The first Halo game has some Basket Case lyrics in it as part of a hidden
easter egg.(screen shot) (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 | (screen shot)
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 Kerplunk, 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'.