Band's Facts
The first Halo game has some Basket Case lyrics in it as part of a hidden easter egg. (source: Bungie.org)
In the video for Holiday, if you look closely at the bar when Tre (in drag) is dancing, you can see pictures of Billie Joe with TNT on him.
Green Day has two songs in which they say 1, 2, (1,2,3,4) - Hitchin' a Ride and St. Jimmy
Green Day is featured in the screenshot for the new Media Player 11
Dookie's original title was Liquid Dookie, but they changed it because they thought it was too gross.
New copies of Dookie are made without Ernie on the back. That's because Sesame Street threatened to sue Green Day.
Billie also plays the harmonica, mandolin, drums, and the piano. Mike also plays the farfisa, guitar, and the drums. Tre also plays the guitar and the accordian.
In 1995 or so, the video for 'Longview' was critiqued on the popular MTV show, Beavis & Butthead. 'Basketcase' was also critiqued on the "Spanish Fly" episode of Beavis and Butthead.
When Green Day was recording songs for Insomniac, they were trying to think of an appropriate name for the song Stuck With Me. The band recorded the song now called "Do Da Da" around the same time, and that song was originally called "Stuck With Me", because those words actually appear in that song. But, there was a studio mix-up, and someone labeled the third track on Insomniac "Stuck With Me". When the band discovered the error, they felt the name was appropriate for the song and kept it. Later, they decided to release the real "Stuck With Me" as a b-side, so they gave it the nonsensical name "Do Da Da".
The album Insomniac is called with that name because Billie Joe didn't sleep at night. His son (Joey) cried all night, so Billie would write a lot of songs. Another way it is said that they got the name for Insomniac I s that when Billie Joe came to Winston Smith the guy who made the cover for it to see what it was like Billie Joe thought that it was really cool and he asked Winston Smith how long it took him to do it and he said about 36 hours and Billie Joe said "man you must have been tired " and Winston Smith said "to really I'm kind of an Insomniac".
"The Grouch" (on nimrod.) was originally titled "Happy Grouch".
It's rumored that Billie Joe's mom mispelled his name on his birth certificate because she was high (from the drugs given to her during childbirth).
"Haushinka" was originally written for Dookie, but at the time they didnt like the sound of it. So they excluded it from the album then when Nimrod came they decided to include it.
One reason there was such a long break between Nimrod and Warning was because Billie Joe was at a rocky point in his marriage and needed to spend time at home.
The Insomniac cover art (created by Winston Smith) is called "God Told Me to Skin You Alive."
The corner of Stuart and the Ave. is the corner of Stuart Street and Telegraph Avenue in Berkley, California.
When Green Day first got started, their tour bus was an old bookmobile van that Tre's dad bought and fixed up.
Five of Green Day's mainstream albums all begin with drums.
The video for "Redundant" has the same scene playing over and over again behind the band, hence the name "Redundant".
On the Insomniac cover, there are three skulls which are supposed to be the 3 skulls of the 3 members of Green Day, and in order to see the third one you have to look in the flames and hold the paper at an angle in order to see it properly This technique was used back in the Renaissance.
In the Minority video, Billie Joe is running around with the cape on and Mike throws a hand to trip him. The hand is given the peace sign. When it hits him it nocks off the pointer and gives the middle finger.
Weird Al Yankovic covered Basketcase in his song "Alternative Polka", which is on the album Bad Hair Day.
Billie and Mike recorded the vocals for "1,039 / Smoothed Out Slappy Hours" simultaneously, to save money, and Lawrence Livermore gave them the $1000 needed for the album.
In the "Kerplunk" inlay, it also thanks Adrienne Nesser, now Billie's wife.
Green Day hates ska except for the band Operation Ivy.
Billie, Mike, and Tre did all of their own stunts in the "Walking Contradiction" video including a scene were Billie almost gets nailed by a car.
In the "Kerplunk" credits, they thank some guy named "Brainstew".
Tre's name was given to him by the owner of Lookout Records Lawrence Livermore when Tre played in the band "The Lookouts".
If Billie Joe and Mike could play any movie role in history, they would both choose Austin Powers. Tre would prefer to be Cat Woman.
All By Myself, the hidden song on Dookie, was recorded at a party.
The Kerplunk inlay thanks Jason Relva (J.A.R.).
Billie had to be forced to doing the 'walking across the road almost getting hit by cars' stunt on the Walking Contradiction video by Tré. Billie said "Tré scared me into it. I was so scared..I thought I was gonna die right there with all the cameras on me..Well I can think of worse ways to die".
Billie Joe's favorite food is vegetarian lasagana and root beer.
The 'My Adventure with Green Day' story in 'Kerplunk!' says it was written by 'Laurie L.' The name Laurie L is actually a tribute to Laurence Livermoore of Lookout records.
In the Kerplunk! thank yous, they thank a guy named Eggplant, who appears in the Laurie L. story--he was a real person. He wrote a 'zine called "Apsolutely Zippo', in which you can also find stories by Claude (also in the story) and even by Billie Joe himself.
When Green Day toured in the Bookmobile they used as a bus, people would acutally ask them if they had books to sell.
On the dookie cover, the right side, on one of the building's it's written 'Twisted Dog Sisters'--this was the name for an actual group of girls from Berkely.
Pat Hynes is a well known Berkely artist who did the liner notes for both Dookie and Kerplunk.
The album Kerpluk! is dedicated 'in loving memory of Gravy'.
The song 'Who Wrote Holden Caufield?' is actually about a character, Holden Caufield, from J.D. Salinger's book "The Catcher in the Rye", one of Billie Joe's favorites.
The video for Basketcase was filmed in black and white, they added color afterwards.
The intersection where most of the action happens in the "Walking Contradiction" video is Centre St. and 7th St. in Los Angeles.
