http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~adam/greenday.html (World Wide Web Directory, 06/1995)
Bite my lips and close my eyes, take me away to
Green Day fan paradise...
a wasteland I like to call my homage to
Green Day
"I never thought that being obnoxious would get me where I am now."
-- Billie Joe Armstrong
Index of Topics
Number of visitors to this page:
New info:
- Congrats to Billie Joe and Tre on their recent babies!
Tre's kid Ramona was born on January 12, and
Billie Joe's kid Joey was born in early March;
when we have more info we will post it here!
- Congrats to Green Day
for winning a 1995
Grammy for Alternative Music Performance for Dookie, and
for all those 1995 Bay Area Music Awards (BAMMIES).
- Interested in buying cool music for not so much money?
Check out Cory's Music.
- We recant. Looks like our boys are not gonna go
"Unplugged" after all...
- Hey! If you like Green Day,
flame the losers who don't like Green Day. Also, flame
Rock 104's Reviewers, who gave Dookie a measly 5 out of 10.
Who Are Green Day?
Green Day are a rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, who became
multiplatinum in 1994 thanks to talent, Lollapalooza, Woodstock, and
excellent music. To some punk rock fans, they have "sold out" in
becoming popular in alternative circles, but Green Day's music has not
changed all that much since they first started recording.
Green Day's current release, Dookie, has been certified
quadruple platinum. The band members are:
- Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, vocals) -- born February 17, 1972
real name: William Armstrong
- Mike Dirnt (bass, vocals) -- born May 4, 1972
real name: Michael Pritchard
- Tre Cool (drums) -- born December 9, 1972
real name: Edwin Frank Wright III
Green Day snippets:
- What Their Worst Performing Conditions Were:
At night, in the rain, in a building without either roof or electricity.
- Best Characteristic: Tenacity.
- Why The Fans Love Them:
Tre often showed up at gigs in lipstick and a dress.
- What Not To Expect:
Long, boring intros; pretentious, moralizing lyrics; guitar heroics.
- Why They Wanted to do Lollapalooza '94:
To voice the feelings of every kid just out of high
school, bored with the present and dreading the future.
- Why Do They Sound British? Or, Why Do They Sound Like
a Lot of Other Bands?
They like to have fun, and they like to emulate the sounds
that they enjoy. It's all for having a good time. And yes, they
do like to parody the stereotypical "punk rock" genre and look.
Billie Joe admitted to MTV-Europe, "I sound like an Englishman
impersonating an American impersonating an Englishman."
- Why are they called Green Day?
Ernie on Sesame Street once said Green Day,
giving them the idea of the word Green Day, but we're not sure if
that's where they got the slang (for them, meaning a day for
taking bong hits) form.
But we're not sure. Anyone out there in netland know?
The group took the name Green Day
from the song Billie Joe wrote about his
first pot experience. We think they changed their name from Sweet
Children to Green Day because they had such a rep for smoking pot,
and "Green Day" was (and still is) their little "code" for it.
- When did Billie Joe write his first song?
When he was just 5 years old! It was called Looking for Love.
However, the first song he recorded was Why Do You Want Him?
when he was 12.
- How did Tre Cool get his name?
He was dubbed "Tre Cool" by Lawrence Livermore, founder of Lookout!
Records when he signed 12 year-old Frank to be the drummer in his
band, The Lookouts. Tre was born in Willits, CA. His father was a
helicopter pilot in the Vietnam war. He moved to Willits to escape
the pressure in San Fransisco. Tre was also the DJ for his high school.
- Where do Green Day live?
They live in Berkeley, California, USA. If you're not too technical,
it's a part of San Francisco. Billie Joe lives next to Woodstock I
performer Country Joe MacDonald, who was real neighborly and brought
him a pie.
- What's the record count now on KERPLUNK! and 39/Smooth?
Lawrence Livermore (llivermore@aol.com) wrote in the
newsgroup alt.punk that
39/Smooth and
Kerplunk
have sold about 500,000 copies each as of February.
