History Music / GreenDay

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The song, 'I Was a Teenage Teenager.'

** "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 Music/{{Blink 182}}, despite the fact that both bands have toured together.

** Most of American Idiot is a one to the Bush administration, while many on Revolution Radio are used against Donald Trump.

** Do not @ them on Twitter on October 1st to tell them to "wake up." It's overplayed on a surface level, but there's also the fact that it's a shallow reference to "Wake Me Up When September Ends", a song Billie Joe wrote for his late father.
*** "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a lament for his father. While it fits the theme of ''American Idiot'' pretty well, it wasn't explicitly written to fit the album.

[[caption-width-right:350:Don't wanna be an American Idiot! [[note]] From left to right: Mike Dirnt, Billie Joe Armstrong and Tré Cool.[[/note]]]]

Around 1987, Billie Joe Armstrong (lead vocals/guitar) and Mike Dirnt (bass) formed the band Sweet Children; in 1988, John Kiffmeyer (Al Sobrante) joined as the drummer. Before releasing their first LP - 1990's ''39/Smooth'', the band changed its name to Green Day, supposedly as an inside joke about marijuana[[note]]A "green day" is a day spent smoking marijuana and doing nothing else[[/note]]. In 1990, Kiffmeyer left the band to attend college and Tré Cool joined in his place, completing the Green Day we know today.

Green Day reached its first breakout success with 1994's ''Music/{{Dookie}}'', still seen as one of the most seminal albums of its time for its lasting impact on punk rock (and its mainstream acceptance). It remains their highest-selling album.

The band has [[LicensedGame their own]] ''VideoGame/RockBand'' game treatment, released June 2010, and were inducted by Music/FallOutBoy frontman Patrick Stump into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.

!!Principal Members (Founding members in '''bold''', current members in ''italic''):

* '''''Billie Joe Armstrong''''' - lead vocals, guitar, drums, harmonica, mandolin, piano (1987–Present)

* '''''Michael Pritchard (Mike Dirnt)''''' - bass, backing and lead vocals, baseball bat, farfisa (1987–Present)

* ''Frank Wright (Tré Cool)'' - drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals, guitar, bongos, tambourine, accordion (1990–Present)

* LoudnessWar: Unfortunately, the recent stuff is pretty badly clipped. Sometimes it's given alternate HD releases which are better, though: ''Music/AmericanIdiot'' is [=DR5=] on CD, but the [=HDTracks=] release is [=DR9=]; similarly, ''Music/TwentyFirstCenturyBreakdown'' is [=DR6=] on CD, but [=HDTracks=] is once again DR9. Strangely, there seem to be little rhyme or reason to which versions have better dynamic range.

* {{Medley}}: Live performances of "King for a Day" always segues into the Isley Brothers' "Shout", and once the SubduedSection of that kicks in, Billie Joe will sing cover snippets (most commonly, as heard in ''Bullet in a Bible'', "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life").

* ObligatoryBondageSong: "Blood, Sex, and Booze" from ''Warning'' and "Dominated Love Slave" from ''Kerplunk''

!! "Am I just paranoid, or am I troped?":

* NotableMusicVideos: Where do we begin?
** "Basket Case": This video may be one of the single most recognizable and famous music videos of the whole of the 90s, considering its insanely striking colours and its setting in a mental institution.
** "Brain Stew": The band is on a couch being taken through a landfill by a bulldozer, and the only colours of the footage are in a dull sepia tone...
** ...only to make the segue to the now-in-colour, extremely fast-paced and intense "Jaded" all the more out of left field.
** "Wake Me Up When September Ends": The video tells a very heart-rendering story about a boyfriend and girlfriend whose relationship is torn apart when [[spoiler:the boyfriend enlists in the army, breaking his promise to never leave the girlfriend. To make matters worse, he dies at war.]]
** "21 Guns": Stars the [[Music/TwentyFirstCenturyBreakdown album's]] two protagonists (Christian and Gloria) as they take refuge in a room after robbing a bank, hiding as the police open fire and rip apart the house with their bullets. When the attack is over, [[CoverDrop the two perform]] TheBigDamnKiss [[CoverDrop seen on the album cover.]]
** "Kill the DJ": The first verse shows grey-scale footage of the band riding motorcycles in the desert, and the second verse cuts to coloured footage of the band walking through the crowd of a party and performing on-stage.
** "Nice Guys Finish Last": Green Day's performance of the song is treated as a [[SeriousBusiness football game]], complete with a slew of excited fans and a locker room strategy review. We even see a fan get by the security and tackle Billie Joe onstage (which is then replayed in a football replay manner), and we also see people fighting very viciously over a water bottle that Mike kicks into the crowd.
** "Walking Contradiction": Mike, Tré, and Billie Joe walk around the city and inadvertently and indirectly cause strings of mayhem that occur in chain reactions. For example, Billie Joe throws a stick onto the road, snagging the front wheel of the bicyclist behind him. A car then comes along and mows down the bicycle.
** The videos for "Holiday" and "Boulevard" coincide perfectly through a conjoined narrative, which makes sense as "Holiday" [[FadingIntoTheNextSong fades perfectly]] into "Boulevard". "Holiday"[='=]s video has the band performing the song in a car, and the video ends with the car breaking down, forcing the band to walk to their destination in the "Boulevard" video, which also fits perfectly with the song's lyrics ("I walk alone").

