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The band of Green Day started a long

time ago in Rodeo, California when

young friends Billie Joe Armstrong and

Mike Dirnt (born Michael Ryan

Pritchard) formed their first band whichwas then named Sweet Children.

Soon the band got its first drummer, Al

Sobrante who considerably helped the

bands development by booking a lot of

shows. In 1989 they released their first

EP 1,000 Hours, which brought the

band more fans, more gigs and

eventually a record deal. They were

signed to an independent label Lookout!

Records, which released their first 2

albums.

Right before the release of 1,039

Smoothed Out Slappy Hours,

their first album, Sweet Children

changed their name to Green Day,

allegedly due to their fondness of the

drug marijuana and according to Larry

Livermore, to avoid confusion with

another local band, Sweet Baby.

Soon after the release another change

came - Al Sobrante quit the band and

was replaced by Tre Cool (born Frank

Edwin Wright III) who became Green

Days permanent drummer. Green Day

were becoming more and more popular

and soon after the release of their

second album Kerplunk! in 1992,

their success soared and the band start

getting offers from major record labels.

Eventually, Green Day left theLookout! Record on friendly terms and

signed with Reprise Records after

attracting the attention of producer Rob

Cavello, who became the producer and

close friend of the band for many years

to come.

In the spring of 1994 Green Day

released their major label debutDookie,

which was a huge success.

Longview and Welcome to Paradise

were Green Days first promoted video

singles and with the help of MTV

Dookie turned into an ultimate hit

selling over 5 million copies in US

alone. It eventually sold 8 million in the

US and over 12 million internationally.

The singles Basket Case and When I

Come Around increased the success ofthe band and still remain among the

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most well-known Green Day songs.

The 1994 gig in Woodstock showed

that Green Day were undoubtedly the

most successful and loved band of the

year.

Unfortunately, the punk community

rejected Green Day because of their

world-wide success and labeled them as

sell-outs. The notorious Gilman Street,

a place that used to be their home now

86ed Green Day, and a lot of the bands

old fans turned their backs on them.

The confusion and disappointment

caused by the rejection served as an

inspiration for a lot of songs on Green

Days next album.

Insomniac came out in 1995 and sold

over 2 million copies by spring of the

next year.

However, none of its singles were as

successful as the ones from Dookieand

the album itself wasnt as big as its

predecessor.

Soon after Insomniac was released

Green Day started working on the new

album. Nimrod came out in 1997 and

was well received by both fans and

critics.

It sold 80,000 copies in the first week

after the release, and is still considered

one of the best albums ever released bythe band. The first single Hitchin a

Ride became very popular, but the real

success of Nimrod was the second

single - Good Riddance (Time of Your

Life). Even though the song never

reached the top of the charts, it was

played during most weddings and

graduations that year and still remains

the most well-known Green Day song.

Nimrodwasnt a huge success in sales,

but it gained a lot more respect for theband than any of their previous albums.

After the promotion ofNimrod was

over, Green Day took a break that

lasted almost 2 years. They came back

into the spotlight in late 1999 by

playing an acoustic show at Neil

Youngs Bridge School Benefit concert.

Soon after that they began working on

their next album, which would be

released in the fall of 2000 and named

Warning.

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Warning turned out to have a new

sound and deeper, more meaningful

lyrics than those on their earlier records.The album also proved to be extremely

successful as its first single Minority

reached the top of the Billboard Modern

Rock chart in just 4 weeks after its

release - faster than any other single of

the band.

After 10 years of a successfully

developing career Green Day decided to

release a hit collection, a compilation of

Green Day most famous songs. International Superhits!

came out in the Autumn of 2001 and

included all of the bands most famous

and loved hits plus 2 new songs -

Maria and J.A.R. Now, while this

super-hits compilation is perfect for

someone whos only finding out what

Green Day is and wants an overview ofthe bands career, the next album the

band released is a perfect gift for the

most devoted Green Day fans.

Shenanigans

is a

collection of

rare demos,and outtakes,

and even

though it is

technically

not an album

but only a compilation, a lot of the

bands fans consider it their favourite

record.

After the release ofShenanigans Green

Day took a long break to have some restfrom work and dedicate more time to

their families, hobbies and side projects.

In the summer of 2003, the band went

into a studio to write and record a new

material for a new album, tentatively

named Cigarettes and Valentines, but

after completing 20 tracks, the master

tape of the album were stolen from the

studio. The band then decided not to

recreate the stolen tracks and recorded a

completely

different album,

named American

Idiot. Rumoursabout the album

being a punk-

opera spread

among the fans.

There were all kinds of reactions, from

apathy to hate, but in the end, the albumthat the band released was way beyond

anything anyone would have ever

expected. American Idiot was released

on September 21st, 2004 and began a

whole new era in Green Days career.

In a way, it was a lot like what

happened after the release ofDookie -

the band got thousands of new fans,

was on covers of all possible music

magazines and became unbelievably

famous; but at the same time a lot oftheir old fans turned their backs on

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them because they thought Green Day

has became so popular that being their

fan was almost a part of fashion.

However, the high quality of the album

was proved not only by the multi-

platinum status of the record, but alsoby a shocking number of awards that

American Idiotearned for Green Day.

Three European Music Awards

nominations, seven Video Music

Awards nominations (one of which was

won by the director of all American

Idiotvideos Sam Bayer), the Recording

Academy Honour; plus American Idiot

got a number of Grammy nominations

both in 2005 and 2006 and won Best

Rock Album and Record of the Year.

Green Day engaged in several othersmaller projects in the time following

the hype ofAmerican Idiot. Green Day

released a new album under the band

name Foxboro Hot Tubs entitled Stop

Drop and Roll!!. In 2008, the Foxboro

Hot Tubs went on a mini-tour to

promote the record, hitting tiny Bay

Area venues including the Stork Club in

Oakland and Toots Tavern in Crockett,

CA.

In an interview with Kerrang!,

Armstrong revealed that 2008 would

"be a fair estimate of the release date of

their new untitled eighth studio album

for Green Day." In an interview with

Carson Daly, Garbage lead singer

Shirley Manson revealed that Butch Vig

would be producing Green Day's

forthcoming album. The span of nearly

five years between American Idiot andthis new album was the longest gap

between studio albums in Green Day's

career. The band had been working on

new material since January 2006. By

October 2007, Armstrong had 45 songs

written, but the band showed no further

signs of progress until October 2008,when a video of the group recording

with producer Butch Vig in the studio

was posted on YouTube. In the tour

section of the band's official website,

the message "World Tour coming

soon!" is shown. The writing and

recording process, spanning three years

and four recording studios, was finally

finished in April 2009.

The new album is titled 21st CenturyBreakdown and was released worldwide

on May 15, 2009.

It has received rave reviews from the

likes of Nirvana's Krist Novoselic. The

album had mainly positive reception

from critics, getting an average rating

between 4 and 5 stars. After the release,

the album hit #1 in fourteen different

countries, hitting Gold or Platinum in

each. 21st Century Breakdown achieved

Green Day's best chart performance to

date. The band started playing shows in

California in April and early May. It

was their first live show in about 3

years. Green Day is currently on a

world tour that started in North

America in July, 2009, arriving at

Australia in December, 2009 and

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continuing around the world throughout

the rest of 2009 and early 2010.