January

‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’

Billie Joe had actually written the acoustic ‘Good Riddance’ back in 1993 after his relationship with his first serious girlfriend Amanda ended. This bittersweet song was released as a single and, as well as becoming a hit, crossed over into a wider cultural arena, where it was used to highlight clips on the last show of the highly successful Seinfeld series. Some hardcore punks saw this track as the ultimate Green Day sell-out whilst others saw this genre-breaking song as one of the greatest punk acts of all time. More importantly, it put Green Day back on the map (aided by some pyromania).

April

Controversial TV Appearance

During a five-date tour of Australia between 27 March and 4 April, Green Day had an interview-only appearance on Recovery TV, but when Billie Joe shouted, ‘do you want to hear a song?’ a hardcore group of Green Day fans screamed an affirmative answer. Taking instruments from the house band and ignoring the irate presenter, Billie Joe launched the band into a spirited version of ‘The Grouch’, the lyrics of which included several ‘f***s’. When they had finished, Billie Joe strapped the guitar onto the back of the presenter, who was told to ‘shut the f*** up’ by Tre as he read out a list of their upcoming gigs. The band were then escorted out of the studio.

June

KROQ Weenie Roast And Fiesta

From Woodstock in 1994 (where he had a tooth knocked out) it seemed as if it were always Mike to draw the short straw. In 1997 he endured an elbow operation, the removal of wisdom teeth and separation from his wife. In June 1998 Green Day were playing at Los Angeles radio station KROQ’s annual Weenie Roast Festival where they were second on the bill to The Prodigy. During Green Day’s set, Third Eye Blind’s bassist Arion Salazar ran onto the stage and bear-hugged Dirnt. Dirnt later confronted Salazar backstage and either Salazar or a Third Eye Blind fan threw a beer bottle, fracturing Dirnt’s skull. Dirnt made a full recovery and no charges were pressed.

September

MTV Video Music Awards

In September, Green Day’s ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’ won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video. Also nominated were Radiohead’s ‘Karma Police’, Ben Folds Five’s ‘Brick’, The Verve’s ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ and Garbage’s ‘Push It’. After it was announced that they had won, the band took to the stage to accept the award. Tre, dressed in tartan shorts and sporting green hair, breathed ‘no way!’ into the microphone, before Billie Joe stated, ‘my wife’s at home, she’s having a baby next week so I want to say hi to her,’ before thanking everyone from their managers to the director of the video, Mark Kohr.

Winter

At A Crossroads

Despite ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’ making inroads to a new demographic, Insomniac and Nimrod only sold around 3.5 million copies each worldwide....

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