Out of all the post-Nirvana alternative bands to break into the pop mainstream, Green Day were second only to Pearl Jam in terms of influence. At their core, Green Day were simply punk revivalists who recharged the energy of speedy, catchy three-chord punk-pop songs. Though their music wasn’t particularly innovative, they brought the sound of late-’70s punk to a new, younger generation with Dookie, their 1994 major-label debut. Dookie sold over ten million copies, paving the way for a string of multi-platinum releases that opened the doors for a flood of American neo-punk, punk metal, and third wave ska revivalists. More than a decade later, as many of their former contemporaries settled into retirement, Green Day remained at the forefront of popular music with albums like the Grammy-winning American Idiot.
Green Day arose from the Northern California underground punk scene. Childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, vocals) and Mike Dirnt (bass; born Mike Pritchard) formed their first band, Sweet Children, in Rodeo, California when they were 14 years old. By 1989, the group had added drummer Al Sobrante and changed its name to Green Day. That same year, the band independently released its first EP, 1000 Hours, which was well received in the California hardcore punk scene. Soon, the group had signed a contract with local independent label Lookout. Green Day’s first full album, 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hour, was released later that year. Shortly after its release, the band replaced Sobrante with Tre Cool (born Frank Edwin Wright III), who became 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 second album, 1992’s Kerplunk. The underground success of Kerplunk led to a wave of interest from major record labels, and the band eventually decided to sign with Reprise. Dookie, Green Day’s major-label debut, was released in the spring of 1994. Thanks to MTV support for the initial single, “Longview,” Dookie became a major hit. The album continued to gain momentum throughout the summer, with the second single, “Basket Case,” spending five weeks on 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 on the modern rock charts in early 1995, Dookie had sold over five million copies in the U.S. alone; it would eventually top ten million in America, selling over 15 million copies internationally. Dookie also won the 1994 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.
Green Day quickly followed Dookie with Insomniac in the fall of 1995; during the summer, they hit number one again on the modern rock charts with “J.A.R.,” their contribution to the Angus soundtrack. Insomniac performed well initially, entering the U.S. charts at number two and selling over two-million copies by the spring of 1996, yet none of its singles — including the radio favorite “Brain Stew/Jaded” — was as popular as those from Dookie. In the spring of 1996, Green Day abruptly canceled a European tour, claiming exhaustion. Following the cancellation, the band spent the rest of the year resting and writing new material before issuing Nimrod in late 1997. Three years later, their long-awaited follow-up, a refreshingly poppy record titled Warning, was released. Another long wait preceded 2004’s American Idiot, an aggressive rock opera that became a surprise success — a chart-topper around the world, a multi-platinum Grammy winner, and easily the best-reviewed album of their career. Green Day reveled in the album’s success, hitting numerous award shows and performing as part of Live 8 in July 2005. That fall brought the release of Bullet in a Bible, a concert album that documented the trio’s expansive Idiot live show.
With their popularity and commercial viability restored, Green Day took on several small projects before returning to the studio. They contributed a cover of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” to the charity album Instant Karma, appeared in The Simpsons Movie, and recorded an entire album of ’60s-styled rock & roll under the alias of Foxboro Hot Tubs. While presenting an award at the Grammys in early 2009, the band announced the impending release of Green Day’s eighth album, 21st Century Breakdown, which had been recorded with veteran producer Butch Vig. In May of 2009, 21st Century Breakdown was released, picking up where American Idiot left off, as another ambitious punk rock opera. The album was a commercial success, selling over 215,000 copies in its first three days of sales. In 2009, American Idiot was adapted for the stage, and the following year, Green Day lent their talents to the original cast recording, combining a driving score with Broadway vocal arrangements. The band released the live Awesome as F**k in 2011.
During the summer of 2012, Green Day unveiled their ambitious plans for the fall and winter: they would release not one but three new albums. The records — ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Tré! — would appear in September 2012, November 2012, and January 2013, respectively, with each individual bandmember gracing one of the album covers on his own. The first, appropriately called ¡Uno!, was preceded by the disco-rock single “Kill the DJ” and the anthemic arena rocker “Oh Love.” ¡Uno! was set for a splashy release in September 2012, but the weekend prior to its release Billie Joe Armstrong had an on-stage breakdown during a set Green Day played at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas. Days later, it was announced that Armstrong entered rehab for undisclosed substance abuse; not long afterward the band’s touring plans for 2013 were canceled. ¡Dos! arrived as scheduled in November 2012 and ¡Tré! was moved up to a December release. Demolicious, a collection of 18 demos recorded during the making of their ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré! trilogy, showed up in time for 2014’s Record Store Day release schedule.
In 2015, Green Day were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Following their induction, producer Rob Cavallo announced that he had started work on a new album with the trio. As they labored on the new record, Green Day released a single called “Xmas Time of the Year” for the 2015 holiday. The raucous “Bang Bang” was the first taste of the new record, Revolution Radio, which arrived in October 2016.
On April 13, 2019, for Record Store Day, the band released their Woodstock 1994 performance on vinyl for the first time. It contains all 9 songs they played live, as well as audio of the ensuing mudfight.
