Green Day is an American punk rock band that broke out in the California punk scene and expanded globally. They formed in 1987 and released music between the 1980s and 2010s. Their music served as a gateway for bands from American neo-punk, punk metal, and third wave ska genres to enter the mainstream.

Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt started their first band, Sweet Children when they were both 14. Two years later, Al Sobrante joined as a drummer, who was later replaced by Tre Cool, and the band changed their name to Green Day. With these three members, they recorded and released their EP, "1000 Hours," which was well-liked in the underground California punk scene. After they signed with independent label, Lookout, they released two full albums, "1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours" (1991) and "Kerplunk" (1992). The success of these albums led to interest from bigger record labels and prompted the band to sign with Reprise.

Green Day’s major musical success came from their release of "Dookie" in 1994. MTV played their single, “Longview,” which contributed to its success in the mainstream rock scene. The second single, “Basket Case,” stayed high on the charts for five weeks. They released other albums like "Insomniac," "Warning," and "American Idiot." "American Idiot," a rock opera that debuted a new mature and politically aware style, rocketed to number one on the American album charts in 2004. The album was even adapted for a Broadway show.

Green Day sometimes used their music to make strong political statements. "American Idiot"targeted George Bush and the song “Holiday” went against the president and American conservatism. Billie Joe Armstrong said that the song is “not anti-American, it’s anti-war.” Armstrong thought that Republican politicians were ostracizing certain communities, like the LGBT community, to win votes from other groups. Talking about his political influence in his songs, he has said, “We wanted to start a discussion.”

Green Day’s music shows influence from other punk rock bands like the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. Artists and bands that have drawn influence from Green Day include Fall Out Boy, Sublime, Blink-182, My Chemical Romance and Lady Gaga. Most of these artists drew inspiration from "Dookie."

Green Day’s popularity and musical success won them 91 major awards and 210 nominations. They won Grammys for Best Alternative Album for "Dookie" in 1995, Best Video, Short Form for the “Walking Contradiction” music video in 1996, Best Rock Album for "American Idiot"in 2005, Record of the Year for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” in 2006, and were nominated for many other Grammy categories. They’ve also had major wins at the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Bammy Awards and MTV Video Music Awards. Green Day was also recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.