With alternative rock music going overground in the early 90s, few acts were better positioned to exploit the commercial possibilities than Green Day - Billie Joe Armstrong (b. 17 February 1972, California, USA; vocals/guitar), Mike Dirnt (b. 4 May 1972, California, USA; bass/vocals) and Tre Cool (b. Frank Edwin Wright III, 9 December 1972, Germany; drums/vocals). Armstrong and Dirnt had been playing together since the age of 11 in the refinery town of Rodeo, California, performing in various garage bands. Tre Cool had been in a band called the Lookouts who broke up in 1990, but their final EP, IV, featured Billie Joe Armstrong playing guitar and singing backing vocals on three tracks. Armstrong and Dirnt had already formed Sweet Children with ex-Isocracy drummer John Kiffmeyer, releasing an EP in 1987. The new trio's debut release came on Livermore's Lookout! Records in 1989, the 1,000 Hours EP. However, two weeks before release the band informed Livermore that they had changed their name to Green Day, inspired by their fondness for marijuana and by the fact that another local band, Sweet Baby Jesus, had just changed their name to Sweet Baby and signed with Slash/Warner Brothers Records.
Green Day's debut album, 39/Smooth, recorded in a single day, comprised 10 pop punk tracks. A limited edition EP (Slappy) for Lookout! followed. Kiffmeyer booked their first national tour, but afterwards left the band to concentrate on college (his only subsequent musical activity came in the Ne'er Do Wells). Cool was asked to fill in, and immediately wrote the comedic "Dominated Love Slave' for 1992"s Kerplunk!, where the 60s pop quotient was reduced in favour of a synthesis of 70s British punk bands the Jam and Stiff Little Fingers. It sold over 50,000 records through word of mouth and underground media support
Green Day decided to take the plunge and move to a major label, signing to Warner Brothers subsidiary Reprise Records, despite bigger offers from elsewhere. A&R man Rob Cavallo was also recruited as producer for their third album. Released in 1994, Dookie gradually stalked the charts going on to sell over nine million copies in the USA. The album tracks "Long View", "Basket Case", "Welcome To Paradise", "When I Come Around" and "She", in addition to the soundtrack cut "J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)", received extensive airplay on rock radio and MTV. The band's arduous touring schedule was the chief reason for their rise, and was topped off by appearances on the 1994 Lollapalooza package and the revived Woodstock event. The other main factor was the estimable quality of their songwriting. As Dirnt said: "We just figured out a formula and Billie Joe writes real good songs, that's all."
With Dookie being so successful, it came as no surprise when Green Day was nominated in no less than four Grammy categories. In 1995, it was confirmed that they had sold over 10 million albums worldwide, a stunning achievement for a band remaining faithful to a basic punk pop framework. Insomniac (1995) and Nimrod (1997) confirmed their popularity, with the band's fans seemingly unfazed by the weakness of the songs compared to the material on Dookie. The tracks "Geek Stink Breath", "Brain Stew"/"Jaded", "Hitchin' A Ride" and "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)' received extensive airplay. Their fourth major label release, October 2000"s Warning, was a hugely enjoyable power pop album that, contrary to the band's defiant claims, owed little to their punk roots.
After remaining quiet for a couple of years, the members of Green Day returned to the studio to begin work on a new album. Eschewing the frat boy lyrics that had a tendency to dominate the band's earlier work, songwriter Armstrong took stock of the prevailing political climate to construct a remarkably mature concept album. The band's faith in their audience was repaid when American Idiot debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 in September 2004. They also enjoyed a US Top 5 hit single with the album's stand-out track, "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams".
