Green Day is a pop/punk/alternative rock band from the Bay Area (Oakland, to be precise). Around 1987, Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals/guitar) and Mike Dirnt (bass) formed the band Sweet Children; in 1988, John Kiffmeyer joined as the drummer. Before releasing their first LP, the band changed its name to Green Day, supposedly as an inside joke about marijuana. In 1990, Kiffmeyer left the band to attend college and Tre Cool joined in his place, completing the Green Day we know today. In 1999 Green Day gained backup guitarist Jason White, who became an official member of the band in 2012.Green Day reached its peak of popularity with the Dookie album. Although Insomniac and Nimrod also got a favorable reception, the band began losing popularity after 1997. But in 2004, Green Day made a comeback with the rock opera American Idiot. The album is very anti-establishment in tone and frequently criticizes President Bush, as the Iraq War was going on at the time. American Idiot marked a complete departure from their earlier pop/punk style and alienated a portion of their fanbase, although it also won over new fans. American Idiot also received controversy for being "Anti-American". Interestingly, the album was very popular in Europe.Green Day cites influence from punk bands such as the Sex Pistols, The Ramones, and The Clash. However, since the release of American Idiot, many have accused Green Day of selling out and adopting a more mainstream rock image.The band have their ownRock Band game treatment, released June 2010.
Related Bands
The Boo (Billie Joe, Adrienne, Jakob)
Foxboro Hot Tubs (Billie Joe, Mike, Tre)
The Frustrators (Mike)
The Network (Billie Joe, Mike, Tre, and a few others, all under fake stage names)
Pinhead Gunpowder (Billie Joe, Jason White, Aaron Cometbus)
Notable Albums:
39/Smooth (1990)
1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours (1991), which adds the 1000 Hours and Slappy EPs to the end of 39/Smooth. The original 39/Smooth is no longer in print because its been replaced completely by this longer and more popular release
"Going to Pasalacqua" (They still play this one live)
Kerplunk (1992)
"2000 Light Years Away" (Will sometimes get played on Alt Rock stations [Seattle's 107.7 The End for example] on the radio if requested)
Hey, this is Springfield we're talking about. At least 90% of the populace there is made up of inconsiderate morons and/or jerks.
Not to mention that they get killed off by sinking into the toxic waters of Lake Springfield a few seconds later.
Cluster F-Bomb: A lot. Every album they made has at least one F-bomb. Their first two albums kept it clean with only one F-bomb in 39/Smooth and Kerplunk (bear in mind that the F-Bombs are in the cover songs), but once they got into Dookie, they became profanity magnets, with six S-Bombs and six F-Bombs.
Insomniac had thirteen F-Bombs and eight S-Bombs.
Nimrod had 16 f-bombs and seven S-Bombs, including this gem.
"Platypus (I Hate You)": "DICKHEAD, FUCKFACE, COCKSMOKING, MOTHERFUCKING ASSHOLE, DIRTY TWAT, WASTE OF SEMEN, I HOPE YOU DIE— HEY!"
Also "The Grouch", which curses sixteen times in it alone.
Warning was Green Day's cleanest mainstream release, with only two F-Bombs in "Minority.
American Idiot has seventeen profanities in it, while 21st Century Breakdown has ten profanities, including the only use of the word nigger in it.
Uno! seems back to the dirty mouth of before ("kill the DJ, kill the fucking DJ...")
The rant is made all the more memorable for the fact that Billie Joe says "fuck" and its variants 21 times, rips on Justin Bieber, and smashes his guitar repeatedly into the ground until it breaks apart. Interestingly enough, he checked into rehab the following day to be treated for "Substance Abuse".
"Basket Case" is a up-tempo and fun Sanity Slippage Song. "Good Riddance", which many people think of as a ballad, is actually a Breakup Song, wishing your lover to leave forever and never come back. "Holiday" is about political dysfunction, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams is about depression, while "East Jesus Nowhere" is about destruction of religion.
Mood Whiplash: Nimrod has both "Platypus (I Hate You)" which is probably the dirtiest Green Day song ever, played right after the relatively mellow "Worry Rock" and "Take Back", a punk-metal anger song, which is followed by the deliriously happy-sounding "King for a Day."
Nervous Wreck: "Basket Case" is from the point of view of an extremely neurotic person.
New Sound Album: Warning was much more upbeat and poppy than their previous albums, especially when compared to Insomniac.
Many of their albums can be considered this. Insomniac is much darker (both lyrically and musically) than Dookie or Kerplunk. Nimrod is much more experimental than anything they'd previously recorded, with a Surf Rockinstrumental ("Last Ride In"), an Unplugged Song ("Good Riddance"), a Ska tune about transvestism ("King for a Day"), and the Cluster F-BombHardcore Punk of "Platypus (I Hate You)".
By this time, we shouldn't even need to mention American Idiot.
Obligatory Bondage Song: "Blood, Sex, and Booze" from Warning and "Dominated Love Slave" from Kerplunk
One Woman Song: "Haushinka" and "Maria". "Ashley" and "Amy," both from ¡Dos! and "Amanda" from ¡Tré! "¡Viva la Gloria!" and ¿Viva la Gloria? [Little Girl]," although from a third person point of view.
Plagiarism: Green Day's, "American Idiot," released in 2004, rips off a band called Dillinger Four, "Doublewhiskeycokenoise," released in 1998, BUT Green Day released a song called, "Walking Contradiction," released in 1995, which has the exact same chord progression as, "Doublewhiskeycokenoise." So, therefore Green Day ripped off Dillinger Four who ripped off Green Day.
Rock Trio: Though in 2012 it was expanded to a quartet with Jason White (touring member since Warning) being promoted to official member.
Sanity Slippage Song: "Havin' A Blast" seems like this, but I'm not sure if it counts since by this point he's already snapped...
How could you forget "Basket Case"?
"Brain Stew" is explicitly about this, caused by insomnia.
My mind is set on overdrive The clock is laughing in my face A crooked spine My senses dulled Past the point of delirium
Stylistic Suck: Any song with Tré Cool on lead vocals. Though for some reason they wind up as So Bad, It's Good (case in point, "Dominated Love Slave" with its country guitar riff)
Stage Names: Averted with the singer (his name is Billie Joe), played straight with the other two. Mike's real name is Michael Pritchard (he got the name "Dirnt" from saying "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt" while playing air bass as a kid), Tré's is Frank Edwin Wright III.
Subdued Section: "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" and "Macy's Day Parade" for Nimrod and Warning, respectively.
Subliminal Seduction: "East Jesus Nowhere" contains a reversed whisper saying "don't test me."
Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", "Macy's Day Parade" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends"
Take That: "Jackass" is this in spades. It was never confirmed on who the song was ripping on, but the general consensus is that it's about Blink-182.
Also in the aforementoned screw over.
Billie Joe: Let me fuckin' tell you something. Let me tell you something: I've been around since fuckin' nineteen eighty-fuckin'-eight And you're gonna give me one fuckin' minute?! You gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me! You're fuckin' kiddin' me! What the fuck?! I'm not fuckin' Justin Bieber, you motherfuckers!
Those Two Guys: Word Of God confirms Billie Joe and Mike were this when they were younger. Tre claims they had a "Paul and John" vibe going that made it hard for him to blend in at first.
Unplugged Version: "Good Riddance" and most of Warning. Some songs of American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown are unplugged for most of their duration.
Viewers Are Morons: Why Mike claims the band will never officially release Tre's song "Let's Get Drunk and Go Out Driving"
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