Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, drummer Tré Cool and guitarist and backing vocalist Jason White, who became a full member after playing in the band as a session and touring guitarist for 13 years. Cool replaced former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990, prior to the recording of the band's second studio album, Kerplunk (1992).
Green Day was originally part of the punk scene at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California. The band's early releases were from the independent record label Lookout! Records. In 1994, its major label debut Dookie released through Reprise Records became a breakout success and eventually sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. Green Day was widely credited, alongside fellow California punk bands Sublime, The Offspring and Rancid, with popularizing and reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the United States. Green Day's three follow-up albums, Insomniac (1995), Nimrod (1997), and Warning (2000) did not achieve the massive success of Dookie, though they were still successful, with Insomniac and Nimrod reaching double platinum and Warning reaching gold status. The band's rock opera, American Idiot (2004), reignited the band's popularity with a younger generation, selling five million copies in the United States. The band's eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, was released in 2009 which achieved the band's best chart performance to date. In 2012, 21st Century Breakdown would be followed up by a trilogy albums called ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!. ¡Uno! was released on September 25, 2012 and ¡Dos! was released on November 13, 2012, while ¡Tré! is set to be released on December 11, 2012.
Green Day has sold over 65 million records worldwide with 25 million in the US alone. The group has won five Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Best Rock Album for the second time for 21st Century Breakdown 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 several Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Scenic Design.
Read more about Green Day: Musical Style and Influences, Related Projects, Politics and Social Justice, Band Members, Discography
Famous quotes containing the words green and/or day:
“Men like my father cannot die. They are with me still, real in memory as they were in flesh, loving and beloved forever. How green was my valley then.”
—Philip Dunne (1908–1992)
“Sometimes, because of its immediacy, television produces a kind of electronic parable. Berlin, for instance, on the day the Wall was opened. Rostropovich was playing his cello by the Wall that no longer cast a shadow, and a million East Berliners were thronging to the West to shop with an allowance given them by West German banks! At that moment the whole world saw how materialism had lost its awesome historic power and become a shopping list.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)