* WackyGuy: ''¡Tré.''

** Most of American Idiot is a one to the Bush administration, while many on Revolution Radio are used against then-presidential candidate, now president Donald Trump.

[[caption-width-right:350:The classic line-up of Green Day. From left to right: Mike Dirnt, Billie Joe Armstrong and Tré Cool.]]

* {{Mondegreen}}: Look up any live video, especially where Billie's smashed off his ass, and you can barely tell what he's saying if you haven't heard the studio versions of the songs beforehand, or looked up the lyrics at any points. Even on some studio recordings of songs, he can sometimes be hard to understand. Usually, though, he's pretty clear in what he's saying in most other studio recordings.

* {{Bishonen}}: Admit it, Billie Joe and Tré are pretty freaking sexy and fit this pretty well.

** See MetalScream below.

** The album ''Father Of All Motherfuckers,'' which of course has to have the censored title ''Father Of All...'' for retail.

** The climax of "Hitchin' a Ride" kicks off with him screaming "SHIIIT!".

** When they performed [[DrugsAreBad "Geek Stink Breath"]] on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', they [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar got away with saying "shit"]] because [[TheUnintelligible nobody understood what Billie Joe was saying]].

* AndIMustScream: "Fuck Time" features the line "I want to hold you til you're paralyzed", which once put into proper context can be...[[DudeShesLikeInAComa unsettling]]...

* RockersSmashGuitars: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9zogQOmQVM&feature=player_embedded When he realizes that the organization has cut his iHeart Radio Fest concert short]], Billie Joe has a [[ClusterFBomb profane]] freak out that ends with him smashing his guitar on-stage, much to the approval of the audience.
** In the 90s, they loved being those guys. Sets would often end with Mike wrecking his bass and ¡Tré burning his kit to the ground with gasoline, and then Billie would finish by playing "Good Riddance" by himself in front of the fire.

* SingingVoiceDissonance: Billie Joe's singing employs a British accent reminiscent of Sex Pistols\The Clash, but while speaking it's clear he is Californian.

* {{Guyliner}}: Billie Joe adopted it since ''Music/AmericanIdiot'' came out (part of why some label them as {{Emo}}).

* ThoseTwoGuys: WordOfGod confirms Billie Joe and Mike were this when they were younger. Tré claims they had a [[Music/TheBeatles "Paul and John"]] vibe going that made it hard for him to blend in at first.

* OncePerEpisode: See HoYay. Billie Joe kisses a dude every concert.

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: ''Father of All Motherfuckers'' is easily their most diverse album yet. Among the influences heard on the album include GarageRock, GlamRock, PowerPop, BluesRock, and NewWave. In fact, their signature PopPunk sound can be heard on only two tracks ("I Was a Teenage Teenager" and "Sugar Youth").

* NamesTheSame: The first lineup of the group was called "Sweet Children" and had a song of the same name. They later wrote a song called "Green Day", which inspired them to make THAT the group's name. Green Day recorded the two songs.

* {{Medley}}: Live performances of "King for a Day" always segues into the Isley Brothers' "Shout", and once the SubduedSection of that kicks in, Billie Joe will sing cover snippets (most commonly, as heard in ''Bullet in a Bible'', "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life").

* LongRunnerLineUp: None of the members have changed since 1990; until 2012 it was just Billie Joe, Mike, and Tré, although Jason had been touring with them since 1999.

* TheFourChordsOfPop: "When I Come Around", "21 Guns", "Holiday", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". For a PopPunk band, they don't use it as frequently as others.
* FormerChildStar: Billie Joe recorded his first song at the age of 5. He and his dad toured through children's hospitals and old people's homes to cheer them up.

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Insomniac'' compared to ''Dookie'' in terms of themes and sound.

* BiTheWay: Billie Joe and Tré are openly bi.

** "Still Breathing" is also an example, as Billie will have the Audience sing "My Way to You" at the end of the chorus.

* BerserkButton: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up1Q4KfFYRA Don't ever tell Billie Joe that Green Day sucks]], or else he'll beat you into submission right then and there.
** Also, do not @ them on Twitter on October 1st to tell them "wake up." It's not cute. It's not funny. They're sick of it. Especially Billie Joe, who wrote the song that caused it.

* AndIMustScream: "Fuck Time" features the line "I want to hold you til you're paralysed", which once put into proper context can be...[[DudeShesLikeInAComa unsettling]]...

* DepartmentOfRedundanncyDepartment: The song, 'I Was a Teenage Teenager.'