Green Day

Green Day is an American rock trio formed in 1987. The band has consisted of Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar, vocals), and Tré Cool (drums, percussion) for the majority of its existence.

Green Day was originally part of the punk rock scene at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California. The band's early releases for independent record label Lookout! Records earned it a grassroots fanbase, some of whom felt alienated when the band signed to a major label. Nevertheless, its major label debut Dookie (1994) became a breakout success and eventually sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. and 15 million worldwide. As a result, Green Day was widely credited, alongside fellow California punk bands The Offspring and Rancid, with reviving mainstream interest in and popularizing punk rock in the United States. Green Day's three follow-up albums, Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning did not achieve the massive success of Dookie, but they were still successful, reaching double platinum, double platinum, and gold status respectively. Green Day's 2004 rock opera American Idiot reignited the band's popularity with a younger generation, selling five million copies in the U.S. The band's eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, was released on May 15, 2009.

Green Day has sold over 22 million records in the United States. They have won three Grammy Awards; Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".

Formation and Lookout years: 1987–1993

In 1987, friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, 15 years old at the time, formed a band called Sweet Children. The first Sweet Children show took place on October 17, 1987, at Rod's Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California where Armstrong's mother was working. In 1988, Armstrong and Dirnt began working with former Isocracy drummer, John Kiffmeyer (also known as Al Sobrante). Kiffmeyer served as both the band's drummer and business manager, handling the booking of shows and helping the band establish a fan base.

Larry Livermore, owner of Lookout! Records, saw the band play an early show and signed them to his label. In 1989 they recorded their first EP, 1,000 Hours. Before 1,000 Hours was released, the band dropped the name Sweet Children, according to Livermore this was done to avoid confusion with another local band Sweet Baby. The band adopted the name Green Day, allegedly due to their fondness of marijuana.

Lookout! would release Green Day's first LP, 39/Smooth in early 1990. Green Day would record two EPs later that year: Slappy and Sweet Children, the latter of which included some older songs they had recorded for Minneapolis indie label Skene! Records. In 1991, Lookout! Records released 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, a compilation of the 39/Smooth, Slappy, and 1,000 Hours EPs. In late 1990, shortly after the band's first nationwide tour, Sobrante left the East Bay area to attend college. The Lookouts drummer Tré Cool began filling in as a temporary replacement, and when it became clear that Sobrante did not plan to commit to the band full time, Tré Cool's position as Green Day's drummer became permanent. The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a stretch of shows overseas in Europe. The band's second full length album Kerplunk sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S.

Breakthrough success: 1994–1996

Kerplunk's underground success led to a wave of interest coming from major record labels, and they eventually left Lookout! on friendly terms and signed with Reprise Records after attracting the attention of producer Rob Cavallo. Signing to Reprise caused many punk rock fans to regard Green Day as sellouts. Reflecting on the period, Armstrong told Spin magazine in 1999, "I couldn't go back to the punk scene, whether we were the biggest success in the world or the biggest failure ... The only thing I could do was get on my bike and go forward." After signing with Reprise, the band went o work on recording its major label debut, Dookie.

Released in February 1994, and recorded in 3 weeks, Dookie became a commercial success, helped by extensive MTV airplay for the videos of the songs "Longview", "Basket Case", and "When I Come Around", all of which reached the number one position on the Modern Rock Tracks charts. That year, Green Day embarked on a nationwide tour with queercore band Pansy Division as its opening act. At a September 9, 1994 concert at Boston Esplanade, mayhem broke-out during the band's set (cut short to seven songs) and by the end of the rampage, 100 people were injured and 45 arrested. The band also joined the lineups of both the Lollapalooza festival and Woodstock 1994, where they started an infamous mud fight. During the concert, a security guard mistook bassist Mike Dirnt for a stage-invading fan and punched out some of his teeth. Viewed by millions by pay-per-view television, the Woodstock 1994 performance further aided Green Day's growing publicity and recognition, and helped push its album to eventual diamond status. In 1995, Dookie won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and the band was nominated for 9 MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year.