In the Last Ride In video, Tre plays the accordian part to DUI, but you can't hear it very well.
Green Day cursed the second most times on Behind the Music (27 times) which is fifty less than the leader, Oasis.
On the Slappy! 7" record, if you look closely on the rim of the artwork on the A Side, you can see that is says, "Might Bleed Today".
On the Kerplunk CD, there's a song called Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?, and on the Screeching Weasel cd, "How to Make Enemies and Iritate People", There's a song called I Wrote Holden Caulfield.
When original drummer John Kriftmeyer (aka Al Sobrante) left Green Day, he didn't tell Billie Joe. Billie Joe found out he was leaving through a friend. So when Green Day replaced John with Tre, Billie Joe returned the favor by not telling John directly that he was being replaced. Billie Joe doesn't think that Green Day would have had as much success if John was still in the band.
The Imus in the Morning show on NPR occasionally plays the first two lines of 'Basket Case' before commercial breaks.
On the Dead Kennedy's cd, Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, and on track 9, I Kill Children, it starts out with "GOD TOLD ME TO SKIN YOU ALIVE", the name of the artwork for Insomniac.
If you turn the volume up and listen very closely to Good Riddence you can hear Billie-Joe say the f word in the beginning.
In the kerplunk inlay the band thanks a "Osama"!
On 1039/smoothed out slappy hours the band recorded and mixed the record in two day and only cost $675 to record and sold nearly a million copies.
To raise spending money for the tour, Mike shucked clams, Billie Joe flipped pizzas, and John drove a diaper truck.
You can cut up Green Day stickers to read "Gay Nerd."
In Going To Pasalacqua at the very beginning right before you hear Billie sing "Here we go again" you can hear someone cough. Also, in Prosthetic Head after the bridge and when it's just a soft guitar then Billie Joe starts sining right before he does you can also hear someone cough then too.
In the "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" video, the lamp shade is on the floor (it's lit) and the rest of the lamp is by the shade (unlit).
Insomniac, Nimrod, and Warning all came out in October. Insomniac on October 10th 1995, Nimrod on October 14th 1997, and Warning on October 3rd 2000.
On Dookie, the song "Chump" ends with the "Longview" beat which goes into song 4 (Longview) like Chump never ended.
Green Day had more drummers than just Tre and Al Sobrante. They actually had quite a few! It's just that the only recorded drummers are those two.
The real origin of the name Green Day. Ernie from Sesamy Street said the frase Green Day in one of the shows and it kinda was funny for the guys smoking pot and all. So it became an inside joke with Green Day meaning a pot-filled wasted day. Then came the song Green Day and also Al Sobrante wrote Green Day on the back of his jacket and it kinda caught on from there and they decided to use it as their band's name
Al Sobrante (John Kriftmeyer) was in the band Isocracy.
On either the cover art or booklet art of Kerplunk, Dookie, and Insomniac they're is a gun.
The guitar chords to the blink-182 song "What's my Age Again" are exactly the same as When I Come Around.
1,039 Smoothed out Slappy Hours was recorded in 2 days.
At the ending of Basket Case on the International Super Hits Album while the sound is fading out there is something said that doesn't sound like it's supposed to be there. 3 You know how it says "Might Bleed Today" on Slappy. Well on the other side it says Cool Slapped Out and on 1,00 Hours it says No Way! and Too Cool! On 39/Smooth it says Call Back Tomorrow, It's A School Night, We Heart Jake, and Bill, Mike, John : Loyal Filth Groupies. On the spine it says James, Put Down That Skinhead! Also on the inlay there are three letters. One to Green Day from a record label asking them to join, One to the record label from John saying no politley and one from Lawrence Livermore to the record label making fun of them. On the spine of the Kerplunk record it says Say Ouch Before I Hafta Hurt You!
At the end of the song Walking Alone on Nimrod you can hear a glass break and someone says something like "its not like one thing......".
On the front cover of Insomniac, in the flames,there are hidden pictures. you can find a naked woman, 3 faeries, a skull, and several other ghosly faces.
The guy from the Time Of Your Life video, is also the dude who plays Carter in ER, he comes up twice in the video.
At the beginning of Prosthetic Head, there's some scratching noise like when you pull the plug from your guitar in the amp and it stops once Billie starts singing.
Insomniac was origanally going to be called Tight Wad Hill.
On the cover of Operation Ivy's "Knowledge" the part at the beginning that is said backwards says "Lets get personal" when played forwards.
Good Riddance (Time of your Life) was the official theme for the Golf PGA Tour in 1998.
Jesse Micheals, ex-lead singer of Operation Ivy did the disc and cover art for 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, Jesse Micheals and Operation Ivy were then thanked in Kerplunk! along with Tim Armstrong from OPIV.
The band each takes a shot of Vodka before every gig.
The three small pictures inside the 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours covers come from the following: Billie Joe - The picture comes from the Green Day bootleg, "Radio Daze"; Mike - Its a picture of one of his tattoos.; John - Its a picture adapted from Zippo magazine.
The dog on the Slappy E.P.'s name is Mickey, "Slappy" was a nickname given to him by Jason Relva.
Green Day has 14 transitional songs. They are Chump/Longview, Brain Stew/Jaded, Uptight/Last Ride In, and Jinx/Haushinka, Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Are We the Waiting/St. Jimmy, and Give Me Novacaine/She's a Rebel.
In Kerplunk! it says 'In Memory of Gravy...' Gravy was actually Mike's pet cat who died.
No Doubt's brass section was used in the recording of the album Nimrod.
Reel Big Fish's brass section once toured with Green Day, playing their songs.
On MTV's "Top 10 songs to break up to" (or something like that) Time Of Your Life got to number 2.
Basket Case was mentioned as number 2 in Kerrang's best videos.
