Green Day

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Do you have the time To listen to me whine About nothing and everything all at once? —Basket Case

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, but he usually isn't included in the band roster.

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 own Rock Band game treatment, released June 2010.

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
• 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)

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 members of Devo, all under fake stage names)
• Pinhead Gunpowder (Billie Joe, Jason White, Aaron Cometbus)

• Dookie (1994)
  • "Basket Case"
  • "Longview"
  • "When I Come Around"
  • "She"
  • "Welcome To Paradise"
• Insomniac (1995)
  • "Brain Stew/Jaded"
  • "Stuck with Me"
  • "Geek Stink Breath"
  • "Walking Contradiction"
• Nimrod (1997)
  • "Hitchin' a Ride"
  • "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
  • "Redundant"
  • "Nice Guys Finish Last"
• Warning (2000)
  • "Minority"
  • "Warning"
  • "Waiting"
  • "Macy's Day Parade"
• American Idiot (2004)
  • "American Idiot"
  • "Jesus of Suburbia"
  • "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
  • "Wake Me Up When September Ends"
  • "Holiday"
• Twenty First Century Breakdown (2009)
  • "Know Your Enemy"
  • "21 Guns"
  • "East Jesus Nowhere"
  • "21st Century Breakdown"
• Uno!/Dos!/Tre! (2012)
• Revolution Radio (2016)

Other:

• "J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)" (1995): non-album single which was a number-one hit
• Skull Ring (2003): Collaboration with Iggy Pop
  • "Private Hell"
  • "Supermarket"
• "I Fought the Law" (2004): Bobby Fuller Four cover
• "The Saints Are Coming" (2006): Skids cover with U2
• "Working Class Hero" (2008): cover of the John Lennon song

Pre-American Idiot Green Day includes examples of:

(For American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown tropes, go to their respective pages.)

• All Drummers Are Animals: Tre Cool. Snorts donut sprinkles. Smokes lettuce. Is the only person to climb the Universal Tower without getting into trouble. Allegedly can suck his own.
• Awesome McCoolname: Almost literally with Tré Cool, meaning "very cool" in French.
• Bi the Way: Billie Joe and Tre are openly bi.
• Black Sheep Hit: "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" after Seinfeld.
• Butt Monkey: The entire band in the opening of The Simpsons Movie. A single line about the environment into a three-and-a-half-hour free concert and the crowd immediately folds on them. What a bunch of ingrates.
  • Not to mention that they get killed off by sinking into the toxic waters of Lake Springfield a few seconds later.
• Cluster F-Bomb: "Platypus (I Hate You)": "DICKHEAD, FUCKFACE, COCKSMOKING, MOTHERFUCKING ASSHOLE, DIRTY TWAT, WASTE OF SEMEN, I HOPE YOU DIE-- HEY!"
• Crossdresser: "King For A Day".
• A Date with Rosie Palms: "All By Myself".
  • The infamous "Longview" isn't even remotely subtle about it. "When masturbation's lost it's fun, you're fucking lonely!"
• Epic Rocking: Didn't really delve into it much before American Idiot, but Warning has the 5-minute-long "Misery"
• Fading Into the Next Song: Many, most notably "Brain Stew/Jaded".
• Fan Service: Billie Joe likes to lift up his shirt a lot.
  • And the opposite direction with his pants as well.
• Four More Measures: "Good Riddance". It's not helped by the two false starts.
• Greatest Hits Album: International Superhits!
• Guyliner: Billie Joe adopted it since American Idiot came out (part of why some label them as Emo).
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Billie Joe and Mike
• Indecipherable Lyrics: When they performed "Geek Stink Breath" on Saturday Night Live, they got away with saying "Shit" because nobody understood what Billie Joe was saying
• Isn't It Ironic?: "Good Riddance" is frequently subjected to this due to its mellow tone and the "time of your life" chorus.
• The Jimmy Hart Version: The riff to "Brain Stew" is played in the background of a Justin Bieber biography...
• Licensed Game: Green Day: Rock Band.
• Loudness War: Unfortunately, the recent stuff is pretty badly clipped.
• Lyrical Dissonance: The happy songs usually have some dark themes.
• 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" which is followed by the deliriously happy-sounding "King for a Day."
• Murder Ballad: "Havin' A Blast" from Dookie.
• 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 Rock instrumental S ("Last Ride In"), an Unplugged Song ("Good Riddance"), a Ska tune about transvestism ("King for a Day"), and the Cluster F-Bomb Hardcore 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
• Older Than They Look: Billie Joe Armstrong, the singer, is almost 40 years old. He looks around 20-21, if this photo has any indication.
• Once Per Episode: See Ho Yay. Billie Joe kisses a dude every concert.
• One-Woman Song: "Haushinka" and "Maria".
• Rock Trio
• 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"?
• Siamese Twin Songs: "Brain Stew" and "Jaded".
• Stylistic Suck: Any song with Tre Cool on lead vocals.
• Subdued Section: "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" and "Macy's Day Parade" for Nimrod and Warning, respectively.
• 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.
• Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", "Macy's Day Parade" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends"
• Three Chords and the Truth
• 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.
• Verbal Tic: "Y'know?" Yes, we know, Billie Joe.