Green Day

Green Day is an American rock band formed in 1987. The band has three core members: Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt , and Tre Cool.

At the age of 15, Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt formed a band called Sweet Children. They got together with John Kiffmeyer who acted as the drummer and business manager. The trio were spotted by Larry Livermore at a gig and signed for his label Lookout! Records. In 1989 Sweet Children's first EP, 1,000 hours, came out.

The following year, the band changed their name to Green Day - reportedly to avoid confusion with another band at the time named Sweet Baby. In 1990, following limited sales of the EP the band went on tour. But John Kiffmeyer had problems commiting and was replaced by Tre Cool. The band then released a second full length album titled Kerplunk which sold over 50,000 copies in the U.S alone.

Following this success the band left Lookout! and signed for Reprise Records, with whom they recorded Dookie, which eventually sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. and 15 million worldwide. The succeeding albums Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning did not reach the spectacular popularity of Dookie, but sales were still strong.

In 2004 Green Day released American Idiot, which brought in a whole new teeenage fanbase.