  Green Day consists of childhood
friends Billie Joe Armstrong (guitars,
vocals) and Mike Dirnt (bass), along with Tre
Cool (drums). The band got started in
California when Armstrong and Dirnt formed a
band named Sweet Children while in their
teens. When drummer, Al Sobrante, was added
to the mix in 1989, Green Day was formed (Tre
Cool became the band's permanent drummer
after the release of their first EP and after
Sobrante decided to go to college).
Green Day released an EP, 1,000
Hours. The band found some success with
the local punk scene and was signed to
Lookout Records - a local independent label.
 Green Day's first full LP, Smoothed
Out Slappy Hour was released.
When Kerplunk! was released
and became a hit with underground radio, the
band found their way to signing with a major
record label.
 # 48
Singles Artist of the Year
 Dookie was released and the
first single "Longview" introduced the
band to a larger radio and video audience.
Dookie was certified gold.
Green Day topped
the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for a
week with "Longview."
Green Day hit the Top 40 with
"Longview."
 The band continued to get major
notice with the single "Basket Case" and their
memorable performance and mud fight at Woodstock
'94.
Green Day topped
the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for 5
weeks with "Basket Case."
Dookie was certified
platinum.
 The video for "Longview" was nominated
for 3 MTV Video Music
Awards for Best Group Video, Best New Artist, and Best Alternative Video.
Dookie was certified 2x
platinum.
Green Day hit the Top 40 with
"Basket Case."
Dookie was certified 3x
platinum.
 Green Day hit the Top 40 with
"When I Come Around."
Green Day was voted Best New
Band (Reader's and Critic's Choice) in Rolling
Stone.
 # 39
Singles Artist of the Year
 Green Day topped the Modern Rock
Tracks chart for 7 weeks with "When I Come Around."
Dookie was certified 5x
platinum.
Green Day were nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Alternative
Artist.
Green Day hit the Top 10 with "When I Come Around."
Dookie was certified 6x
platinum.
 Green Day won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music
Performance (Dookie) and was nominated for
Best New Artist, Best Hard Rock Performance ("Longview"), and Best Rock Vocal Performance by a
Duo or Group ("Basket Case").
Dookie was certified 7x
platinum.
Dookie was certified 9x
platinum.
Smoothed
Out Slappy Hour was certified gold and Kerplunk! was certified gold.
Green Day hit the Top 40 with
"J.A.R."
Green Day topped the Modern Rock
Tracks chart for a week with "J.A.R."
The video for "Basket Case" was nominated
for 9 MTV Video Music
Awards including Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best Hard Rock Video, Best Alternative Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Viewer's Choice.
 Green Day released Insomniac and had success with
the track "Brain Stew." The LP sold
over 2 million copies in the U.S., but by
1996, the band had to cancel a European tour
due to exhaustion.
Green Day hit the Top 40 with
"Geek Stink Breath."
Green Day topped the Billboard
Year-End Chart-Toppers as the Top Modern Rock
Artist.
 # 144
Singles Artist of the Year
 Insomniac was certified
platinum.
Green Day were nominated for 3 American Music
Awards for Favorite Artist of the
Year, Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist,
and Favorite Alternative Artist.
 Insomniac was certified 2x
platinum.
Green Day hit the Top 40 with
"Brain Stew."
Green Day's video for
"Walking Contradiction" was
nominated for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Special Effects.
 Green Day were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form ("Walking
Contradiction").
Green Day released Nimrod and hit the
alternative, rock, and pop charts with "Time
Of Your Life (Good Riddance)" (which later had
renewed interest in '98 when prominently used
in an ER storyline).
 Green Day performed a 40 minute
set at Tower Records in New York City in
support of their latest LP, Nimrod, and then reportedly
trashed the place to the tune of $50,000.
Billy Joe Armstrong proclaimed: "You can
start a riot... 'cause you're not at Tower
Records, you're at a Green Day concert."
The band's antics included mooning the crowd
of over 500, spray-painting a profanity on
the store windows, pouring beer on CD racks,
and attempting to throw heavy rental musical
equipment over a ledge. The store manager
told MTV that "...almost all the damage
was done by the band." There were no
injuries and fans did not part-take in the
ruckus. The band was suppose to sign their
LPs after the performance, but the record
store cancelled that part of the event in
order to clean up the store. No charges were
filed against the band and the band will most
likely not be asked back to the store.