The noise heard at the beginning of the song "Green Day" is a bong, and for those who dont know, a bong is a weed smoking device.
At the end of Burnout, you can hear someone laughing.
On Common Riders first EP, Billie Joe had played lead on it and sang. Common Rider was Jesse Michaels (ex- OPIV) last band.
At the very begining of "Going to Pasalacqua", Before "Here we go again...." if you turn it up and listen closely in the silence he says "Here we go again" before he actually says it.
"80" is short for Adrienne (it's also her nickname).
In Brain Stew after the drums start playing Billie Joe makes a noise kinda like "uhhhh" but you can barely hear it.
The band "All American Rejects" might have gotten there name from one of Green Days songs (probably Reject).
After John Kiffmeyer left Green Day, before Tre came in, a friend of the band joined as drummer for a few weeks, but left saying he wasn't good enough for the band.
Dita Von Teese, who is singer Marilyn Manson's girlfriend, appeared in one of Green Day's videos.
In the special features of the Social Distortion's Live in Orange County DVD, Mike Ness brings his kids up on stage and his son is wearing a Warning t-shirt.
The story in the Kerplunk booklet was written by Lawrence Livermore (Laurie L.), who was the founder of Gilman St. and Lookout! records.
"Brain Stew" can be seen in the Green Day: Behind The Music under the name James Washburn.
In between playing shows in Florida in 91, the band's van was broken into and many of their clothes were stolen.
The house where they filmed Longview wasn't only inhabited by the band...it was also lived in by several other people, and it was the basement to a real house, and in the kitchen the pipes were so low that they would hit their head on them. And it only had about one bedroom.
The video for Basketcase was originally filmed in black and white, but later it was colored in by technicolor.
Green Day came up with the ideas for the first few music videos.
In the music video of "When I Come Around", midway through the video you can see present back up guitarist Jason White with a girlfriend of his at the time.
On Brain Stew, right after the verse when the drums coem in, if you listen closely, you can hear Billie Joe say "oh" then "yeah" under his breath.
If you take the chords and rhythm from the Bltikrieg Bop intro, keep the rhythm, but play the chords backwards, it's the "Welcome to Paradise" into.
When Green Day recorded "Dry Ice", they kept messing up and ended up doing about 18 takes on the song until they finally got it down. So at the end of the song you can hear them all shouting "YES! YES! YES!", because they finally got it done
On the American Idiot CD on the track Jesus of Suburbia during the part Dearly Beloved, you can hear Billie Joe sing "Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed?". However, if you watch Sessions @ AOL on tv for Green Day, Billie Joe clearly sings "Am I retarded or am I just unemployed?"
In Longview, after they say "Call me pathetic, call me what you will", you can hear something in the background that sounds like a kid crying or a dog dying or something.
When John decided to leave Green Day for college, another drummer joined named Dave E.C.. He was only in the band for a few weeks when he decided to leave and then Tre joined.
Billie Joe and Mike Dirnt's first gig was at Rod's Hickory Pit in Vallejo, CA, where Billie's mom worked.
Lawrence Livermore started Lookout records with his welfare money.
In May 1995, Green Day played 2 nights at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, CA. They donated all of the profits (including T-shirt revenues) to Food Not Bombs, which provides meals for the homeless and three other charities.
If you look closely on the Nimrod, you can see that all the words that are scratched out in the entire booklet simply say "Delete This. Delete This. Delete This. Delete This." over and over again.
Billie Joe used to actually have a friend named "Eggplant" when he was like 16, like the character in the "My adventure with Green Day" story.
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams video, St. Jimmy and Whatsername (the ones from the Limitied Edition booklet of American idiot) are shown standing around a trashcan fire.
In the 'Holiday' video, just after he kisses Tre, Billie Joe's trousers slip down at the back and you can see his butt crack!
In 'Longview' just after Billie Joe says "call me what you will", if you listen carefully, you can hear Mike call Billie 'whatyouwill'.
The guitar for Brain Stew is nearly identical to the Chicago song "25 or 6 to 4".
On the song Hold On (Warning) someone screams 'Hope' in the background after Billie says 'A cry for hope'.
Billie Joe's Facts
Billie Joe used to have a nose ring, but he took it out because it got caught on his shirt.
Billie Joe sometimes suffers from panic attacks and aniexty.
Billie wears Jockey underwear.
It has been said that Billie Joe is a registered member of Poetry.com. I've heard his name is B. Armstrong.
At age 15, Billie tried to go to an Operation Ivy concert, but he was refused entry. One of the members of the band heard he wasn't allowed in, so they came out and personally esorted him into the show.
Billie drives a blue 67 Ford Fairlane. Mike drives a BMW, and Tre sports an SUV.
Billie Joe's cat, Zero, died in his washing machine.
Billie's trademark first guitar is named Blue, and was given to him by his mother, who bought it from Billie's guitar teacher. He has several replicas of the guitar now.
Billie Joe has been rumored to have been romantically linked to Winona Ryder.
When Billie was younger he put 409 in his teacher's coffee. (409 in Your Coffeemaker)
Billie Joe's nickname in high school was "Two Dollar Bill" because he sold joints for two dollars.
Billie Joe's mother spelled his name wrong on his birth certificate. Not because she was high with illegal drugs, she was loopy because of the massive amounts of painkillers in her body to ease childbirth.
In the second grade two girls beat up Billie Joe so that he would date them.
Billie Joe and Adrienne spent their honeymoon at Berkley's Claremont Hotel, which is a short distance from their house.
The first time Billie Joe kissed Adrienne he went home and wrote 2,000 Light Years Away.
Billie Joe's birthday is on the same day as National Cabbage Day.
Billie likes playing the drums most out of the piano, harmonica, and the mandolin.
Billie occasionally wears nail polish.
