Green Day Biography - The early years

In 1987 friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt created a band named Sweet Children. Their first show of note took place in October of that year at Rod’s Hockey Pit in California. A year later John Kiffmeyer joined their band as a drummer and business manager, helping them create a local fan base. They were signed to Lookout! Records after the owner, Larry Livermore saw them play in one of their earlier shows. In order to avoid confusion with the band Sweet Baby, they changed their name. The band now known as Green Day was born. The name is supposedly related to their liking of marijuana.

Lookout! released their first album in 1990 named 39/Smooth. Included with the album was a letter supposedly from I.R.S. Records saying they had tried to sign Green Day. The band included a response saying they were loyal to Lookout!. Their response called I.R.S. “cheesy and washed up.” Later in 1990 Green Day released Slappy and Sweet Children. Also in 1990 John Kiffmeyer left the band to attend college. Tré Cool, the drummer from The Lookouts became Green Day’s temporary replacement. Once it was apparent that Kiffmeyer did not plan to return, Tré Cool took up the role as permanent drummer. In 1991, 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, a compilation of 39/Smooth, Slappy and 1,000 Hours albums. For most of 1992 and 1993, the band was on tour which included shows in Europe. In 1992, their album Kerplunk sold fifty thousand copies in the United States. This was impressive for the independent punk band.

The success of Kerplunk drew interest from major record companies to Green Day. They decided to leave Lookout! records and sign with Reprise Records under the producer Rob Cavello. This move gave them the name sellouts in the eyes of many punk fans. This did not stop them as they went on to release Dookie. The album was recorded in three weeks and was an immediate success. The airtime given to “Longview,” “Basket Case,” and “When I Come Around” by MTV aided this success greatly. Every one of those songs hit number one on Modern Rock Tracks charts. That same year marked their nationwide tour accompanied by the bands Queercore and Pansy Division. Green Day played at both Lollapalooza and Woodstock 1994. The later performance jump started their publicity and recognition nationwide. In 1995, Dookie won the Grammy for Best Alternative Album.

In 1995, the single “J.A.R.” went right to the number one spot on the Modern Rock Track chart. The album Insomniac quickly followed in the fall of 1995. Insomniac was much darker than the band’s previous work. It did well, getting four of five stars from Rolling Stone Magazine. One of the songs on this album referred to the bands thought that they have gone too commercial in their music. Insomniac was not as successful as Dookie, but it still managed to sell seven million copies in the United States. It also won the band award for Favorite Artist, Favorite Rock Artist and Favorite Alternative Artist in 1996 at the American Music Awards. The video for “Walking Contradiction” was nominated for Best Video, Short Form and Best Special effects at the MTV Video Music Awards. After this, the band pulled out of a European tour, citing their exhaustion.

Green Day biography - later years