Green Day is an American rock band that formed in 1987. The members of the band are Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar,vocals), and Tré Cool (drums, percussion), Jason White (guitar/vocals) andJason Freese (keyboard). Jason Freese only participates in concert tours.

At first, Green Day was part of the punk rock scene at 924 Gilman Street inBerkeley, California. Its record label debut Dookie (1994) became a success. Soon, it sold more than ten million copies in the United States alone, and 15 million copies worldwide.^[1] The album was well reviewed and the band werepraised for its music and sales.^[2][3] Green Day had three more albums after that, Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning. They were still successful albums, reaching double platinum, double platinum, and gold status respectively. However none of these albums sold as well as their first, Dookie.^[4] Green Day's 2004 rock opera American Idiot sold five million copies in the United States.^[5]

Green Day has sold over 85 million records worldwide,^[1] 32 million of them in the United States alone.^[6] They also have won three Grammy Awards, Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, and Record of the Year for the song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".

Music style and influences[change | change source]

Green Day's sound is usually compared to bands such as the Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Jam, and theBuzzcocks.^[14][33] Most of their songs are fast-paced and under the average song length of four minutes (4:00), though some of their songs run on longer such as "Jesus of Suburbia" which runs for nine minutes. Billie Joe Armstrong said that some of his biggest influences are alternative rock bands Husker Dü and The Replacements.^[14] Armstrong's lyrics mostly describe alienation, hysteria, girls, growing up, and what happens to someone if they take drugs. The Ramones had lyricalthemes that were also close to Green Day's lyrics such as hysteria, alienation, girls, and drugs. Green Day has covered Ramones songs a few times, such as recording "Outsider" for the tribute album We're a Happy Family, and performing"Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Teenage Lobotomy" when the Ramones made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.