Green Day
Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their major-label debut Dookie, released through Reprise Records, became a breakout success and eventually shipped over 10 million copies in the U.S. Alongside fellow California punk bands Bad Religion, the Offspring, Rancid, NOFX, Pennywise and Social Distortion, Green Day is credited with popularizing mainstream interest in punk rock in the U.S.
"Sweet Children" redirects here. For their EP, see Sweet Children (EP).
Green Day
Before taking its current name in 1989, the band was named Blood Rage, then Sweet Children. They were part of the late 1980s/early 1990s Bay Area punk scene that emerged from the 924 Gilman Street club in Berkeley, California. The band's early releases were with the independent record label Lookout! Records. For most of the band's career, they have been a power trio[4] with Cool, who replaced John Kiffmeyer in 1990 before the recording of the band's second studio album, Kerplunk (1991). Though the albums Insomniac (1995), Nimrod (1997) and Warning (2000) did not match the success of Dookie, they were still successful, with Insomniac and Nimrod reaching double platinum status, while Warning achieved gold. Green Day's seventh album, a rock opera called American Idiot (2004), found popularity with a younger generation, selling six million copies in the U.S. Their next album, 21st Century Breakdown, was released in 2009 and achieved the band's best chart performance. It was followed by a trilogy of albums, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!, released in September, November, and December 2012, respectively. The trilogy did not perform as well as expected commercially, in comparison to their previous albums, largely due to a lack of promotion and Armstrong entering rehab. They were followed by Revolution Radio (2016), which became their third to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Father of All Motherfuckers (2020) and Saviors (2024).
In 2010, a stage adaptation of American Idiot debuted on Broadway. The musical was nominated for three Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Scenic Design and Best Lighting Design, winning the latter two. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, their first year of eligibility. Members of the band have collaborated on the side projects Pinhead Gunpowder, The Network, Foxboro Hot Tubs, The Longshot and The Coverups. They have also worked on solo careers.
Green Day has sold roughly 75 million records worldwide as of 2024,[5] making them one of the best-selling music artists. The group has been nominated for 20 Grammy Awards and won five of them, with Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown, Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", and Best Musical Show Album for American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording.
Legacy
The band's 1991 album Kerplunk is one of the bestselling independent albums of all time, selling over 4.5 million copies worldwide.[231] It was also listed in 100 greatest indie albums by Blender in 2007.[232]
Green Day is credited (alongside Bad Religion, the Offspring, NOFX, Social Distortion, and Rancid) with popularizing mainstream interest in punk rock in the United States,[233][234][235][236] particularly with the album Dookie,[237][238][239] which was cited by Fuse as the most important pop-punk album of all time, the best alternative album of 1994 by Rolling Stone,[240][241] and as one of the best punk rock albums of all time by Rolling Stone, Kerrang!, Revolver, and LA Weekly.[240][241][242][243][244] It was also placed on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "Definitive 200" list of 200 classic albums.[245] Both Dookie and American Idiot appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[246][247] In 2011, they were voted best punk rock band of all time by Rolling Stone.[248] Diffuser.fm listed Dookie as the greatest album of the 90s.[249]
Green Day has sold roughly 75 million records worldwide as of 2024,[5] making them one of the highest-selling artists of all time. The group has been nominated for 20 Grammy awards and has won five of them with Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown, Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", and Best Musical Show Album for American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording.
In 2010, a stage adaptation of American Idiot debuted on Broadway. The musical was nominated for three Tony Awards:[250][251] The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2015, their first year of eligibility.[252]
The band has been cited as an influence by a variety of artists, including Alkaline Trio,[253] Avril Lavigne,[254] AFI,[4] Fall Out Boy,[255] Blink-182,[256] Joyce Manor,[257] Lady Gaga,[258] Wavves,[259] Fidlar,[259] Tegan and Sara,[259] the Menzingers,[260] New Found Glory,[261] Prince Daddy & the Hyena,[262] Bowling for Soup[263][264] and Sum 41.[265]
Controversies
Music style
Green Day has generated controversy over whether their musical style and major-label status constitutes "true punk".[290] In reaction to both the style of music and the background of the band, John Lydon, former frontman of the 1970s punk band the Sex Pistols commented, "So there we are fending off all that and it pisses me off that years later a wank outfit like Green Day hop in and nick all that and attach it to themselves. They didn't earn their wings to do that and if they were true punk they wouldn't look anything like they do."[291] However, others in the punk rock scene would come to the defense of the band on their punk status. Bad Religion lead guitarist Brett Gurewitz and founder of the independent punk label Epitaph Records would state, "They [Green Day] are a punk band, but you know, punk is the legacy of rock and roll, and Green Day are the biggest band in the genre."[292]
Armstrong has discussed the group's status of being a punk band on a major record label, saying, "Sometimes I think we've become redundant because we're this big band now; we've made a lot of money—we're not punk rock anymore. But then I think about it and just say, 'You can take us out of a punk rock environment, but you can't take the punk rock out of us.'"[290] In 2021, Armstrong condemned the band's labeling as "pop-punk" by critics in a Vulture magazine interview, stating, "I never really liked that term (pop punk), it turned into sort of a genre. I never thought of myself as a pop artist. I've always been left of center. To say you're a pop-punker … it never sat well with me." Armstrong acknowledged the band's more melodic punk style compared to other bands from the Bay Area scene it emerged from, but also brought up the band's performance alongside East Bay hardcore bands like Neurosis, Engage, Spitboy, Blatz, and Filth.[293]
In 2006, English rock musician Noel Gallagher of the Britpop band Oasis complained about the band semi-jokingly, claiming that the band had ripped off his song "Wonderwall" with "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".[294]
2012 iHeartRadio Festival incident
On September 21, 2012, while Green Day was performing at the iHeartRadio music festival, Armstrong stopped while performing "Basket Case", because he believed the group's time was being shortened, possibly to extend R&B artist Usher's performance. Angered, Armstrong began ranting while a screen in the rear of the audience was labeled "1 Minutes Left", saying "You're gonna give me one fucking minute? You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" He also told the crowd he "was not Justin Bieber" and labeled the festival as a "joke". When the screen went blank, Armstrong smashed his guitar, while bassist Mike Dirnt smashed his bass. Armstrong then gave the finger, and declared that Green Day would be back before throwing his microphone down and walking off the stage.[295] Two days later, the band's representative apologized for the incident on the group's behalf stating that "Green Day would like everyone to know that their set was not cut short by Clear Channel and to apologize to those they offended at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas" also adding that Armstrong would be headed to rehab, for abuse of alcohol and prescription pills.[296][297] However, Dirnt would later say in an interview with Rolling Stone that he agreed with what Armstrong meant by his rant.[298] The band later made amends with the company and played an album release party for their 2016 release, Revolution Radio.[299][300] They also returned to the festival in 2019 supporting the album Father of All Motherfuckers.[300][301]
Mad Cool incident
On July 7, 2017, about 20 minutes before Green Day headlined Mad Cool, a festival in Madrid, an acrobat fell about 30 metres (98 ft) from a cage above the stage and died. Some fans were upset at the band and festival organizers for continuing the show, which was attended by about 35,000 people.[302] On their website, Armstrong said the band did not know about the accident before their set, and likely would not have played if they had.[303]