In 1995, a new single for the Angus soundtrack was released, titled "J.A.R.". The single went straight to number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was followed by the band's new album, Insomniac, which was released in the fall of 1995. Insomniac was a much darker and heavier response by the band, compared to the poppier, more melodic Dookie. Insomniac opened to a warm critical reception, earning 4 out of 5 stars from Rolling Stone, which said "In punk, the good stuff actually unfolds and gains meaning as you listen without sacrificing any of its electric, haywire immediacy. And Green Day are as good as this stuff gets." Insomniac used a piece of art by Winston Smith entitled God Told Me to Skin You Alive for its album cover. The singles released from Insomniac were "Geek Stink Breath", "Brain Stew/Jaded", "Walking Contradiction", and "Stuck With Me". Though the album did not approach the success of Dookie, it still sold two million copies in the United States. Insomniac won the band award nominations for Favorite Artist, Favorite Hard Rock Artist, and Favorite Alternative Artist at the 1996 American Music Awards, and the video for "Walking Contradiction" got the band a Grammy nomination for Best Video, Short Form, in addition to a Best Special Effects nomination at the MTV Video Music Awards. After that, the band abruptly cancelled a European tour, citing exhaustion.

Middle era and fall in popularity: 1997–2002

After taking a break in 1996, Green Day began to work on a new album in 1997. From the outset, both the band and Cavallo agreed that the album had to be different from its previous records. The result was Nimrod, an experimental deviation from the band's standard pop-punk brand of music. The new album was released in October 1997. It provided a variety of music, from pop-punk, surf rock, and ska, to an acoustic ballad. Nimrod entered the charts at number 10. The success of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" won the band an MTV Video Award for Best Alternative Video for the song's video, which depicted people undergoing major changes in their lives while Billie Joe Armstrong strummed his acoustic guitar. The song was also used in the second "clip show" episode of Seinfeld and on two episodes of ER. The other singles released from Nimrod were "Nice Guys Finish Last", "Hitchin' a Ride" and "Redundant". The band made a guest appearance in an episode of King of the Hill entitled "The Man Who Shot Cane Skretteberg", which aired in 1997.

In 2000, Green Day released Warning, a step further in the style that they had hinted at with Nimrod. Critics' reviews of the album were varied. Allmusic gave it 4.5/5 saying "Warning may not be an innovative record per se, but it's tremendously satisfying." Rolling Stone was more critical, giving it 3/5, and saying "Warning... invites the question: Who wants to listen to songs of faith, hope and social commentary from what used to be snot-core's biggest-selling band?" Though it produced the hit "Minority" and a smaller hit with "Warning", some observers were coming to the conclusion that the band was losing relevance, and a decline in popularity followed. While all of Green Day's past albums had reached a status of at least double platinum, Warning was only certified gold.

At the 2001 California Music Awards, Green Day won all eight awards that they were nominated for. They won the awards for Outstanding Album (Warning), Outstanding Punk Rock/Ska Album (Warning), Outstanding Group, Outstanding Male Vocalist, Outstanding Bassist, Outstanding Drummer, Outstanding Songwriter and Outstanding Artist.

The release of a Greatest Hits compilation, International Superhits!, and an assemblage of B-sides, Shenanigans, followed Warning. International Superhits and its companion collection of music videos, International Supervideos!, sold reasonably well, going platinum in the U.S. Shenanigans contained some of the band's B-sides, including "Espionage" which was featured in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

In the spring of 2002, Green Day co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Blink-182. Despite the co-headlining title, Green Day would play each show before Blink-182, who at the time were experiencing more success. The tour was documented on the DVD Riding in Vans with Boys.

