Green Day Band Shot

Green Day



Guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist Mike Dirnt started their first band when they were fourteen, eventually becoming Green Day.

After a couple albums for indie labels and the arrival of drummer Tre Cool (Frank Wright III) Green Day was signed by Reprise.

Their first effort for the label was “Dookie.” The album earned heavy MTV support helping “Longview,” “When I Come Around” rule the Mainstream Rock chart. “Basket Case” also landed in the Top 10. The album went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide.

“Insomniac” rolled out a year later. While it had “J.A.R.” the album just didn’t have “Dookie’s” impact.

Claiming exhaustion Green Day cut short a European tour and returned home where they wrote and recorded “Nimrod, containing the ballad, “Time of Your Life (Good Riddance).”

Good Riddance

“Warning” landed in “00 loaded with great songs. But it was “American Idiot” that re-established the group. The ‘04 released, a direct attack on the Bush era, landed them on top of the Billboard Album chart for the first time. It also won the ’05 Record of the Year Grammy and the trophy for Record of the Year with Boulevard Of Broken Dreams.” The album has sold 23 million copies worldwide.

American Idiot
Holiday

Some cantankerous nitpickers argued that “American Idiot’s” mainstream appeal was due more to the ballads “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” than the far more potent title track, “Jesus Of Suburbia” or “Holiday” (one of the greatest songs of the decade).

Following the highly lauded “American Idiot” the time was ripe to show Green Day live. Already well-known for energetic performances, the group’s “Bullet In A Bible” DVD delivered the good.

In the fall of ‘06 Green Day performed during the pre-game show with U2 on ESPN’s Monday Night Football to celebrate the reopening of the Louisiana Superdome (nearly destroyed during Hurricane Katrina) in New Orleans. They played a live version of the recently recorded hurricane charity single, “The Saints Are Coming” (originally recorded by The Skids in the late ’70s). The two bands also performed U2’s “Beautiful Day,” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” Footage was sold online to benefit Music Rising, an organization co-founded by U2’s The Edge that replaced musical instruments lost in ‘05’s Gulf Coast storms.

The group faced the near insurmountable challenge of following a mega-hit. Fortunately for them, they had some prior experience with “Dookie.”

Butch Vig (Nirvana), Smashing Pumpkins) produced “21st Century Breakdown,” the band’s ’09 follow-up to “American Idiot.”

Prior to the set’s release, Armstrong revealed that Green Day nearly had a collective breakdown. “This is the album that could have killed us,” admitted the frontman. “We had set the bar so high with ‘American Idiot.’ We all became sick as dogs.”

A flurry of activity surrounded the release of “21st Century Breakdown,” a three-act Rock opera built around the characters Christian and Gloria.

A 90-second snippet of “Know Your Enemy,” the first single off the album, opened CBS’ telecast of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Game.

A couple weeks later “Know Your Enemy” went to radio as the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 after moving 215,000 copies in only three days.

Then, The Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s ’09 production of “American Idiot,” a musical based on Green Day’s ‘04 album, made its premiere. The score included all the songs from “American Idiot” and some from “21st Century Breakdown.” “We’ve seen firsthand what amazing actors they are,” said Armstrong of the cast. “Their talent has truly brought the album to life.” American Idiot had a five-week run.

A few months later, Green Day and cast performed “21 Guns” at the ’10 Grammys in L.A. To top off the evening, “21st Century Breakdown” landed the Best Rock Album award.

“American Idiot” made its Broadway debut (opening was on April 20th, 2010) and launched a successful run with Armstrong occasionally playing the St. Jimmy character.

Speaking of Green Day onstage, the band issued their ninth LP, “Awesome as F***” in ’11. The two-disc set included live performances from the band’s recent world tour with portions filmed in Japan. It was their first live release since ‘05’s “Bullet In A Bible.”

“We are at the most prolific and creative time in our lives. This is the best music we’ve ever written, and the songs just keep coming,” stated a press release. promoting the Green Day’s next efforts.

After two studio concept albums (“American Idiot” & “21st Century Breakdown”) Green Day stated they were ready to try something different. With long time producer Rob Cavallo they recorded the ’12 trilogy titled, “Uno!,” “Dos!” and “Tre!” Touring guitarist Jason White joined the band in the studio to give the recordings a more live feel. Despite that, the albums collective first week sales were less than 270,000 copies. More than half of the sales, 139,000 copies sold, were generated by the first offering, “Uno!”

Unfortunately, Green Day ground to a halt when Armstrong had an onstage meltdown in Las Vegas at the iHeartRadio Festival. During the show, producers notified Green Day – via teleprompter – that they had one minute left onstage causing the group to abruptly stop playing with Armstrong calling out the show’s producers, flipping them off and smashing his guitar before storming off stage.

“We would like to apologize to those we offended at the iHeartRadio Festival,” read a band post shortly after the show.

Two days later, Armstrong entered rehab for substance abuse. In October, with their frontman still in rehab, Green Day announced that they had canceled all dates for ’12 and postponed early ’13 shows. “Obviously, the timing for this isn’t ideal, but Billie Joe’s well-being is our main concern,” wrote Dirnt in a statement.

Three years later, Green Day were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Fall Out Boy.

“Bang Bang” was the lead single from the band’s twelfth album, “Revolution Radio.” Armstrong said the album reflected “the culture of mass shooting that happens in America mixed with narcissistic social media.” It was meant to reflect the current state of violence in the U.S. “Bang, Bang” was the lead single. During a performance of the song during the American Music Awards the band chanted “”No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA” referencing Donald Trump’s recent election.

“Father Of All Motherfuckers” dropped in ’19. Though it received mixed review, the album went to #4 on the Billboard 200. It was Green Days eleventh Top 10 album

During Green Day’s ’23 performance of “American Idiot” on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. Armstrong replaced the line “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” with “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda”, a swipe at Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan.

Released a few weeks later, “Saviors,” had “The American Dream Is Killing Me” and “Dilemma,” both went to #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. Like Green Day’s previous album, “Saviors” also debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200.

In the aftermath of the devastating 2025 wildfires in the Greater L.A. area. Green Day was one of over two dozen acts who performed at one of two L.A. venues (Kia Arena and Intuit Dome) to raise money for FireAid. Green Day played the Kia Forum.

Through the concerts and other activities FireAid has raised an estimated $100 million for disaster relief.

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