Smells Like Alternative

FYI: Green Day

by acostill on July 20th, 2007

The Bay Area rockers just appeared on Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur with an awesome version of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero”. They will also have cameos in the upcoming Simpsons movie, oh yeah, they also recorded a new version of the theme song too!

• There seem to be 2 theories about how the band got their name, but both include smoking an illegal substance. The first theory is that the term “green day” is a Bay Area term used to describe a day spent smoking pot. The second theory is that, while stoned, the guys heard Ernie say “green day” on Sesame Street and they like the name. Remember that there was a stuffed Ernie on the back cover of Dookie? So maybe there is some truth the Sesame Street theory.
• The origins of Green Day began with a band called Sweet Children in 1987. Sweet Children included childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt and drummer Al Sobrante. The band would later change their name to Green Day in 1990.
• Jeff Kiffmeyer, aka Al Sobrante, was Green Day’s original drummer. He left the band to go back to school before the guys hit it big.
• Frank Edwin Wright III, aka Tre Cool, joined Green Day in 1990.
• Green Day were signed to Lookout! Records in 1989.
• The band’s second album, Kerplunk!, contains the original version of “Welcome to Paradise” and also songs from a Sweet Children EP at the end.
•  The band’s major label debut, Dookie, wanted to be originally entitled Liquid Dookie.
• The song J.A.R. stands for Jason Andrew Relva, a friend of the band who passed away. It can be found on the Angus soundtrack.
• 1995’s Insomniac was going to be called Tightwad Hill, but was changed after artist Winston Smith (who designed the cover) said that he was an insomniac after completing the piece for the band. It also fit the state that Billie Joe was in, because he had a new born son keeping him up.
• “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”, from 1997’s Nimrod, was written before the release of Dookie and was catapulted into success when it was used during the Seinfeld clip show finale.
• The song “Minority” was Green Day’s fastest chart topping single, from 2000’s Warning.
• A cover of The Ramones “Outsider” was a B-side for Warning. It would appear on The Ramones tribute album We’re A Happy Familyand Green Day’s album of rarities Shenanigans.
• In 2003, Green Day recorded an album rumored to be entitled Cigarettes and Valentines. Unfortunately, the master tapes were stolen and the band moved on to a concept album called American Idiot.
• On September 14, 2004 Green Day released their 7th studio album, American Idiot, it would go on to land the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts.
• The song “American Idiot” appeared in the video game Madden 2005.
• Samuel Bayer (the director behind Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit, Blind Melon’s “No Rain” and The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”) directed all of the American Idiot music videos (”American Idiot”, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “Holiday”, “Wake Me Up When September Ends” and “Jesus of Suburbia”). He also directed the band’s live DVD Bullet in a Bible and Green Day’s video for “Working Class Hero”.

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