Green Day

Green Day is an American rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987, by the lead singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and the bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with the 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 20 million copies in the U.S. Green Day has been credited with reigniting mainstream interest in punk rock.

Before taking its current name in 1989, the band was named Sweet Children. They were part of the late 1980s/early 1990s Bay Area punk scene that emerged from 924 Gilman Street, a club in Berkeley, California. The band's early releases were with the independent record label Lookout! Records, including their first album 39/Smooth (1990). For most of the band's career, they have been a power trio 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 and sold six million copies in the U.S. Their next album 21st Century Breakdown was released in 2009. It was followed by a trilogy of albums, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!, released in September, November, and December 2012, respectively. The trilogy did not commercially perform as well as expected, in comparison to their previous albums, largely due to a lack of promotion and Armstrong entering rehab. These albums 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, making them one of the best-selling music artists. The group has been nominated for 20 Grammy Awards and won five: 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 1987, guitarist friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, both 15 years old at the time, along with bassist Sean Hughes and drummer Raj Punjabi, a fellow student from Pinole Valley High School, formed the band Desecrated Youth and played together in Punjabi's house garage in Rodeo, California.

A few months later, the band renamed to Sweet Children. One of their first songs written together was "Best Thing in Town". The group's first live performance took place on October 17, 1987, at Rod's Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California. In 1988, Armstrong and Dirnt began working with former Isocracy drummer John Kiffmeyer, also known as "Al Sobrante", who replaced original drummer Raj Punjabi. It was around this time that bassist Sean Hughes also left the band, causing Dirnt to switch from guitar to bass. Armstrong cites the band Operation Ivy (featuring Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, who would later contact Armstrong to fill in as a second guitarist for their band Rancid) as a major influence in inspiring him to form a band.

In 1988, Larry Livermore, owner of Lookout! Records, saw the band play an early gig and signed them to his label. In April 1989, the band released its debut extended play 1,000 Hours. Shortly before the EP's release, the group dropped the name Sweet Children. According to Livermore, this was done to avoid confusion with another local band Sweet Baby. Sweet Children adopted the name Green Day, instead, due to the members' fondness for cannabis. In the Bay Area, where the band was formed, "green day" was slang for spending a day doing nothing but smoking marijuana. Armstrong admitted in 2001 that he considered it to be "the worst band name in the world".

Lookout! released Green Day's debut studio album 39/Smooth in early 1990. Green Day recorded two extended plays later that year, Slappy and Sweet Children, the latter of which included older songs the band recorded for Minneapolis independent label Skene! Records. In 1991, Lookout! Records re-released 39/Smooth as 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and added the songs from the band's first two EPs, Slappy and 1,000 Hours. In late 1990, shortly after the band's first nationwide tour, Kiffmeyer left the East Bay area to attend Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. The Lookouts' drummer Tré Cool began filling in temporarily, and later permanently, a situation which Kiffmeyer "graciously accepted". The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993 and played a number of shows overseas in Europe. By then, the band's second studio album Kerplunk had sold 50,000 copies in the U.S. Green Day supported another California punk band Bad Religion as an opening act for their Recipe for Hate Tour for most of 1993.