Simple Punk Rock Music Information Blog

Green Day was part of the California punk scene. Childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, vocals) and Mike Dirnt (bass; born Mike Pritchard) formed their first band, Sweet Children, in Rodeo, California when they were 14 years old. By 1989, the group had added drummer Al Sobrante and changed their name to Green Day. That year, the band independently released their first EP, 1,000 Hours, which was well-received in the punk scene. Soon, the group had signed a contract with the local independent label, Lookout! Records. 39/Smooth, Green Day's first album, was released later that year. Shortly after its release, the band replaced Kiftmeyer with Tre Cool (born Frank Edwin Wright, III); Tre Cool became the band's permanent drummer. it is nowadays like Green Day stand as one of influential punk rock band with their massive lyrics.

Green Day printed a fictional letter purporting to be from I.R.S. Records that claimed the label had made an attempt to sign them. In a mock reply to the fictional letter, the band made it clear that they were loyal to Lookout! Records, saying that I.R.S. was a cheesy and washed-up label.They recorded two more EPs later that year: Slappy and Sweet Children, the latter of which included some older songs for the Minneapolis, Minnesota indie label Skene! Records. In 1991, Lookout! Records released 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, a compilation of the 39/Smooth, Slappy, and 1,000 Hours EPs. In late 1990, shortly after the band's first nationwide tour, Sobrante moved to Arcata, California to attend college. Lookouts drummer Tré Cool began filling in as a temporary replacement, and when it became clear that Sobrante did not plan on committing to the band full time, Tré Cool's position as Green Day's drummer became fixed. The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a stretch of shows overseas in Europe. They headlined a gig at the Hollywood Palamino club in 1992 with Jughead's Revenge and Strung Out, a show that would become legendary among the band's following. Kerplunk sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S. which was considered quite a large amount for the independent punk scene in 1992. It eventually sold over 2 million albums worldwide.

Green Day's sound is often compared to first wave punk and old punk bands such as The Ramones, The Clash, and the Buzzcocks. The majority of their song catalog is composed of distorted guitar, fast, manic drums, and low, heavy bass. Most of their songs are fast-paced and under the average song length of four minutes (4:00). Billie Joe Armstrong has however said his biggest influences are seminal alternative rock bands The Replacements, and that their influence is particularly noted in the band's chord changes in songs. Armstrong's lyrics describe alienation, ("Jesus of Suburbia", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Reject"), hysteria ("Basket Case", "Panic Song"), girls ("She", "80"), the effects of doing drugs ("Geek Stink Breath", "Green Day"), alienation ("Outsider", "Something To Believe In"), girls ("I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker"), and drugs ("Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue"), Green Day covered their song Outsider on the tribute album We're a Happy Family and they have also covered the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop." Green Day's style also closely resembles that of other alternative and punk rock bands based around the 924 Gilman Street scene in the late 1980's and early 1990's, such as Screeching Weasel, and The Mr. T Experience.

source: Wikipedia