For the video for Jaded, because the lyrics are about being stoned and how you feel when you're stoned. Billie decided to get high while shooting the video just to get the feel for the song.
It's an old tradition of Billie's that at every one of his concerts he kisses a guy.
Billie Joe thinks that Staind's lead singer sounds like Cher.
Billie Joe hates Slipknot. He said that the masks "Are so fucking retarded", and one time, a fan threw some screwed up mask on the stage, and when Billie Joe picked it up he looked in disgust and said, "Were not fucking slipknot, you asshole!"
Billie Joe doesn't like Eminem.
Billie Joe played football for John Swett High School in Crockett, CA.
Billie uses Jhirmack Styling Spritz to get his hair good and crunchy.
Billie has a guitar made with with different parts called Frankenstein.
On the "1,000 Hours" record they spell Billie's name as "Billy".
Billie's had his blue 67 Ford Fairlane for ages, it's even featured in Christie Road "Standing on my beat up car". When Billie first earned enough money with his music, he had the car primered.
Billie Joe when talking about future plans said he would become a soccer team coach.
The first album Billie Joe bought as Elvis Presley's "The Sun Sessions".
In the song "Sick Of Me" on Shenanigans, right before billie joe says "Like a dog...." you can hear a "squishy" noise
Billie Joe likes to take books on tour.
The electricians tape on Billie Joe's large cutaway on Blue is there because some dude knocked into him at one of their first gigs and he dropped the guitar, causing it to crack from the strap lock down. He then later taped it up.
The BLACK FORK album ROCK FOR LOOT was produced by Billie Joe. Even though in the insert it is spelled Billy Joe.
In early 2001 Billie Joe was mugged at gunpoint and is now terrified of guns.
Billie Joe got body lice while on tour in Germany in Green Day's early days.
Billie Joe said that if he could be any female celebrity, he would be Chrissie Hynde.
Billie Joe was in a documentary called "Mayor of the Sunset Strip" in 2003.
Billie Joe played "Ghostly Betting Man" on the show Haunted in 2002. The episode is named "Simon Redux." It has never aired in the USA.
Billie Joe guest starred on the Howard Stern Radio Show on December 9, 2000.
In sessions at AOL, on the exclusive interview with Green Day, they misspell Billie Joe's name. They spell it Billy Joe.
Billie Joe was on an episode of Inked titled "Murphy's Law". It showed Billie Joe getting his Adeline tattoo on his finger.
Mike Dirnt's Facts
Mike took the picture of himself in the Nimrod booklet.
Mike smoked his first joint with his mom's friend.
Mike wrote the bassline for Longview while he was high and forgot it the next day.
Mike was born with a heart problem and sometimes has panic attacks.
Mike's adoptive parents divorced when he was 6.
Mike once rented a small part of Billie's house to live in during high school.
Mike got mistaken for a ambushing fan at Woodstock 1994, and a security guard kicked him and knocked a couple of his teeth out.
Mike actually believes that one day dogs will take over the world (remember the Dookie cover?)
In the self titled New Found Glory CD inlay it thanks Green Day and the bass player has a special thanx to Mike "...and Mike Dirnt for the influence...".
Mike has a sister named Myla.
Mike Dirnt is the part-owner of Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Emeryville, California. Emeryvillie is between Berkeley and Oakland.
Mike and Billie Joe are both wearing work shirts that say "Chuck" in two music videos, Mike in Basketcase and Billie Joe in Redundant
Mike Dirnt completed a years worth of college courses after high school.
On the back cover of the green day booklet for Dookie, there is a picture of Mike Dirnt looking in the mirror. If you look in the mirror, you can partially see the person taking the picture.
Mike likes donuts and hotel coffe, and Starbucks coffee aswell, maybe just coffee in general.
Mike likes to have those little packages of donuts on tour.
Mike dressed up as a vampire, or as he said "Count Mikeula", for Halloween 2004.
Tre Cool's Facts
Tré has his left nipple peirced.
Tré once milked a dog because he wanted milk for his coffee, and the house he was staying in didn't have any.
Tré was class president for a time when he was in high school.
Tré is the only person to ever climb the Universal Studios ball (their trademark) in Orlando, Florida. He climbed the ball at the 1998 MTV Music Awards. It landed him in the top 100 red carpet acts.
Tré loves to golf.
Tré only has one testicle. He lost the other one in a tragic unicycle accident. He was riding it on a stage at a high school near his home town when suddenly he fell off the stage and landed on the unicycle. His testicle went inside his body, and the doctor examining him took one look and said "hmm... translucent scrotum..."
Tré played violin in the second grade.
Tré's dad built Lawrence Livermore's house.
Tré actually went to a clown college before the band got big which explains his wild antics.
Tré uses the same drumkit, Slingerland, as the drummer from The Who does, which is Keith Moon. This is also of course Slingerland, and oddly the two drummers have the same wild and crazy stage antics.
In an interview on Trio, Tré has said that if he were any female celebrity he would be "that chick from the Golden Girls, because she's old and loose".
Tré once caught a shark on accident, and after beating it with a baseball bat multiple times, it finally died when he hit it with the stump of the bat.
Tré is the godfather of Billie Joe's kids.
In an interview, they were asked what kind of music they liked, and Tré answered, " I like Fisher Price music, nursery rhymes, and the alphabet song"................Mike "seconded the motion".
In the Walking Contradiction video Tre is chased by a bread truck.
Tré's dad was a Vietnam helicopter pilot.
Tré likes his shoes.
On MTV's Wildest moments of the VMA's there's a short Clip of Tré with David Grohl from The Foo Fighters (and previously from Nirvana) singing to Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People".
Tré dressed as a priest at a gig (in Dublin). It was probably in reference to Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio) who is a big fan.
Tré dressed up as Benji Madden of Good Charlotte for Halloween, 2004.
