April

California Music Awards

Whilst their critical stock may have been low in other territories, it remained high in the Bay Area. This was confirmed when Green Day won eight statuettes at the annual California Music Awards (formerly the Bammies) held in Oakland on 24 April, hosted by Huey Lewis. Warning won Outstanding Album, and Outstanding Punk Rock/Ska Album; Green Day won Outstanding Group and Outstanding Artist; Mike Dirnt won Outstanding Bassist; Tre Cool won Outstanding Drummer. Although Billie Joe won Outstanding Songwriter (beating Neil Young and Aimee Mann) and Outstanding Male Vocalist, the Outstanding Guitarist award went to Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine!

July

CBGB

Green Day arrived at New York’s CBGB club, made famous by punk rock, to watch a friend’s band play. After a huge amount of drink, they rushed the stage at midnight and, deploying borrowed instruments, had the time of their lives playing the legendary venue. ‘This is our first show ever here at the CBGB club,’ Billie Joe announced, halfway through ‘Scattered’; the set-list was a seat-of-the-pants affair but included ‘Longview’, ‘Welcome To Paradise’, ‘She’, ‘Minority’ and a number of covers, including a choice version of The Undertones’ ‘Teenage Kicks’, punctuated by a fair amount of hardcore belching (from the band).

August

Gig On The Green Festival

The Gig On The Green Festival 2001 was held on 25 and 26 August in Glasgow, Scotland. The line-up included bands and artists that had supplanted Green Day in indie popularity, such as The Strokes, or in sales, such as The Queens Of The Stone Age, Marilyn Manson and new white rap sensation Eminem. Green Day rushed up to Scotland to perform after having appeared on Reading Festival’s main stage the previous day. Their pert 13-song Reading set was flavoured strongly with old favourites like ‘Longview’, ‘Welcome To Paradise’ and ‘Basket Case’.

November

International Superhits!

Released in November, International Superhits! was a chirpy summation of Green Day’s finest chart moments, showcasing hits ranging from ‘Longview’ to the less chart-adhesive ‘Warning’. Two previously unreleased tracks, ‘Maria’ and ‘Poprocks & Coke’, opened the album; the track ‘J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)’, which had appeared in the soundtrack to the film Angus (1995), also had its first outing. ‘J.A.R.’ was about Mike Dirnt’s close friend who had died in a car crash; this event had prompted Dirnt to acquire a tattoo identical to one that Jason had: a snake wrapped around a dagger with the word ‘brother’.

Personalities | Introducing Green Day
Personalities | Green Day | Decline In Popularity (2002) | Key Events