If you are a lover of punk rock music, you would know about Green Day. It is the American punk
rock three member band that is composed of Mike Dirnt on bass, Tre Cool on drums and Billie
Joe Armstrong, the lead vocalist and guitarist. You would find these boys in strange poses in the
Green Day posters, thanks to the punk image that they have successfully created over the last
two decades. They have been one of the most commercially successful rock bands as their 85
million records have been sold globally, 32 million of which is alone in the US.
Formed in 1986 by friends Billy Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, Green Day was initially named as
Sweet Children. The name was so because the boys were just 14 years old then. However, the
name soon got changed to Green Day in 1988 to avoid any sort of confusion with an existing
band called Sweet Baby. The band’s got its first breakthrough when they got a chance to
perform at Sesame Street.
It was 1989 when Larry Livermore of Lookout! Records offered the young boys a record deal of
an extended play of 1000 hours. The first EP of Green Day that was named ‘1,000 hours” was
released in 1989. The band has recorded another 5 EPs till date. The first of 11 Studio albums
recorded by Green Day was “39/Smooth” which was released in 1990. The first commercial
success was achieved by Green Day in 1991 when they released their second album “Kerplunk”.
The album was an instant hit with more than 2 million records sold worldwide.
The music of Green Day has undergone many twists and turns and it was more evident when
they released “Dookie”, the third studio album in 1994. This was by far the best success that
was seen by the boys of Green Days. The album did a sale of whopping (20 million worldwide of
which 10 million was in US) and it topped the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian charts and
got them multiple international Awards.
Other albums like “Insomniac”, “Nimrod”, “Warning” have not been as successful as “Dookie”,
both in terms of getting international appreciation and commercially. However, “American
Idiot” that released in 1994 was a chart topper in multiple countries, including the Billboard
200. The album could not manage enough commercial success, though.
In the long stint of being in existence, Green Day band has won numerous awards. The band
has got 5 Grammy awards, 17 California Music Awards, 11, MTV Video Music Awards, 4 MTV
Europe Music Awards, 2 BRIT Awards, 6 Billboard Music Awards, 2 ASCAP Pop Music Awards, 3
American Music Awards, 5 Radio Music Awards, one People’s Choice Award in 2006, 4 MVPA
Awards, and many more miscellaneous awards, the total count of which would cross double
digit figures.
If you are fascinated by the punk rock music of Green Day, you can buy your own Green Day
posters at idposter.com and enhance the looks of your walls.