 # 49
Singles Artist of the Year
 Green Day were nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite
Alternative Artist.
Green Day hit the Top 40 with
"Time
Of Your Life (Good Riddance)."
Green Day hit the Top
10
with with "Time
Of Your Life (Good Riddance)."
Nimrod was certified
platinum.
At a Los Angeles radio station
festival, the bassist for Green Day and the
bassist for Third
Eye Blind reportedly got into a scuffle
that resulted in scull injury and concert
cancellation. Reports stated: Salazer of Third
Eye Blind appeared on stage during Green
Day's set and was kicked by Dirnt of Green
Day after being tackled by security guards
and later, Salazer hit Dirnt in the head with
a beer bottle resulting in a skull fracture.
Other reports state a fan hit Dirnt with the
beer bottle. Salazer later stated: "I am
sorry that my attempt at doing something I
thought would be funny escalated into Mike
getting hurt. That was never my intention. I
simply had too much to drink and made a very
bad decision..." Green Day cancelled a
concert in Sacramento the next night.
 Green Day won a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Alternative Video ("Time
Of Your Life (Good Riddance)."
Green Day were
nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite
Alternative Artist.
Dookie was certified 10x
platinum.
 Green Day's next LP will be
produced by Grammy winning producer, Rob
Cavallo and can be heard on the soundtrack
for Austin
Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me with the instrumental,
"Espionage."
Green Day were nominated for a
MTV Movie Award for Best Song ("Nice
Guys Finish Last").
MTV: 100
Greatest Videos Ever Made includes
"Basket Case" at # 100.
 # 179
Singles Artist of the Year
Green Day were nominated for a Grammy
Award for Best Rock Instrumental
Performance ("Espionage").
Tre Cool got married.
Nimrod was certified 2x
platinum.
 During the summer, Green Day
took part in the Warped tour.
Green Day hit #1 on the
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart with
"Minority" for 5 weeks.
 A new Green Day LP, Warning, was released.
The video for
"Minority" hit #1 on MTV's Top 20
Video Countdown.
VH1: 100
Greatest Artists of Hard Rock includes Green Day at
# 80.
Rolling Stone
& MTV: 100 Greatest Pop Songs includes "Longview" at # 78.
 Warning was certified gold.
 Green Day released a hits
compilation - International
Superhits with 2 new tracks -
"Maria" and "Poprocks And
Coke." A greatest videos DVD collection
was also released.
 International
Superhits was certified gold.
Green Day could be heard on the
soundtrack for New
Guy with
"Outsider."
The band began touring as part
of the 'Pop Disaster' package tour with Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World.
 Green Day released Shenanigans.
Armstrong was arrested in
California for driving under the influence
after being pulled over for speeding. He was
arrested after failing a sobriety test and
released from jail the following morning.
VH1: 100 Best
Songs of the Past 25 Years includes "Time
Of Your Life (Good Riddance)" at # 78.
Kerplunk! was certified
platinum.
Green Day were featured on the
DVD Riding
In Vans With Boys.
Rolling Stone:
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: # 193:
Dookie.
 # 147
Singles Artist of the Year
 Green Day released 1,039/Smoothed
Out Slappy Hours which included the
band's 1990 LP 39/Smooth and the EPs
Slappy and 1,000 Hours.
Green Day topped the Billboard
Modern Rock Tracks chart for 6 weeks and the
Canadian singles chart with "American
Idiot."
Green Day released a new LP, American
Idiot.
American
Idiot topped the UK and Canadian LP
charts.
Green Day got their first #1 LP
in the US with American
Idiot which topped the Billboard 200
LP chart after selling over 267,000 copies
its first week of release.
American
Idiot was certified platinum.
 Green Day topped the Billboard
Modern Rock Tracks chart for 16 weeks and Hot
Digital Tracks chart with "Boulevard Of Broken
Dreams."
Green Day hit the Top 40 with
"Boulevard Of Broken
Dreams."
# 297 on the Top Pop Artists
of the Past 25 Years chart.
 # 6
Singles Artist of the Year
Green Day topped the Billboard
Mainstream Rock Tracks chart with "
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