Billie Joe Armstrong was born February 17th, 1972, in Rodeo California. His parents were strictly blue collar, his mom was a waitress, and his dad was a jazz drummer/trucker. Billie Joe's family was dominated my music. At around the age of 5, Billie Joe Armstrong made his first record called "Look for Love" in a little studio at Flink Records, Billie Joe sang his songs to patients in hospitals to make them feel better. His record also had an interview with Billie Joe talking about his first record, and how he felt about it. At around the age of 10, Andy, Bille Joe's father, gave Billie Joe a Fernandes Stratocaster that we all know today as "Blue." Billie Joe's dad Andrew Armstong then passed away from throat cancer three months after he was diagnosed. That strongly affected Billie for the rest of his life. When Billie entered his early pre-teen years the death of his father took it's toll on him and his family. His mother worked nights to support the family, the dinners were microwaveable, and every day after school Billie had to climb inside through his window to get in the house. Billie then focused alot of his time and energy into playing guitar.

   Mike Dirnt was born on May 4th, 1972. Early on Mike Dirnt was adopted by his foster mother Cheryl Nasser, in a situation where Mike desperatly needed a home. As a young child Mike was hyper as well as foolish. When he first went to elementary school Mike got upset at one of his teachers and kicked her in the shin, he also but 409 in a teachers coffiemaker at one point, thus later inspireing the song "409 in your coffemaker" But Mike's adoptive mother and father split up and Mike went to go live with his mother. It was very hard on Mike and it was never something he wanted to talk about.

   But after the death of his father, Billie Joe met a kid in 5th grade named Michael Ryan Pritchard, he was rowdy, a trouble maker, and best of all...a punk. The new friends shared a common love of all things anti social and hardcore punk, and in Billie Joe and Mike's early teen years they started transferring themselfs through song. They were both connected through music, and this is how they became friends. At first Billie Joe and Mike were both playing the lead guitar, so eventually Mike moved to bass, with Billie teaching him his first chords. They set up equipment in Billie Joe's house, and they would play on the weekends, and after school. Early on they would do cover songs, but it was then that Billie started to write his own music. Billie Joe then wrote a song called Sweet Children, which is where they got their name before Green Day. Then Mike's mom had to leave the Bay area due to financial problems, and that is when Mike decided to live with Billie Joe. Mike then moved into Billie's garage, where he lived for a while.

   Then Billie Joe and Mike heard of a place called Gilman. "The Gilman" as it was known was an old warehouse that was converted into a club, and inside this club, punk carried an almost sacred code. No racism, no drugs, no alchohol, and most importanly no major corperations. Any band that signed to a major lablel was considered a sellout and turned into the enemy. At the Gilman Billie Joe and Mike felt right at home. At school they were treated like they didn't exist and were invisible, but at Gilman they were treated just the same, except with people who felt the same. When Sweet Children began to play at the Gilman they weren't at first accepted because people thought they sounded too poppy when compared to other bands. It was then when John Kiffmeyer, (aka Al Sobrante) joined the band, and changed thier lives forever.

   Billie Joe and Mike's sole ambition was to play at Gilman, and anything that got in the way was sacrificed. For Billie Joe that ment dropping out. To him school was holding him back for what he really wanted to do. "I wanted to be in a band, and I wanted to play punk." Billie Joe says in "Behind the Music." Billie Joe and Mike were trying to get a gig at Gilman, but the owner said no because their sound was considerd " too melodic" for the Gilman's hardcore punk scene. But in 1988 Billie joe and Mike finally convinced the managers to give them a shot.

They rocked it.

   When John Kiffmeyer's band Isocracy broke up he was distraught, and looked no further than Mike and Billie. John's band Isocracy was a well known band in the bay area, and John gave Sweet Children the edge that they needed to get noticed. John helped the band get shows, and was the one who booked all of their shows and took care of the bands finances. John then called up Lawrence Livermore, owner of Lookout Records, and said that he had a new band called Sweet Children and asked where Lawrence could go and see them play. Lawrence told them that there was going to be a party up in the mountains, and John said that the band would be there. Lawrence was transfixed from the start, and said the band played "Like the Beatles at Shea Stadium". He then asked Billie if they wanted to make a record, and he said yes.

   Just before Sweet Children released their first ep called 1000 Hours, which came out in April of 1988, they changed their name to Green Day. Lawrence Livermore was angry with them for doing that, but it all worked out for the best. They got their name Green Day, from sitting around smoking pot all day. John Kiffmeyer then wrote it on the back of his jacket, and the name stuck. It was then a year after that when the band came out with their first record called 39/Smooth. School did not interest Billie Joe, so he dropped out of School to make music. The band now known as Green Day was becoming more and more popular and now they wanted to tour. So the day after Mike graduated from Pinole Valley High School the band went on a 45 day tour.

   Green Day would play in people's basement's and sleep on floor's just to get their music heard. They would use the money they got on tour from selling their shirts and records, and use it as gas and food money. At that time Green Day was starting to get popular, but then a big problem arose. John Kiffmeyer left the band to pursue his education in Arcata, California and the band was left without a drummer. Billie Joe and Mike were never directly told by John that he was leaving. They heard it through a friend who was telling them who was going away to college, and she named John as one of those people. Billie Joe was very angry at John for leaving the band, and they never told him directly that he was being replaced. That was the closest that Green Day has ever come to breaking up. But hope wasn't too hard to find, for Lawence Livermore had his own band where a little kid named Frank Edwin Wright the III played the drums. It was then when Tre Cool joined the band.