On September 10, 2019, the band announced the Hella Mega Tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer as headliners alongside themselves, with The Interrupters as the opening act. They also released the single, “Father of All…” off their thirteenth album, Father of All Motherfuckers. On September 30, 2019, Green Day signed a two-year agreement with the National Hockey League (NHL). Father of All Motherfuckers was released on February 7, 2020.
On April 13, 2019, for Record Store Day, the band released their Woodstock 1994 performance on vinyl for the first time. It contains all 9 songs they played live, as well as audio of the ensuing mud fight. On September 10, 2019, the band announced the Hella Mega Tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer as headliners alongside themselves, with the Interrupters as the opening act. They also released the single, “Father of All…” off their thirteenth album, Father of All Motherfuckers.The same day, in an interview with KROQ, Armstrong announced the band would be parting ways with Reprise after the album’s release, as they were off their contract with Warner. On September 30, 2019, Green Day signed a two-year agreement with the National Hockey League (NHL). The album’s second single, “Fire, Ready, Aim”, was released on October 9, 2019. The album’s third single, “Oh Yeah!”, was released on January 16, 2020. The album was released on February 7, 2020. The album’s fourth single, “Meet Me on the Roof”, was released on the same day as the album.
On April 6, 2020, Armstrong revealed that he had written six songs intending to record new music with the band once the COVID-19 pandemic had passed. On May 21, 2020, the band released a cover of Blondie’s “Dreaming”.
On October 30, 2020, the band’s secret side project, the Network, teased upcoming activity with a video entitled “The Prophecy” and mentioned their upcoming sequel album. Then on November 2, 2020, the Network released a music video for their first song in 17 years, named “Ivankkka Is a Nazi”. After a couple of weeks of small hints on social media, as well as Green Day claiming they were not the Network, the band released an EP on November 20, 2020, titled Trans Am. On December 4, 2020, the Network released their second album Money Money 2020 Part II: We Told Ya So!.
In February 2021, Green Day announced a single, titled “Here Comes the Shock”, which was later released on February 21, 2021. The band would release a remastered version of Insomniac in March for the belated 25th anniversary of the album’s release, with bonus live tracks. On May 17, 2021, Green Day released the single “Pollyanna”. The reshuffled Hella Mega Tour would take place in the United States from July to September 2021, and the United Kingdom in June and July 2022. Between legs, on November 5, 2021, the band released the single “Holy Toledo!”.
BBC Sessions, the fourth live album by Green Day, was released on December 10, 2021. Eight days later, they put out a teaser video with the captions “RAK Studios. London, England. Green Day. 1972”.
In 2022, Green Day played a handful of major festivals in the United States, including Lollapalooza and Outside Lands. The band also played a surprise Lollapalooza aftershow set at Metro Chicago on July 29, a set that was mostly improvised. The set included their first performances of “Church on Sunday” and “Warning” since 2001, and also included fan favorite deep tracks “Whatsername”, “Letterbomb”, and “Murder City”. On October 26, 2022, Green Day was announced as a headliner for the fifth annual Innings Festival in Arizona.
In November 2022, the band stated they were recording for a new studio album. The album was produced by Rob Cavallo, marking his first album working with the band since ¡Tré! (2012). Prior to the album’s release, the band played a new song titled “1981” during their live performance at Festival d’été de Québec on July 16, 2023. On September 30, 2023, Green Day was announced as the halftime show at the 110th Grey Cup. The following day, the band launched a new website with the name “The American Dream Is Killing Me”. Included on the website was a video appearing to tease new music, and a circled date of October 24, 2023, leading some news outlets to believe that it is related to their next album. Before the album’s release, they played the first song, “The American Dream Is Killing Me”, during a live show in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 19, 2023, and announced a US tour for the summer 2024 with the Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, and the Linda Lindas. They played another song, titled “Look Ma, No Brains!”, from the upcoming album during the When We Were Young Festival on October 22, 2023.
On October 24, 2023, the title of the new album was announced as Saviors, and the album’s first single, “The American Dream Is Killing Me” was released. The album was released on January 19, 2024. The second single, “Look Ma, No Brains!”, was released on November 2, 2023. A third single, “Dilemma”, was announced on December 4, 2023, and released three days later on December 7, 2023. On New Year’s Eve, Green Day performed “American Idiot” on the television special Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. Armstrong replaced the line “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” with “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda”, a reference to Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan, in criticism of Trump. The album’s fourth single, “One Eyed Bastard”, was released on January 5, 2024. On the evening of January 16, 2024, the band appeared in a surprise performance in the 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center station of the New York subway system, with late-night host Jimmy Fallon joining them on tambourine to help draw attention to the upcoming album and tour, and played several songs including the recent single “Look Ma, No Brains”, “Basket Case”, and “American Idiot”-this time, Armstrong leaving space to let the subway crowd sing out the song’s revised line “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.” The album’s fifth single, “Bobby Sox”, was released simultaneously with the album on January 19, 2024
Ref: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/green-day-mn0000154544/biography
http://www.greenday.com
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