American Idiot and renewed success: 2003–2006

In the summer of 2003 the band went into a studio to write and record new material for a new album, tentatively titled Cigarettes and Valentines. After completing 20 tracks, the master tapes were stolen from the studio. The band chose not to try to re-create the stolen album, but instead started over. By the end of 2003, Green Day collaborated with Iggy Pop on two tracks for his album Skull Ring. On February 1, 2004 a new song, a cover of "I Fought the Law" made its debut on a commercial for iTunes during NFL Super Bowl XXXVIII. The band underwent serious "band therapy," engaging in several long talks to work out the members' differences after accusations from Dirnt and Cool that Armstrong was "the band's Nazi" and a show-off bent on taking the limelight from the other band members.

The resulting 2004 album, American Idiot, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, the band's first ever album to top the chart, backed by the success of the album's first single, "American Idiot." The album was billed as a "punk rock opera" which follows the journey of the fictitious "Jesus of Suburbia". American Idiot won the 2005 Grammy for "Best Rock Album" and the band swept the 2005 MTV music awards, winning a total of seven of the eight awards they were nominated for, including the coveted Viewer's Choice Award.

Through 2005, the band toured in support of the album with about 150 dates — the longest tour in its career — visiting Japan, Australia, South America and the United Kingdom, where they drew a crowd of 130,000 people over a span of two days. While touring for American Idiot, they filmed and recorded the two concerts at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, which was voted 'The Best Show On Earth' in a Kerrang! Magazine Poll.

These recordings were released as a live CD and DVD called Bullet in a Bible on November 15, 2005. This CD/DVD featured hits from American Idiot as well as a few songs from all its previous albums, except "Kerplunk" and "1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours". The DVD featured behind-the-scenes footage of the band, and showed how the band prepared to put on the show. The final shows of its 2005 world tour were in Sydney, Australia, and Melbourne, Australia, on December 14 and 17 respectively. On January 10, 2006 the band was awarded with a People's Choice Award for favorite group.

Foxboro Hot Tubs and 21st Century Breakdown: 2007–present

Green Day engaged in several other smaller projects in the time following the hype of American Idiot. Green Day released a new album under the band name Foxboro Hot Tubs entitled Stop Drop and Roll!!!. In 2008, the Foxboro Hot Tubs went on a mini-tour to promote the record, hitting tiny Bay Area venues including the Stork Club in Oakland and Toot’s Tavern in Crockett, CA. One song, “Ruby Room,” even gives a shout-out to the Oakland dive bar where “the Pabst Blue Ribbon unravels.”

In an interview with Kerrang!, Armstrong revealed that 2008 would "be a fair estimate of the release date of their new untitled eighth studio album for Green Day." In an interview with Carson Daly, Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson revealed that Butch Vig would be producing Green Day's forthcoming album. The span of nearly five years between American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown was the longest gap between studio albums in Green Day's career. The band had been working on new material since January 2006. By October 2007, Armstrong had 45 songs written, but the band showed no further signs of progress until October 2008, when a video of the group recording with producer Butch Vig in the studio was posted on YouTube. Two videos showing the band in the studio were posted on YouTube. In the tour section of the band's official website, the message "World Tour coming soon!" is shown. The writing and recording process, spanning three years and four recording studios, was finally finished in April 2009.

The new album, titled 21st Century Breakdown, was released worldwide on May 15, 2009. It received rave reviews from the likes of Nirvana's Krist Novoselic. The album had mainly positive reception from critics, getting an average rating between 4 and 5 stars. After the release, the album hit #1 in fourteen different countries, hitting Gold or Platinum in each. 21st Century Breakdown achieved Green Day's best chart performance to date. The band started playing shows in California in April and early May. It was their first live show in about 3 years. Green Day is currently on a world tour that started in North America in July, 2009 and continuing around the world throughout the rest of 2009 and early 2010.

It has also been announced that Green Day will be getting their own Rock Band video game entitled Green Day: Rock Band. A trailer of the game was shown during the Spike TV Video Game Awards 2009. It is set to release sometime in 2010.