Tré made his first records with The Lookouts when he was 12.
Tré is short for Tres, which in French means very, which makes him very cool by no mistake.
Tré hopes that if if the band does star in the American Idiot movie, he gets to dress in drag.
Source : GDA (The Green Day Authority dot com)
The first Halo game has some Basket Case lyrics in it as part of a hidden easter egg. (source: Bungie.org) In the video for Holiday, if you look closely at the bar when Tre (in drag) is dancing, you can see pictures of Billie Joe with TNT on him. Green Day has two songs in which they say 1, 2, (1,2,3,4) - Hitchin' a Ride and St. Jimmy Green Day is featured in the screenshot for the new Media Player 11 Dookie's original title was Liquid Dookie, but they changed it because they thought it was too gross. New copies of Dookie are made without Ernie on the back. That's because Sesame Street threatened to sue Green Day. Billie also plays the harmonica, mandolin, drums, and the piano. Mike also plays the farfisa, guitar, and the drums. Tre also plays the guitar and the accordian. In 1995 or so, the video for 'Longview' was critiqued on the popular MTV show, Beavis & Butthead. 'Basketcase' was also critiqued on the "Spanish Fly" episode of Beavis and Butthead. When Green Day was recording songs for Insomniac, they were trying to think of an appropriate name for the song Stuck With Me. The band recorded the song now called "Do Da Da" around the same time, and that song was originally called "Stuck With Me", because those words actually appear in that song. But, there was a studio mix-up, and someone labeled the third track on Insomniac "Stuck With Me". When the band discovered the error, they felt the name was appropriate for the song and kept it. Later, they decided to release the real "Stuck With Me" as a b-side, so they gave it the nonsensical name "Do Da Da". The album Insomniac is called with that name because Billie Joe didn't sleep at night. His son (Joey) cried all night, so Billie would write a lot of songs. Another way it is said that they got the name for Insomniac I s that when Billie Joe came to Winston Smith the guy who made the cover for it to see what it was like Billie Joe thought that it was really cool and he asked Winston Smith how long it took him to do it and he said about 36 hours and Billie Joe said "man you must have been tired " and Winston Smith said "to really I'm kind of an Insomniac". "The Grouch" (on nimrod.) was originally titled "Happy Grouch". It's rumored that Billie Joe's mom mispelled his name on his birth certificate because she was high (from the drugs given to her during childbirth). "Haushinka" was originally written for Dookie, but at the time they didnt like the sound of it. So they excluded it from the album then when Nimrod came they decided to include it. One reason there was such a long break between Nimrod and Warning was because Billie Joe was at a rocky point in his marriage and needed to spend time at home. The Insomniac cover art (created by Winston Smith) is called "God Told Me to Skin You Alive." The corner of Stuart and the Ave. is the corner of Stuart Street and Telegraph Avenue in Berkley, California. When Green Day first got started, their tour bus was an old bookmobile van that Tre's dad bought and fixed up. Five of Green Day's mainstream albums all begin with drums. The video for "Redundant" has the same scene playing over and over again behind the band, hence the name "Redundant". On the Insomniac cover, there are three skulls which are supposed to be the 3 skulls of the 3 members of Green Day, and in order to see the third one you have to look in the flames and hold the paper at an angle in order to see it properly This technique was used back in the Renaissance. In the Minority video, Billie Joe is running around with the cape on and Mike throws a hand to trip him. The hand is given the peace sign. When it hits him it nocks off the pointer and gives the middle finger. Weird Al Yankovic covered Basketcase in his song "Alternative Polka", which is on the album Bad Hair Day. Billie and Mike recorded the vocals for "1,039 / Smoothed Out Slappy Hours" simultaneously, to save money, and Lawrence Livermore gave them the $1000 needed for the album. In the "Kerplunk" inlay, it also thanks Adrienne Nesser, now Billie's wife. Green Day hates ska except for the band Operation Ivy. Billie, Mike, and Tre did all of their own stunts in the "Walking Contradiction" video including a scene were Billie almost gets nailed by a car. In the "Kerplunk" credits, they thank some guy named "Brainstew". Tre's name was given to him by the owner of Lookout Records Lawrence Livermore when Tre played in the band "The Lookouts". If Billie Joe and Mike could play any movie role in history, they would both choose Austin Powers. Tre would prefer to be Cat Woman. All By Myself, the hidden song on Dookie, was recorded at a party. The Kerplunk inlay thanks Jason Relva (J.A.R.). Billie had to be forced to doing the 'walking across the road almost getting hit by cars' stunt on the Walking Contradiction video by Tré. Billie said "Tré scared me into it. I was so scared..I thought I was gonna die right there with all the cameras on me..Well I can think of worse ways to die". Billie Joe's favorite food is vegetarian lasagana and root beer. The 'My Adventure with Green Day' story in 'Kerplunk!' says it was written by 'Laurie L.' The name Laurie L is actually a tribute to Laurence Livermoore of Lookout records. In the Kerplunk! thank yous, they thank a guy named Eggplant, who appears in the Laurie L. story--he was a real person. He wrote a 'zine called "Apsolutely Zippo', in which you can also find stories by Claude (also in the story) and even by Billie Joe himself. When Green Day toured in the Bookmobile they used as a bus, people would acutally ask them if they had books to sell. On the dookie cover, the right side, on one of the building's it's written 'Twisted Dog Sisters'--this was the name for an actual group of girls from Berkely. Pat Hynes is a well known Berkely artist who did the liner notes for both Dookie and Kerplunk. The album Kerpluk! is dedicated 'in loving memory of Gravy'. The song 'Who Wrote Holden Caufield?' is actually about a character, Holden Caufield, from J.D. Salinger's book "The Catcher in the Rye", one of Billie Joe's favorites. The video for Basketcase was filmed in black and white, they added color afterwards. The intersection where most of the action happens in the "Walking Contradiction" video is Centre St. and 7th St. in Los Angeles. In the Last Ride In video, Tre plays the accordian part to DUI, but you can't hear it very well. Green Day cursed the second most times on Behind the Music (27 times) which is fifty less than the leader, Oasis. On the Slappy! 