Green Day formed in East Bay, California in 1987 around Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, with Tré Cool joining in 1990. Dookie (1994) helped launch the '90s punk revival and American Idiot (2004) reinvented them as arena-scale concept artists; they entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Shop Green Day vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Green Day formed in East Bay, California in 1987 around Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, who had been friends since elementary school. They initially performed as Sweet Children before adopting the Green Day name. Tré Cool joined in 1990 as a more skilled drummer replacement for original drummer John Kiffmeyer. After their independent debut on Lookout! Records, they signed with Reprise for Dookie (1994), which became a global commercial phenomenon and helped launch the broader mid-1990s punk revival. Their 2004 concept album American Idiot expanded their commercial and critical reach further, with a successful Broadway musical adaptation (2010). They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
Green Day's sound combines punk rock, pop punk, alternative rock, and rock with Armstrong's distinctive vocal delivery and the band's signature anthemic, melodic punk arrangements. Their work has been a defining influence on multiple subsequent generations of pop punk and alternative rock.
Lookout! pressings of the early Green Day catalog and Reprise pressings of Dookie are widely collected. Multiple anniversary editions, including the 30th anniversary editions in 2024, have been released.
Listeners new to Green Day typically start with Dookie (1994) or American Idiot (2004).