Band members

Current members

• Billie Joe Armstrong – lead vocals, guitars (1987–present)
• Mike Dirnt – bass, backing vocals (1987–present)
• Tré Cool – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1990–present)

Current touring members

• Jason White – guitars, backing vocals (1999–present)
• Jason Freese – keyboards, piano, acoustic guitar, trombone, saxophone, accordion, backing vocals (2003–present)
• Jeff Matika – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2009–present)

Former members

• John Kiffmeyer – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1987–1990)

Former touring members

• Timmy Chunks – rhythm guitar (1997–1999)
• Garth Schultz – trombone, trumpet (1997–1999)
• Gabrial McNair – trombone, tenor saxophone (1999–2001)
• Kurt Lohmiller – trumpet, timpani, percussion, backing vocals (1999–2004)
• Mike Pelino – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2004–2005)
• Ronnie Blake – trumpet, timpani, percussion, backing vocals (2004–2005)

Simple Plan

Simple Plan is a French Canadian pop punk band based in Montréal, Québec. They have released three studio albums: No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls (2002), Still Not Getting Any... (2004), and Simple Plan (2008); as well as two widely marketed live albums: Live in Japan 2002 (2003) and MTV Hard Rock Live (2005).

Formation (1993–2002)

Simple Plan began in 1993 with the formation of a band named Reset by friends Pierre Bouvier, Charles-André "Chuck" Comeau, Philippe Jolicoeur, and Adrian White. Reset toured around Canada with bands such as MXPX, Ten Foot Pole, and Face to Face, but only managed to gain modest popularity. The debut album, No Worries, was released in 1998, and Comeau left soon after to go to college. Two years later he met with high school friends Jean-François "Jeff" Stinco and Sébastien Lefebvre who were in separate bands of their own, and combined to create the band. Meanwhile, Reset released a second CD, No Limits (the two CDs would be re-released as a single CD in 2006, with liner note comments from Bouvier and Comeau). In late 1999, Comeau and Bouvier reacquainted at a Sugar Ray concert and Bouvier left Reset soon after to join Comeau. David Desrosiers replaced Bouvier in Reset, but when asked to join the foursome, he too left the band six months later. This allowed Bouvier, who had doubled as the band's front man and bassist, to concentrate on the singing.

The origin of the band's name is obscure. Band members have given various comical responses on this point, including that the band was their simple plan to avoid obtaining a "real" job. However, most likely, the name is derived from the movie "A Simple Plan". The name was only intended to be temporary, but they never thought of anything better, and with shows coming up for the new band, the name stuck.

Pierre Bouvier

Pierre Charles Bouvier (born 9 May 1979) is a French Canadian musician, who is best known as the lead singer for pop punk band Simple Plan. He is also the younger brother of cancer survivor and actor Jay Bouvier. He also hosted a show on MTV called Damage Control, which has since ended its run as originally planned.

Biography

Before and partly during his musical career, Bouvier worked as a cook in a restaurant called St-Hubert in his hometown of Montreal. At age of 13, he founded the punk rock band Reset with his schoolmate Chuck Comeau, in which he was the lead singer and bassist. Reset did not only have Bouvier and Comeau, they also had Jean-Sébastien Boileau and Adrian White. Bouvier, not fully enjoying his life with Reset left the band and Comeau behind. Bouvier met up with old school pal Jeff Stinco at a Reset concert he was attending. Bouvier then talked to Stinco about creating Simple Plan. Stinco agreed and they were joined by Sebastien Lefebvre and later Chuck Comeau, leaving at his turn Reset. In live performance, he sometimes plays the guitar (electric and acoustic) for certain songs.

Role Model Clothing

He is co-owner of Role Model Clothing, along with Chuck Comeau and Simple Plan's webmaster, photographer, and videographer Patrick Langlois.

Role Model Clothing is a clothing line owned by Bouvier, Patrick Langlois and Chuck Comeau (who are often seen wearing the shirts on stage and in the band's music videos). The line mostly markets shirts, which invariably include the words "ROLE MODEL" in the design. Erik Chandler, from the band Bowling for Soup, is often seen wearing Role Model shirts.

