Post on 06-Apr-2018
8/2/2019 Viva La Green Day Feature Article
1/5
The band of Green Day started a long
time ago in Rodeo, California when
young friends Billie Joe Armstrong and
Mike Dirnt (born Michael Ryan
Pritchard) formed their first band whichwas then named Sweet Children.
Soon the band got its first drummer, Al
Sobrante who considerably helped the
bands development by booking a lot of
shows. In 1989 they released their first
EP 1,000 Hours, which brought the
band more fans, more gigs and
eventually a record deal. They were
signed to an independent label Lookout!
Records, which released their first 2
albums.
Right before the release of 1,039
Smoothed Out Slappy Hours,
their first album, Sweet Children
changed their name to Green Day,
allegedly due to their fondness of the
drug marijuana and according to Larry
Livermore, to avoid confusion with
another local band, Sweet Baby.
Soon after the release another change
came - Al Sobrante quit the band and
was replaced by Tre Cool (born Frank
Edwin Wright III) who became Green
Days permanent drummer. Green Day
were becoming more and more popular
and soon after the release of their
second album Kerplunk! in 1992,
their success soared and the band start
getting offers from major record labels.
Eventually, Green Day left theLookout! Record on friendly terms and
signed with Reprise Records after
attracting the attention of producer Rob
Cavello, who became the producer and
close friend of the band for many years
to come.
In the spring of 1994 Green Day
released their major label debutDookie,
which was a huge success.
Longview and Welcome to Paradise
were Green Days first promoted video
singles and with the help of MTV
Dookie turned into an ultimate hit
selling over 5 million copies in US
alone. It eventually sold 8 million in the
US and over 12 million internationally.
The singles Basket Case and When I
Come Around increased the success ofthe band and still remain among the
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2/5
most well-known Green Day songs.
The 1994 gig in Woodstock showed
that Green Day were undoubtedly the
most successful and loved band of the
year.
Unfortunately, the punk community
rejected Green Day because of their
world-wide success and labeled them as
sell-outs. The notorious Gilman Street,
a place that used to be their home now
86ed Green Day, and a lot of the bands
old fans turned their backs on them.
The confusion and disappointment
caused by the rejection served as an
inspiration for a lot of songs on Green
Days next album.
Insomniac came out in 1995 and sold
over 2 million copies by spring of the
next year.
However, none of its singles were as
successful as the ones from Dookieand
the album itself wasnt as big as its
predecessor.
Soon after Insomniac was released
Green Day started working on the new
album. Nimrod came out in 1997 and
was well received by both fans and
critics.
It sold 80,000 copies in the first week
after the release, and is still considered
one of the best albums ever released bythe band. The first single Hitchin a
Ride became very popular, but the real
success of Nimrod was the second
single - Good Riddance (Time of Your
Life). Even though the song never
reached the top of the charts, it was
played during most weddings and
graduations that year and still remains
the most well-known Green Day song.
Nimrodwasnt a huge success in sales,
but it gained a lot more respect for theband than any of their previous albums.
After the promotion ofNimrod was
over, Green Day took a break that
lasted almost 2 years. They came back
into the spotlight in late 1999 by
playing an acoustic show at Neil
Youngs Bridge School Benefit concert.
Soon after that they began working on
their next album, which would be
released in the fall of 2000 and named
Warning.
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3/5
Warning turned out to have a new
sound and deeper, more meaningful
lyrics than those on their earlier records.The album also proved to be extremely
successful as its first single Minority
reached the top of the Billboard Modern
Rock chart in just 4 weeks after its
release - faster than any other single of
the band.
After 10 years of a successfully
developing career Green Day decided to
release a hit collection, a compilation of
Green Day most famous songs. International Superhits!
came out in the Autumn of 2001 and
included all of the bands most famous
and loved hits plus 2 new songs -
Maria and J.A.R. Now, while this
super-hits compilation is perfect for
someone whos only finding out what
Green Day is and wants an overview ofthe bands career, the next album the
band released is a perfect gift for the
most devoted Green Day fans.
Shenanigans
is a
collection of
rare demos,and outtakes,
and even
though it is
technically
not an album
but only a compilation, a lot of the
bands fans consider it their favourite
record.
After the release ofShenanigans Green
Day took a long break to have some restfrom work and dedicate more time to
their families, hobbies and side projects.
In the summer of 2003, the band went
into a studio to write and record a new
material for a new album, tentatively
named Cigarettes and Valentines, but
after completing 20 tracks, the master
tape of the album were stolen from the
studio. The band then decided not to
recreate the stolen tracks and recorded a
completely
different album,
named American
Idiot. Rumoursabout the album
being a punk-
opera spread
among the fans.
There were all kinds of reactions, from
apathy to hate, but in the end, the albumthat the band released was way beyond
anything anyone would have ever
expected. American Idiot was released
on September 21st, 2004 and began a
whole new era in Green Days career.
In a way, it was a lot like what
happened after the release ofDookie -
the band got thousands of new fans,
was on covers of all possible music
magazines and became unbelievably
famous; but at the same time a lot oftheir old fans turned their backs on
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4/5
them because they thought Green Day
has became so popular that being their
fan was almost a part of fashion.
However, the high quality of the album
was proved not only by the multi-
platinum status of the record, but alsoby a shocking number of awards that
American Idiotearned for Green Day.
Three European Music Awards
nominations, seven Video Music
Awards nominations (one of which was
won by the director of all American
Idiotvideos Sam Bayer), the Recording
Academy Honour; plus American Idiot
got a number of Grammy nominations
both in 2005 and 2006 and won Best
Rock Album and Record of the Year.
Green Day engaged in several othersmaller projects in the time following
the hype ofAmerican Idiot. Green Day
released a new album under the band
name Foxboro Hot Tubs entitled Stop
Drop and Roll!!. In 2008, the Foxboro
Hot Tubs went on a mini-tour to
promote the record, hitting tiny Bay
Area venues including the Stork Club in
Oakland and Toots Tavern in Crockett,
CA.
In an interview with Kerrang!,
Armstrong revealed that 2008 would
"be a fair estimate of the release date of
their new untitled eighth studio album
for Green Day." In an interview with
Carson Daly, Garbage lead singer
Shirley Manson revealed that Butch Vig
would be producing Green Day's
forthcoming album. The span of nearly
five years between American Idiot andthis new album was the longest gap
between studio albums in Green Day's
career. The band had been working on
new material since January 2006. By
October 2007, Armstrong had 45 songs
written, but the band showed no further
signs of progress until October 2008,when a video of the group recording
with producer Butch Vig in the studio
was posted on YouTube. In the tour
section of the band's official website,
the message "World Tour coming
soon!" is shown. The writing and
recording process, spanning three years
and four recording studios, was finally
finished in April 2009.
The new album is titled 21st CenturyBreakdown and was released worldwide
on May 15, 2009.
It has received rave reviews from the
likes of Nirvana's Krist Novoselic. The
album had mainly positive reception
from critics, getting an average rating
between 4 and 5 stars. After the release,
the album hit #1 in fourteen different
countries, hitting Gold or Platinum in
each. 21st Century Breakdown achieved
Green Day's best chart performance to
date. The band started playing shows in
California in April and early May. It
was their first live show in about 3
years. Green Day is currently on a
world tour that started in North
America in July, 2009, arriving at
Australia in December, 2009 and
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5/5
continuing around the world throughout
the rest of 2009 and early 2010.