, when a video of the group recording with producer Butch Vig in the studio was posted on YouTube.

Their newest album, titled _21st Century Breakdown_, was released on May 15, 2009. Called "Green Day at their best" by _Seattle Weekly's_ Krist Novoselic, the album has received mostly positive reviews. Rating website _Metacritic_ reported a rating of 70% as of July 2009, based on 30 reviews. After it was released, _21st Century Breakdown_ reached #1 on the charts in fourteen different countries.

## Music style and influences

Green Day's sound is often compared to first wave punk rock bands such as the Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Jam, and the Buzzcocks. Stylistically, the group is characterized as punk rock, pop punk and alternative rock.

Most of their songs are fast and under the average song length of four minutes (4:00), though some of their songs run on longer such as "Jesus of Suburbia" which runs for nine minutes. Billie Joe Armstrong said that some of his biggest influences are alternative rock bands Husker Dü and The Replacements. Armstrong's lyrics mostly describe alienation, hysteria, girls, growing up, and what happens to someone if they take drugs. The Ramones had lyrical themes that were also close to Green Day's lyrics such as hysteria, alienation, girls, and drugs. Green Day has covered Ramones songs a few times, such as recording "Outsider" for the tribute album _We're a Happy Family_, and performing "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Teenage Lobotomy" when the Ramones made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

### Current members

- Billie Joe Armstrong – vocals, guitar (1986–present)
- Mike Dirnt - bass guitar, backing vocals (1986–present)
- Tré Cool – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1990–present)

### Former members

- John Kiffmeyer – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1987–1990)

### Current touring musicians

- Jason Freese – keyboards, piano, acoustic guitar, trombone, saxophone, accordion, backing vocals (2004–present)
- Jason White – guitar, backing vocals (1999-present, full member 2012-2016)
- Kevin Preston – guitar, backing vocals (2019-present)

### Former touring musicians

- Kurt Lohmiller – trumpet, timpani, percussion, vocals (1999–2004)
- Gabrial McNair – trombone, tenor saxophone (1999–2001)
- Garth Schultz - trombone, trumpet
- Ronnie Blake – trumpet, timpani, percussion, backing vocals (2004–present)
- Mike Pelino – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2004–present)

### Session musicians

- Rob Cavallo – piano on _American Idiot_ (2004)
- Stephen Bradley – trumpet on _Warning_ (2000) and _Nimrod_ (1997)
- Petra Haden – violin on _Nimrod_ (1997)
- Gabrial McNair – trombone on _Nimrod_ (1997)

### Studio albums

- _39/Smooth_ (1990)
- _Kerplunk_ (1991)
- _Dookie_ (1994)
- _Insomniac_ (1995)
- _Nimrod_ (1997)
- _Warning_ (2000)
- _American Idiot_ (2004)
- _21st Century Breakdown_ (2009)
- _¡Uno!_ (2012)
- _¡Dos!_ (2012)
- _¡Tré!_ (2012)
- _Revolution Radio_ (2016)
- _Father of All Motherfuckers_ (2020)
- _Saviors_ (2024)

## References

- Spitz, Marc. _Nobody Likes You: Inside the Turbulent Life, Times, and Music of Green Day_. New York: Hyperion, 2006.
- The Green Day Story (Broadcast on Radio 1 Mon 20 June 2005) (Different link )

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **name**: Green Day
- **image**: Green Day 2017 Germany.png
- **caption**: Green Day performing in January 2017; from left to right: Jason White (musician), Jason White, Jeff Matika, , Tré Cool, Jason Freese, and Mike Dirnt
- **alias**: Sweet Children (1987–1989)
- **landscape**: yes
- **background**: group_or_band
- **origin**: East Bay, California, U.S.
- **years active**: 1987–present
- **current members**: * Billie Joe Armstrong
* Mike Dirnt
* Tré Cool
- **past members**: * Sean Hughes
* Raj Punjabi
* John Kiffmeyer
* Jason White (musician), Jason White