Damage Control

Damage Control was a reality television series hosted by Bouvier that first aired on MTV on March 6, 2005. On Damage Control, parents would tell their teenage son or daughter that they would be going away over the weekend, but in actuality, they are just a few houses down monitoring them with Bouvier via hidden cameras and microphones. The teenager would be placed in awkward situations, in which he/she must make decisions. Parents can earn money if they can guess what their teenager will do, and after the parents come back (always with too little time for the teenager to conceal what has occurred), the teenager, still unaware of the filming, can earn money by confessing. Two seasons were filmed before any episodes aired, and no more were planned or filmed, due to the likelihood that once the episodes aired, potential subjects would quickly catch on to what was going on.
He attended College Beaubois, a high school in Montreal along with other band members Sébastien Lefebvre, Jeff Stinco and Chuck Comeau. Bouvier also has a brother, Jay Bouvier. "Save You," one of the songs on the album Simple Plan, was written for Bouvier's brother, a cancer survivor.

The Whole World Stinks

Wise men and philosophers throughout the ages have disagreed on many things, but many are in unanimous agreement on one point: "We become what we think about." Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "A man is what he thinks about all day long." The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius put it this way: "A man's life is what his thoughts make of it." In the Bible we find: "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."

One Sunday afternoon, a cranky grandfather was visiting his family. As he lay down to take a nap, his grandson decided to have a little fun by putting Limburger cheese on Grandfather's mustache. Soon, grandpa awoke with a snort and charged out of the bedroom saying, "This room stinks." Through the house he went, finding every room smelling the same. Desperately he made his way outside only to find that "the whole world stinks!"

So it is when we fill our minds with negativism. Everything we experience and everybody we encounter will carry the scent we hold in our mind.

Rodney Mullen

John Rodney Mullen (born August 17, 1966 in Gainesville, Florida), known simply as Rodney Mullen, is a professional skateboarder considered by many to be the most influential skater in the history of the sport. Mullen is credited with inventing at least 39 distinct skateboarding tricks, including the Flatland Ollie (originally called the "ollie-pop"), the Kickflip (originally called the "magic flip") in 1983, the Heelflip, the 360 Flip, and the Impossible. Mullen is credited in numerous skateboarding videos, and has authored an autobiography.

Early career

"I fell in love with skateboarding because it was fun. There were no teams, there were no captains ... it was completely opposite of what I saw in so many sports: It was creative. I could walk around with my skateboard at the skatepark. I love skateboarding" Rodney Mullen, 2003.

Rodney Mullen began skateboarding at the age of ten after he promised his worried father he would stop the first time he became seriously injured. Rodney began practicing in full pads, and hung out with his sister's surfer friends who skateboarded on the week days. In 1977, having owned a skateboard for less than a year, Rodney took third place in the Boy's Freestyle event at Kona in Jacksonville. Bruce Walker saw his performance and sponsored Mullen through Walker Skateboards.

When his family moved to a farm in a remote part of Florida, Rodney began perfecting his flatground techniques in the family garage. Mullen cites the isolation and lack of terrain naturally influenced him toward freestyle skateboarding. Rodney cites 1979 - 1980 as his "most creative time". Mullen claimed many competitive victories in the late 70s, mostly in his home state, Florida, culminating in a win at the Oceanside Nationals in June, 1979.

In 1980, 14-year-old Rodney Mullen entered the Oasis Pro competition, defeating world champion Steve Rocco. Mullen soon turned professional as a member of the Bones Brigade sponsored by Powell Peralta. Rodney competed voraciously throughout the 80s—often frustrating both competitors and judges with his consistency and progressive ability. By 1990 Rodney had won 34 out of 35 freestyle competitions that he entered, having been beaten only once by fellow Bones Brigade member Per Welinder. Rodney thus established the most successful competitive run in the history of the sport.