7" record, if you look closely on the rim of the artwork on the A Side, you can see that is says, "Might Bleed Today". On the Kerplunk CD, there's a song called Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?, and on the Screeching Weasel cd, "How to Make Enemies and Iritate People", There's a song called I Wrote Holden Caulfield. When original drummer John Kriftmeyer (aka Al Sobrante) left Green Day, he didn't tell Billie Joe. Billie Joe found out he was leaving through a friend. So when Green Day replaced John with Tre, Billie Joe returned the favor by not telling John directly that he was being replaced. Billie Joe doesn't think that Green Day would have had as much success if John was still in the band. The Imus in the Morning show on NPR occasionally plays the first two lines of 'Basket Case' before commercial breaks. On the Dead Kennedy's cd, Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, and on track 9, I Kill Children, it starts out with "GOD TOLD ME TO SKIN YOU ALIVE", the name of the artwork for Insomniac. If you turn the volume up and listen very closely to Good Riddence you can hear Billie-Joe say the f word in the beginning. In the kerplunk inlay the band thanks a "Osama"! On 1039/smoothed out slappy hours the band recorded and mixed the record in two day and only cost $675 to record and sold nearly a million copies. To raise spending money for the tour, Mike shucked clams, Billie Joe flipped pizzas, and John drove a diaper truck. You can cut up Green Day stickers to read "Gay Nerd." In Going To Pasalacqua at the very beginning right before you hear Billie sing "Here we go again" you can hear someone cough. Also, in Prosthetic Head after the bridge and when it's just a soft guitar then Billie Joe starts sining right before he does you can also hear someone cough then too. In the "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" video, the lamp shade is on the floor (it's lit) and the rest of the lamp is by the shade (unlit). Insomniac, Nimrod, and Warning all came out in October. Insomniac on October 10th 1995, Nimrod on October 14th 1997, and Warning on October 3rd 2000. On Dookie, the song "Chump" ends with the "Longview" beat which goes into song 4 (Longview) like Chump never ended. Green Day had more drummers than just Tre and Al Sobrante. They actually had quite a few! It's just that the only recorded drummers are those two. The real origin of the name Green Day. Ernie from Sesamy Street said the frase Green Day in one of the shows and it kinda was funny for the guys smoking pot and all. So it became an inside joke with Green Day meaning a pot-filled wasted day. Then came the song Green Day and also Al Sobrante wrote Green Day on the back of his jacket and it kinda caught on from there and they decided to use it as their band's name Al Sobrante (John Kriftmeyer) was in the band Isocracy. On either the cover art or booklet art of Kerplunk, Dookie, and Insomniac they're is a gun. The guitar chords to the blink-182 song "What's my Age Again" are exactly the same as When I Come Around. 1,039 Smoothed out Slappy Hours was recorded in 2 days. At the ending of Basket Case on the International Super Hits Album while the sound is fading out there is something said that doesn't sound like it's supposed to be there. 3 You know how it says "Might Bleed Today" on Slappy. Well on the other side it says Cool Slapped Out and on 1,00 Hours it says No Way! and Too Cool! On 39/Smooth it says Call Back Tomorrow, It's A School Night, We Heart Jake, and Bill, Mike, John : Loyal Filth Groupies. On the spine it says James, Put Down That Skinhead! Also on the inlay there are three letters. One to Green Day from a record label asking them to join, One to the record label from John saying no politley and one from Lawrence Livermore to the record label making fun of them. On the spine of the Kerplunk record it says Say Ouch Before I Hafta Hurt You! At the end of the song Walking Alone on Nimrod you can hear a glass break and someone says something like "its not like one thing......". On the front cover of Insomniac, in the flames,there are hidden pictures. you can find a naked woman, 3 faeries, a skull, and several other ghosly faces. The guy from the Time Of Your Life video, is also the dude who plays Carter in ER, he comes up twice in the video. At the beginning of Prosthetic Head, there's some scratching noise like when you pull the plug from your guitar in the amp and it stops once Billie starts singing. Insomniac was origanally going to be called Tight Wad Hill. On the cover of Operation Ivy's "Knowledge" the part at the beginning that is said backwards says "Lets get personal" when played forwards. Good Riddance (Time of your Life) was the official theme for the Golf PGA Tour in 1998. Jesse Micheals, ex-lead singer of Operation Ivy did the disc and cover art for 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, Jesse Micheals and Operation Ivy were then thanked in Kerplunk! along with Tim Armstrong from OPIV. The band each takes a shot of Vodka before every gig. The three small pictures inside the 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours covers come from the following: Billie Joe - The picture comes from the Green Day bootleg, "Radio Daze"; Mike - Its a picture of one of his tattoos.; John - Its a picture adapted from Zippo magazine. The dog on the Slappy E.P.'s name is Mickey, "Slappy" was a nickname given to him by Jason Relva. Green Day has 14 transitional songs. They are Chump/Longview, Brain Stew/Jaded, Uptight/Last Ride In, and Jinx/Haushinka, Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Are We the Waiting/St. Jimmy, and Give Me Novacaine/She's a Rebel. In Kerplunk! it says 'In Memory of Gravy...' Gravy was actually Mike's pet cat who died. No Doubt's brass section was used in the recording of the album Nimrod. Reel Big Fish's brass section once toured with Green Day, playing their songs. On MTV's "Top 10 songs to break up to" (or something like that) Time Of Your Life got to number 2. Basket Case was mentioned as number 2 in Kerrang's best videos. The noise heard at the beginning of the song "Green Day" is a bong, and for those who dont know, a bong is a weed smoking device. At the