Armstrong and Dirnt were both born in Rodeo, California, in 1972, and they have been friends since age ten.
At age 14, they put together their first band, Sweet Children, which started gigging at the all-ages clubs on Gilman Street.
As Green Day, they recorded their first EP, 1,000 hours, in two days, when they were seventeen and seniors in High School.
Soon, Dirnt gratuated, Armstrong dropped out and they started squatting in Oakland, California. Their debut album, with drummer Al Sobrante (real name: Jon Kiffmeyer) was released in 1990 by local indie label Lookout!. When Sobrante left, Dirnt and Armstrong found a friend in arms in Tr� Cool (born: Edwin Wright III), who had been playing drums with the lookouts since age twelve. (Tr�, who grew up near Mendicino, was also a neighbor of Lookout! Records founder Lawrence Livermoore.) Cool made his Green Day debut on the band's second album, Kerplunk.
Green Day built it's following the old-fashion way -- They earned it. Before they even hooked up with a major label, the band had already completed five national tours, driving their renovated bookmobilecoast to coast and crashing on friends and fans floors. Pandemonium struck when their Reprise debut, Dookie, was released and Green Day introduced an ever-expanding audience to the energy and insanity of punkrock. With the 14 loud'n'fast tunes of Dookie clocking in at only 39 minutes, 1993 suddenly sounded more like 1977. Soon, Green Day's songs about picking scabs, pyromania and masturbation had come unofficial national anthems.
Green Day was singing about its own distinct form of malcontents. but it seemed there was a world of followers who felt their pain and wanted to laugh -- and mosh -- along with it.
Immaturity was cool again. Dookie went on to sell more than 10 million copies in the U.S alone, and Green Day won a grammy in 1994 for "Best Alternative Music Performance".
Of course, this led some of the gang back on Gilman Street to cry "Sell-out" and "mainstream", but one listen to Green Day and you'd know this wasn't some watered - Down white bread - punk designed to impress your parents.
On their next album, Insomniac, and exspecially on their latest, Nimrod, Green Day has managed to stay true to the punk attitude while proving they're not just one-tricks ponies or even three-chord monkeys. On Nimrod, note the surf-style instrumental, "Last Ride", and the string section of "Good Riddance", which was featured prominently on a episode of ER and the final installment of Seinfield. The members of Green Day, who got married and have kids, have obviously matured -- At least a little bit. But Billie Joe and the boys aren't aging too gracefully.
Sometimes they can still be wonderfully cranky and crass: "The whife's a nag and the kids fucking up /l - Don't have sex 'cause i can't get it up!", Armstrong sings in "The Grouch".
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