Born in 1970 my music era was the 80′s and early 90′s, it wasn’t untill the very late 90′s i discoverd this odd welsh band ” The Manic Street Preachers ” a punk rock influenece changed the way i listened to music. Long gone was the old pop wave of Bucks Fizz and Duran Duran and not forgeting the Pet Shop Boys, in came a new era of Rock! most of my music collection was made up of bands including Oasis, Manic Street Preachers,Sterophonics,The Killers,Muse,Coldplay,U2 and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Out with the old and in with the new included a new addition to the family. In 1995 the new Billie Joe Armstrong was born!
Our youngest son Tom was just 5 when we bought him his first acoustic guitar for Christmas not sure why it spent most of its life in the attic. But anyway several years later he took the guitar to School hoping to impress his teacher.This didnt start well when he was attacked at the young age of 11 by a school pupil in which he was held at Knife point and robbed of a just a £1 whilst on his way to his guitar lesson. It didnt get much easier when his music teacher told us at a Parents evening ” dont get too carried away with his guitar playing “. Well just like Billie Joe himself this young lad had a natrual talent for music, his grandfather was a musican and former lead guitarist of a rock band and with some devine intervention a natrual born talent was created.
Devine intervention came in the form of ” Mike the Pro Rock Guitar teacher ” , Toms Grandfather pure inspiration and not forgetting Billie Joe Armstrong.Many guitars,amps,haircuts,posters and concerts later here we are middle aged Dad and Young son mad on Green Day Oh Mum is hooked too!.
This blog is my tribute to the greatest live band i have ever seen (Sorry Manics) who i saw live at the CIA in Cardiiff and thought they were Brill untill my son took me to the LG arena in 2009 to see the Great Green Day Live.
Thankyou Green Day
My Son Thomas playing the Yamaha electric acoustic unplugged at school with his freind John Rock On!…..
Green Day, the band history…….
Green Day is an American rock trio formed in 1987. The band has consisted of Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar, vocals), and Tré Cool (drums, percussion) for the majority of its existence.
Green Day was originally part of the punk rock scene at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California. Its early releases for independent record label Lookout! Records earned them a grassroots fanbase, some of whom felt alienated when the band signed to a major label. Nevertheless, its major label debut Dookie (1994) became a breakout success and eventually sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. and 15 million worldwide As a result, Green Day was widely credited, alongside fellow California punk bands The Offspring and Rancid, with reviving mainstream interest in and popularizing punk rock in the United States. Green Day’s three follow-up albums, Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning did not achieve the massive success of Dookie, but they were still successful, reaching double platinum, double platinum, and gold status respectively.[6] Green Day’s 2004 rock opera American Idiot reignited the band’s popularity with a younger generation, selling five million copies in the U.S.The band’s eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, was released on May 15, 2009.
Green Day has sold over 22 million records in the United States.They have won three Grammy Awards; Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, and Record of the Year for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”.
Formation and Lookout years: 1987–1993
“Welcome to Paradise”
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Sample of “Welcome to Paradise” from Kerplunk This was before Green Day re-recorded the song for its major-label debut Dookie.
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In 1987, friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, 15 years old at the time, formed a band called Sweet Children. The first Sweet Children show took place on October 17, 1987, at Rod’s Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California where Armstrong’s mother was working. In 1988, Armstrong and Dirnt began working with former Isocracy drummer, John Kiffmeyer (also known as Al Sobrante). Kiffmeyer served as both the band’s drummer and business manager, handling the booking of shows and helping the band establish a fan base.
Larry Livermore, owner of Lookout! Records, saw the band play an early show and signed them to his label. In 1989 they recorded their first EP, 1,000 Hours. Before 1,000 Hours was released, the band dropped the name Sweet Children, according to Livermore this was done to avoid confusion with another local band Sweet Baby. The band adopted the name Green Day, allegedly due to their fondness of marijuana.
Lookout! would release Green Day’s first LP, 39/Smooth in early 1990. Green Day would record two EPs later that year: Slappy and Sweet Children, the latter of which included some older songs they had recorded for Minneapolis 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 left the East Bay area to attend college. The Lookouts drummer Tré Cool began filling in as a temporary replacement, and when it became clear that Sobrante did not plan to commit to the band full time, Tré Cool’s position as Green Day’s drummer became permanent. The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a stretch of shows overseas in Europe. The band’s second full length album Kerplunk sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S.
Green Day’s sound is often compared to first wave punk bands such as the Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Jam, and the Buzzcocks.[21][48] The majority of their song catalog is composed of overdriven guitar, fast, manic drums, and relatively high-treble bass. Most of their songs are fast-paced and under four minutes. Billie Joe Armstrong has mentioned that some of his biggest influences are seminal alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, and that their influence is particularly noted in the band’s chord changes in songs. In fact, Green Day has covered Hüsker Dü’s “Don’t Want to Know If You Are Lonely” as a B-side for the “Warning” single, and the character “Mr. Whirly” in their song “Misery” is a reference to the Replacements song of the same name.[49] Among other influences, Green Day have also cited Queen,[50] proto-punks The Who, and power pop pioneers Cheap Trick. Armstrong’s lyrics commonly describe alienation, (“Jesus of Suburbia”, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “Road to Acceptance”, “Disappearing Boy”, “Castaway”) hysteria (“Basket Case”, “Panic Song”, “American Eulogy”), girls (“She”, “80″ “Only of You”,”Maria” “She’s a Rebel”), growing up (“Longview” and “Welcome to Paradise”), and the effects of doing drugs (“Geek Stink Breath”, “Green Day”, “Give Me Novacaine”). The Ramones had similar lyrical themes such as hysteria (“Anxiety”, “Psycho Therapy”), 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”, “Chinese Rocks”). Green Day has covered Ramones songs several times, including recording “Outsider” for the tribute album We’re a Happy Family, and performing “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “Teenage Lobotomy” when the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
In reaction to both the style of music and the background of the band, John Lydon, former front man of the 1970s punk band the Sex Pistols commented:
So there we are fending off all that and it pisses me off that years later a wank outfit like Green Day hop in and nick all that and attach it to themselves. They didn’t earn their wings to do that and if they were true punk they wouldn’t look anything like they do.
In another interview, Lydon stated that:
Look, I’m sorry, they’re a bit fake for me. They change their image. Fake mockneys. The London twang and vocal is a little out of place. Enjoy your own culture and stick with what you know.
British rock musician Noel Gallagher of Oasis also complained about the band semi-jokingly, claiming that they ripped off his song “Wonderwall” with their song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”. Mashup DJs Party Ben and team9 would later release a mashup of the two songs called “Boulevard of Broken Songs” under the spoonerism Dean Gray.
Cool mentioned in a July 2009 interview that while Armstrong is the primary songwriter, he looks to the other band members for organizational help.
