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This Punk-Rock trio was founded in the late '80s in Berkeley, San Francisco
Bay Area USA, by two 14-years-old guys: vocalist+guitarist Billie Joe
Armstrong and bassist Mike Dirnt, real name Mike Pritchard; the pair began
playing music as Sweet Children; in 1989 they were joined by drummer John
Kiffmeyer and the group changed its name to Green Day.
That same year, the new band released an independent EP titled "1,000
Hours".
During 1990 Green Day recorded two discs: the 4-track EP "Slappy"
and their debut full-length, "39/Smooth", the latter was later
repackaged and retitled "1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours"; months
after releasing their first album Kiffmeyer left Green Day, Tre Cool,
real name Frank Edward Wright, replaced him on drums.
The band toured frequently around the Bay Area writing new material and
in 1991 they issued "Kerplunk" which attracted major label attention
and the trio was finally signed to Reprise Records.
In 1994 Green Day released the expolsive third full-length disc, "Dookie";
three singles off the album stormed The Modern Rock Tracks chart: "Longview"
and "Basket Case" both peaked at #1 and "Welcome To Paradise"
reached the #7; the group's third LP soared to the #2 spot on The Billboard
200 chart selling over 12 million copies worldwide. Green Day with "Dookie"
won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.
The follow-up, "Insomniac", immediately shot to #2 on The Billboard
Top 200 Albums chart upon its October 1995 release and generated the Modern
Rock #1 hit "When I Come Around" plus three Modern Rock top
5 hits: "Geek Stink Breath", "She" and "Brain
Stew"; that same year, the group, topped The Modern Rock Tracks chart
with another single, "J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)", a song taken
from the soundtrack to "Angus".
They returned in October of 1997 with "Nimrod" which reached
the top 10 in North-American Albums charts but didn't gain the praise
compared to the multi-platinum previous LPs; two singles, "Time Of
Your Life (Good Riddance)" and "Hitchin' A Ride", eventually
enjoyed a chart presence on Billboard's Modern Rock list peaking respectively
at #2 and #5 spots.
Three years later Green Day resurfaced with "Warning", the record
was another transatlantic success, it rose to #4 on The Billboard 200
Albums chart spawning two Modern Rock top 3 hit singles including the
#1 "Minority" and "Warning" plus the minor hit "Waiting".
The band in mid-2002 released "Shenanigans" which collected
B-sides cover-songs and other material, the compilation reached the #27
in U.S. Top 200 chart.
The threesome returned to action in early 2004 with the rendition of "I
Fought The Law" used in the Pepsi television commercial, the track
preceded the release of Green Day's seventh album, "American Idiot",
which arrived in September; it rose to #1 on The Billboard 200 chart while
the title-track became an instant #1 on The Modern Rock chart and on the
Canadian Pop Singles chart; the second single off the CD, "Boulevard
Of Broken Dreams", shot to #1 on both Mainstream and Modern Rock
Tracks charts falling just one position short of #1 on The Billboard Hot
100.
Green Day biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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