Author: Ben Myers

ISBN: 193285732x

This is an unauthorized, but very favorable, biography of Green Day, one of the
world's biggest punk music bands.

The trio that became Green Day grew up in small towns near San Francisco. Each
coming from difficult family circumstances, they fell in love with punk music
(the Dead Kennedys, the Sex Pistols, the Buzzcocks, among many others). They
formed a band, and soon became mainstays at a place called 924 Gilman. It was
little more than a vacant building, but it quickly became a West Coast punk rock
mecca. On any given night, veteran punk bands and bands playing their first gig
would share the bill.

In the early days, Green Day was constantly on tour. They played basements,
squats, anywhere they could plug in their instruments. Some nights, their
audience might reach double digits, and other nights they might actually get
paid for their efforts. They were living the punk rock lifestyle, fueled by
large amounts of alcohol. They were loose and slacker-like about many things,
but they were totally serious about their music.

Slowly but surely, they were building a fan base. Their first two albums, on a
small punk label, did really well, eventually selling in the hundreds of
thousands. Their first major label release, Dookie, in 1994, was a blockbuster,
eventually selling 10 million copies. Marriage, fatherhood and burnout became a
part of their lives, so they cut back on the incessant touring. But they were
now filling major arenas. While some punk music can be indistinguishable from
very loud, random noise, a big influence for Green Day was 1960s British bands,
so there was actual music in their songs. In 2004, they released a concept album
called American Idiot, another blockbuster and Grammy winner, giving their view
of present-day America.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Of course, this book is highly recommended
for those who own any of the band's musical output. It is also recommended for
anyone, yours truly included, who has seen a video or two of theirs on TV, but
who knows little or nothing about punk music in general, or Green Day in
particular.

The above review was contributed by:  Paul Lappen: CLICK TO VIEW Paul Lappen's Reviews