In early 1989, Mullen left the Bones Brigade to form World Industries as a principle investor with longtime friend and former rival Steve Rocco^.

990s to present day

As the popularity of freestyle skateboarding declined, Mullen was often urged to move his style toward street skating. This is hinted at in the World Industries video Rubbish Heap, where Mullen's sequence ends with team member Jeremy Klein 'focusing' (i.e. breaking) Rodney's freestyle skateboard, and handing him a note from Steve Rocco, symbolizing the end of freestyle.

In 1991 Rodney joined the high-profile skateboarding team Plan B. Mike Ternasky, the Plan B founder, influenced Rodney to transition from freestyle to street skating, and showcased the results in the 1992 Plan B video Questionable. Mullen's segment begins with traditional freestyle tricks done on flat ground, but quickly accelerates across public terrain to shift into standard street skating. In relation to obstacles, he sequences tricks, mixes flip tricks with grinds and board slides. Staples of freestyle are taken to new heights as Mullen performs a Triple Kickflip, and originates the Kickflip Underflip. The sequence ends with the surprising darkslide, another trick not seen before.

Mullen's Questionable performance may have marked the beginning of a new era in street skateboarding. His reluctant departure from freestyle to become a street skater was a symbol that legitimized the technical direction street skating had taken over the previous few years. Mullen specialized at this progression in subsequent Plan B videos; noteworthy is 1993's Virtual Reality where Mullen showcases the newly-mastered darkslide.

I can't wait to wake up in the morning... A lot of times I can't sleep because I can't wait to try something new. How many people never really experience that feeling? Rodney Mullen, 2003

Mullen's participation in Plan B dissolved after Mike Ternasky died unexpectedly in 1994. In 1997, Mullen started his own company, The A-Team, with the intent of forming a super team with the defection of Plan B from the World Industries empire. Rodney talked to friend and fellow pro Daewon Song to plan the video Rodney vs. Daewon, which featured each skater competing in segments from trick to trick.

A-Team folded in 2000 and Mullen went from company founder to company rider under former A-Team rider Marc Johnson, who started Enjoi Skateboards. Mullen left Enjoi to head Almost Skateboards with Daewon Song, the company which he still helms and skates for. Mullen's role at Almost includes research and development on new designs and technologies, including Tensor truck in 2000 and experimental and composite deck constructions for Dwindle brands.

In 2002 the World Industries companies, under the holding name Kubic Marketing, were bought out by Globe International for $46 million. Kubic's management remained intact and Mullen began working for Globe International under the Dwindle Distribution brand.

In 2003 Rodney wrote and released his autobiography, entitled The Mutt: How to skateboard and not kill yourself. In late 2003 Rodney Mullen was voted as the all-time greatest action sports athlete on the Extreme Sports Channel's Legends of the Extreme countdown.

2007 - 2009 signaled another transition in his skateboarding career as Mullen worked to erase his riding stance, allowing him to move from Regular stance to Goofy Stance.

Invented tricks

The following is a list of all the tricks invented by Rodney Mullen.

1. Flatground Ollie
2. 540 Shove-It
3. Helipop (Frontside 360 Nollie)
4. Kickflip (Originally known as the "Magic Flip")
5. Double Heelflip
6. Impossible
7. Casper/Anti-Casper
8. 360 Flip (Also known as the "Tre-Flip" or "360 Kickflip," the board does a kickflip and 360 shuv-it concurrently.)
9. Pressure Flip (Flipping with the same foot you popped the board with)
10. Half Cab Kickflip
11. No Comply (Ollie with one foot)
12. 180 Kickflip (Frontside/Backside)
13. Nosebone
14. Fingerflip
15. Ollie Airwalk
16. Varial Kickflip (A Kickflip and a Backside Pop Shove-It concurrently)
17. Varial Heelflip (A Heelflip and a Frontside Pop Shove-It concurrently)
18. Helipop Heelflip
19. Kickflip Underflip
20. Casperslide
21. Darkslide (Grinding using your griptape)