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Childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, vocals) and Mike
Dirnt (bass; born Michael Pritchard) formed their first band 'Sweet
Children' when they were 14 years old in Rodeo, California. By
1989, the group had added drummer John Kiftmeyer (aka: Al
Sobrante) and changed their name to Green Day after one of their
songs. That year, the band independently released their first
EP, 1,000 Hours, which was well received in the punk scene. The
band soon signed to local independent label, Lookout! Records (run
by Larry Livermore) and their debut album "39/Smooth" was also
released that year. Shortly after its release, Kiftmeyer
announced that he was going to college and suggested his former
drum tutor Tre Cool (born Frank Edwin Wright, III) to take over
as the band's permanent drummer. Throughout the early '90s,
Green Day continued to cultivate a cult following, which only
gained strength with the release of their sophomore album,
1992's 'Kerplunk'.
The underground success of 'Kerplunk' led to a wave of interest
from the major record labels. Eventually the band decided to
sign with Reprise Records and their major label debut 'Dookie'
was released in the spring of 1994. Thanks to relentless touring
and somewhat surprising MTV support for initial single "Longview,"
Dookie became a mainstream hit. The album continued to gain
momentum throughout the summer, with the second single "Basket
Case" spending five weeks on the top of the American modern rock
charts. At the end of the summer, the band stole the show at
Woodstock '94, which helped the sales of Dookie increase. By the
time the fourth single "When I Come Around" began its seven-week
stay at number one in the modern rock charts in early 1995,
Dookie had sold over five million copies in the US alone.
Eventually this figure would top eight million records sold in
America, and selling over eleven million copies internationally.
Along with Dookie's commercial success, the band also received
critical acclaim when they won the 1994 Grammy for Best
Alternative Music Performance.
Green Day quickly followed Dookie with 'Insomniac' in the fall
of 1995. Prior to the album's release they again hit number one
again on the U.S. modern rock charts with "J.A.R.," (a tribute
to their friend Jason Andrew Relva, which appears on the
soundtrack to the film 'Angus'). 'Insomniac' performed well
initially, entering the US charts at number two and selling over
two million copies by the spring of 1996. However, none of the
subsequent singles -- including the radio favourite 'Brain Stew/Jaded'
-- were as popular as those from Dookie. In the spring of 1996,
Green Day abruptly cancelled a European tour, claiming
exhaustion. Following the cancellation, the band spent the rest
of the year resting and writing new material. The end result is
what many call the best album of their career: 'Nimrod'.
'Nimrod' was well received by fans and critics alike, managing
to land at #10 on the Billboard charts having sold 80,000 copies
in it's first week. However, Green Day's comeback single "Hitchin'
A Ride" only made it to #5 on the modern rock charts despite
being placed in heavy rotation on MuchMusic and MTV. In response
to this the band released what is arguably their most successful
single ever. Although it would not make it to number one in the
mainstream charts (it's highest position was #2), "Time of Your
Life" is now probably the most well known song Green Day have
ever written. Featuring Billie Joe on acoustic guitar & vocals,
and Petra Hayden (of That Dog) on violin, "Time Of Your Life"
became the song to play in any remotely sad situation. The song
was even used on the last ever episode of the hit TV show
Seinfeld (the most watched finale in the history of TV). Along
with Seinfeld, the song was also played during two different
episodes of hit drama E.R, making it possibly the most heard
song that year on television. Despite gaining the band more
critical respect than they would have received with another
Dookie or Insomniac, 'Nimrod' only sold about two million
copies, and was seen as a commercial flop in comparison. During
the 'Nimrod' era the band also vastly improved their live show
and even one "Best Live Performance" at the Kerrang awards.
After nearly two years out of the media spotlight Green Day
returned in late 1999 to play Neil Young's "Bridge School
Benefit Concert", their first live acoustic performance. Green
Day began recording their follow-up to "Nimrod" shortly after,
which would eventually become "Warning:". Early in the recording
process, the band decided to fire producer Scott Litt, and
produce the album themselves. This would be the first time since
"Kerplunk" that anyone other than Rob Cavallo had produced the
band. After they finished recording, Green Day decided to do
something else they hadn't done before and headlined the 2000
Vans Warped Tour. Green Day played an amazing set and brought
more fans to the tour than any other year in Warped's history (their
Toronto performance alone attracted 7,000 more fans than they
had any other year).
Released in the fall of 2000, "Warning:" was by far Green Day's
most ambitious album to date and first single "Minority" sat at
the top of the Billboard Modern Rock Chart after just four weeks.
Although "Warning:" contained some of the band's best songs to
date (in particular the excellent third single "Waiting"), many
fans didn't take too well to the band's new punk-folk sound.
Although it has since been certified platinum sales status, "Warning"
is arguably Green Day's least successful album. After "Warning:"
the band released a greatest hits album entitled 'International
Super Hits' and a b-sides compilation called "Shenanigans" as
well as their first DVD 'International Supervideos" which
chronicles the band's music videos thus far. The band
subsequently embarked on a huge 'Greatest Hits' world tour which
lead to many people believing the end was nigh for Green Day
seeing as most bands only release a "Greatest Hits" albums near
the end of their career.
However, these rumours soon died down when after another long
hiatus the band announced that a new album was in the works. "What's
It Going To Sound Like?" people wondered from all over the Green
Day community. "Is it going to be another 'Warning' or are they
going to go back to their Punk Rock roots?". Those questions
have recently been answered with the explosive new single "American
Idiot" which incidentally is also the title track to the new
album. For the first time in Green Day's history, Billie Joe has
let loose some great politically motivated lyrics and from what
we have heard of this album already it looks like Green Day
might have made the best album of their career!
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