end of Burnout, you can hear someone laughing. On Common Riders first EP, Billie Joe had played lead on it and sang. Common Rider was Jesse Michaels (ex- OPIV) last band. At the very begining of "Going to Pasalacqua", Before "Here we go again...." if you turn it up and listen closely in the silence he says "Here we go again" before he actually says it. "80" is short for Adrienne (it's also her nickname). In Brain Stew after the drums start playing Billie Joe makes a noise kinda like "uhhhh" but you can barely hear it. The band "All American Rejects" might have gotten there name from one of Green Days songs (probably Reject). After John Kiffmeyer left Green Day, before Tre came in, a friend of the band joined as drummer for a few weeks, but left saying he wasn't good enough for the band. Dita Von Teese, who is singer Marilyn Manson's girlfriend, appeared in one of Green Day's videos. In the special features of the Social Distortion's Live in Orange County DVD, Mike Ness brings his kids up on stage and his son is wearing a Warning t-shirt. The story in the Kerplunk booklet was written by Lawrence Livermore (Laurie L.), who was the founder of Gilman St. and Lookout! records. "Brain Stew" can be seen in the Green Day: Behind The Music under the name James Washburn. In between playing shows in Florida in 91, the band's van was broken into and many of their clothes were stolen. The house where they filmed Longview wasn't only inhabited by the band...it was also lived in by several other people, and it was the basement to a real house, and in the kitchen the pipes were so low that they would hit their head on them. And it only had about one bedroom. The video for Basketcase was originally filmed in black and white, but later it was colored in by technicolor. Green Day came up with the ideas for the first few music videos. In the music video of "When I Come Around", midway through the video you can see present back up guitarist Jason White with a girlfriend of his at the time. On Brain Stew, right after the verse when the drums coem in, if you listen closely, you can hear Billie Joe say "oh" then "yeah" under his breath. If you take the chords and rhythm from the Bltikrieg Bop intro, keep the rhythm, but play the chords backwards, it's the "Welcome to Paradise" into. When Green Day recorded "Dry Ice", they kept messing up and ended up doing about 18 takes on the song until they finally got it down. So at the end of the song you can hear them all shouting "YES! YES! YES!", because they finally got it done On the American Idiot CD on the track Jesus of Suburbia during the part Dearly Beloved, you can hear Billie Joe sing "Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed?". However, if you watch Sessions @ AOL on tv for Green Day, Billie Joe clearly sings "Am I retarded or am I just unemployed?" In Longview, after they say "Call me pathetic, call me what you will", you can hear something in the background that sounds like a kid crying or a dog dying or something. When John decided to leave Green Day for college, another drummer joined named Dave E.C.. He was only in the band for a few weeks when he decided to leave and then Tre joined. Billie Joe and Mike Dirnt's first gig was at Rod's Hickory Pit in Vallejo, CA, where Billie's mom worked. Lawrence Livermore started Lookout records with his welfare money. In May 1995, Green Day played 2 nights at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, CA. They donated all of the profits (including T-shirt revenues) to Food Not Bombs, which provides meals for the homeless and three other charities. If you look closely on the Nimrod, you can see that all the words that are scratched out in the entire booklet simply say "Delete This. Delete This. Delete This. Delete This." over and over again. Billie Joe used to actually have a friend named "Eggplant" when he was like 16, like the character in the "My adventure with Green Day" story. On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams video, St. Jimmy and Whatsername (the ones from the Limitied Edition booklet of American idiot) are shown standing around a trashcan fire. In the 'Holiday' video, just after he kisses Tre, Billie Joe's trousers slip down at the back and you can see his butt crack! In 'Longview' just after Billie Joe says "call me what you will", if you listen carefully, you can hear Mike call Billie 'whatyouwill'. The guitar for Brain Stew is nearly identical to the Chicago song "25 or 6 to 4". On the song Hold On (Warning) someone screams 'Hope' in the background after Billie says 'A cry for hope'.Billie Joe's Facts
Billie Joe used to have a nose ring, but he took it out because it got caught on his shirt. Billie Joe sometimes suffers from panic attacks and aniexty. Billie wears Jockey underwear. It has been said that Billie Joe is a registered member of Poetry.com. I've heard his name is B. Armstrong. At age 15, Billie tried to go to an Operation Ivy concert, but he was refused entry. One of the members of the band heard he wasn't allowed in, so they came out and personally esorted him into the show. Billie drives a blue 67 Ford Fairlane. Mike drives a BMW, and Tre sports an SUV. Billie Joe's cat, Zero, died in his washing machine. Billie's trademark first guitar is named Blue, and was given to him by his mother, who bought it from Billie's guitar teacher. He has several replicas of the guitar now. Billie Joe has been rumored to have been romantically linked to Winona Ryder. When Billie was younger he put 409 in his teacher's coffee. (409 in Your Coffeemaker) Billie Joe's nickname in high school was "Two Dollar Bill" because he sold joints for two dollars. Billie Joe's mother spelled his name wrong on his birth certificate. Not because she was high with illegal drugs, she was loopy because of the massive amounts of painkillers in her body to ease childbirth. In the second grade two girls beat up Billie Joe so that he would date them. Billie Joe and Adrienne spent their honeymoon at Berkley's Claremont Hotel, which is a short distance from their house. The first time Billie Joe kissed Adrienne he went home and wrote 2,000 Light Years Away. Billie Joe's birthday is on the same day as National Cabbage Day. Billie likes playing the drums most out of the piano, harmonica, and the mandolin. Billie occasionally wears nail polish. For the video for Jaded, because the lyrics are about being stoned and how you feel when you're stoned. Billie decided to get high while shooting the video just to get the feel