He also wishes people wouldn't keep repeating lines from Rolling
Stone like "Green Day have allowed Lookout to keep the rights to
their first albums". There wasn't any "allowing" about it; when
Lookout put out the albums, there was an agreement that those albums
would always be on Lookout. Although sometimes major labels try to
steal records away from independent labels that don't have the money
or power to fight back, Warner Brothers never tried to do that
to Lookout. Maybe it's because Green Day wouldn't let them,
but Lawrence does not know.
For more information about Green Day, see an
article or
their timeline.
The L.A. Times said of Green Day (December 4, 1994):
This East Bay trio blends the loony self-parody of the Ramones with the
razor-sharp insistence of the Clash (minus the politics). With lines
like "I don't know you, but I think I hate you", the track
Chump on the group's major-label
debut album, Dookie, is today's
equivalent of the Ramones' Beat on the Brat. This kind of
retrogression isn't normally good in pop, but the spirit in these jabs
at youthful apathy and confusion is likable and invigorating. Classic
Beavis and Butt-head line:
"Peel me off this Velcro seat and get me moving".
Adam Curry, music authority, says the following:
In the days before there was grunge or thrash, a movement called punk
arose as a populist response to the conformity of corporate rock, and a return
to the garage roots of the music. Punk, new wave...whatever you want to call
it, the movement was quickly co-opted by the major labels and radio as the
best bands quickly evaporated into the pop mainstream while the rest faded
into obscurity or day jobs.
"I'm not growing up, I'm just burning out, and I stepped in line to
walk amongst the dead," singer-guitarist Billy Joe screams on the
opening Burnout, enunciating a
timely slacker sentiment over a decidedly punk trio track, roaring
through your speakers like a freight train powered by old Ramones and
Clash records. One can hear the complaints of
Dookie articulated in a thousand
smoke-filled bedrooms throughout America. On
Longview, tongue not so
firmly implanted in cheek, they extend their view of slacker apathy to
apply to the fading joys of masturbation, but quickly answer their own
ennui with the real world complaints of
Welcome To Paradise, begging
the question, is there anything out there?
On a song like She, Green Day
seemingly answers all the questions of apathy with a furious groove and
lyrics that urge listeners "locked up in a world that's been planned for
you" to "smash the silence with the brick of self-control." And with Sassafrass Roots Green Day ups the
slacker ante dealt up by Beck on Loser by asking, "So why are you
alone wasting your time, when you could be with me wasting your
time...may I waste your time, too?" The humor and furious musicianship
Green Day display on Dookie (listen
to them echo Sweet Home Alabama on
When I Come Around) undercuts all the
talk of apathy, confusion and lack of direction by providing a whaling
home-grown alternative to business as usual rock. And wasn't that what
punk was all about?
This is an unofficial
homepage, maintained by
Adam Rifkin (adam@vlsi.caltech.edu)
and Cara DeCarlo (decarlo.7@osu.edu).
This page was last modified April 3, 1995.
Please send any suggestions or corrections to
decarlo.7@osu.edu, or
adam@vlsi.caltech.edu
No, I'm not the guy who makes the movies.
Special thanks to Andrew Clute, Graham Spencer, Edo Engel,
Elizabeth Wong, Roger Tetzlaff,
John Dobbin, Daniel Holliman, Marshall Stax / RobinS,
and Julian Daniel Beard for their helpful suggestions.
All materials contained herein are property of Green Day, so be good.
If you don't own any Green Day music, then GO OUT AND BUY SOME.
We make no money off this, so please don't sue us. Have a nice day.
Disclaimer: This page is neither sanctioned by Green Day nor
does it reflect the policies or opinions of Caltech. Fair Use Notice: This
document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically
authorized by the copyright owner. I believe that this not-for-profit use on
the Web constitutes a `fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for
in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted
material for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use,' you must obtain
permission from the copyright owner.
Now everyone repeat after me, who do you love?
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day
Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day Green Day