for the song. It's an old tradition of Billie's that at every one of his concerts he kisses a guy. Billie Joe thinks that Staind's lead singer sounds like Cher. Billie Joe hates Slipknot. He said that the masks "Are so fucking retarded", and one time, a fan threw some screwed up mask on the stage, and when Billie Joe picked it up he looked in disgust and said, "Were not fucking slipknot, you asshole!" Billie Joe doesn't like Eminem. Billie Joe played football for John Swett High School in Crockett, CA. Billie uses Jhirmack Styling Spritz to get his hair good and crunchy. Billie has a guitar made with with different parts called Frankenstein. On the "1,000 Hours" record they spell Billie's name as "Billy". Billie's had his blue 67 Ford Fairlane for ages, it's even featured in Christie Road "Standing on my beat up car". When Billie first earned enough money with his music, he had the car primered. Billie Joe when talking about future plans said he would become a soccer team coach. The first album Billie Joe bought as Elvis Presley's "The Sun Sessions". In the song "Sick Of Me" on Shenanigans, right before billie joe says "Like a dog...." you can hear a "squishy" noise Billie Joe likes to take books on tour. The electricians tape on Billie Joe's large cutaway on Blue is there because some dude knocked into him at one of their first gigs and he dropped the guitar, causing it to crack from the strap lock down. He then later taped it up. The BLACK FORK album ROCK FOR LOOT was produced by Billie Joe. Even though in the insert it is spelled Billy Joe. In early 2001 Billie Joe was mugged at gunpoint and is now terrified of guns. Billie Joe got body lice while on tour in Germany in Green Day's early days. Billie Joe said that if he could be any female celebrity, he would be Chrissie Hynde. Billie Joe was in a documentary called "Mayor of the Sunset Strip" in 2003. Billie Joe played "Ghostly Betting Man" on the show Haunted in 2002. The episode is named "Simon Redux." It has never aired in the USA. Billie Joe guest starred on the Howard Stern Radio Show on December 9, 2000. In sessions at AOL, on the exclusive interview with Green Day, they misspell Billie Joe's name. They spell it Billy Joe. Billie Joe was on an episode of Inked titled "Murphy's Law". It showed Billie Joe getting his Adeline tattoo on his finger.Mike Dirnt's Facts
Mike took the picture of himself in the Nimrod booklet. Mike smoked his first joint with his mom's friend. Mike wrote the bassline for Longview while he was high and forgot it the next day. Mike was born with a heart problem and sometimes has panic attacks. Mike's adoptive parents divorced when he was 6. Mike once rented a small part of Billie's house to live in during high school. Mike got mistaken for a ambushing fan at Woodstock 1994, and a security guard kicked him and knocked a couple of his teeth out. Mike actually believes that one day dogs will take over the world (remember the Dookie cover?) In the self titled New Found Glory CD inlay it thanks Green Day and the bass player has a special thanx to Mike "...and Mike Dirnt for the influence...". Mike has a sister named Myla. Mike Dirnt is the part-owner of Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Emeryville, California. Emeryvillie is between Berkeley and Oakland. Mike and Billie Joe are both wearing work shirts that say "Chuck" in two music videos, Mike in Basketcase and Billie Joe in Redundant Mike Dirnt completed a years worth of college courses after high school. On the back cover of the green day booklet for Dookie, there is a picture of Mike Dirnt looking in the mirror. If you look in the mirror, you can partially see the person taking the picture. Mike likes donuts and hotel coffe, and Starbucks coffee aswell, maybe just coffee in general. Mike likes to have those little packages of donuts on tour. Mike dressed up as a vampire, or as he said "Count Mikeula", for Halloween 2004.Tre Cool's Facts
Tré has his left nipple peirced. Tré once milked a dog because he wanted milk for his coffee, and the house he was staying in didn't have any. Tré was class president for a time when he was in high school. Tré is the only person to ever climb the Universal Studios ball (their trademark) in Orlando, Florida. He climbed the ball at the 1998 MTV Music Awards. It landed him in the top 100 red carpet acts. Tré loves to golf. Tré only has one testicle. He lost the other one in a tragic unicycle accident. He was riding it on a stage at a high school near his home town when suddenly he fell off the stage and landed on the unicycle. His testicle went inside his body, and the doctor examining him took one look and said "hmm... translucent scrotum..." Tré played violin in the second grade. Tré's dad built Lawrence Livermore's house. Tré actually went to a clown college before the band got big which explains his wild antics. Tré uses the same drumkit, Slingerland, as the drummer from The Who does, which is Keith Moon. This is also of course Slingerland, and oddly the two drummers have the same wild and crazy stage antics. In an interview on Trio, Tré has said that if he were any female celebrity he would be "that chick from the Golden Girls, because she's old and loose". Tré once caught a shark on accident, and after beating it with a baseball bat multiple times, it finally died when he hit it with the stump of the bat. Tré is the godfather of Billie Joe's kids. In an interview, they were asked what kind of music they liked, and Tré answered, " I like Fisher Price music, nursery rhymes, and the alphabet song"................Mike "seconded the motion". In the Walking Contradiction video Tre is chased by a bread truck. Tré's dad was a Vietnam helicopter pilot. Tré likes his shoes. On MTV's Wildest moments of the VMA's there's a short Clip of Tré with David Grohl from The Foo Fighters (and previously from Nirvana) singing to Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People". Tré dressed as a priest at a gig (in Dublin). It was probably in reference to Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio) who is a big fan. Tré dressed up as Benji Madden of Good Charlotte for Halloween, 2004. Tré made his first records with The Lookouts when he was 12. Tré is short for Tres, which in French means very, which makes him very cool by no mistake. Tré hopes that if if the band does star in the American Idiot movie, he gets to dress in drag.Source : GDA (The Green Day Authority dot com)
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