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| In 1995, Green Day went back into the studios to record Insomniac,
which was supposed to be called 'Jesus Christ Supermarket,' but the man who made 'God Told Me to Skin You Alive,' the cover
art (need to find his name) said to Billie Joe when he was done, "I'm an Insomniac." The man hadn't slept for two days
as he made the cover art. So, the new album would now be named 'Insomniac,’ Billie liked the title better. On the
cover, there are three skulls (one skull per member of Green Day). The third skull can be found by sort of sideways glancing
at a piece of wood in the artwork . . . so if you're bored someday, it would be a nice thing to try! |
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| Insomniac was an angrier album - somewhat more punk than Dookie.
After Dookie was released and sold millions of records, the bands old pals down at Gillman Street abandoned them because
they were too popular now. With them still being quite young, this really let Green Day down. They were all going through
rough times; having panic attacks, etc. Billie, Mike and Tre all knew that the album would not be near as successful
as Dookie! was; but it did better than they thought it would. It got a Grammy nomination for 'Walking Contradiction,' so
it definitely wasn't a 'sophomore slump!' |
| Green Day released 'Geekstinkbreath' as their first single off
of Insomniac - a song about using Meth. The video, however, I found quite disturbing since a tooth is being pulled and it's
all bloody. Great song; gross video! Green Day also made singles / videos of Walking Contradiction and Brainstew / Jaded
off the album. |
| The band decided to take a well deserved break in 1996. Mike
had his first child, Estelle Desiree in April 1997 with his wife, Anastasia but they separated sometime later; they're still
good friends today. Later in 1997, Green Day went right on back to the recording studios to record their next album, Nimrod. |
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| Nimrod showed a change in Green Day's attitude - their songs
started to mature a bit; it showed a new side to Green Day - they'd always wanted to produce an album like Nimrod ever since
Gilman Street days. That didn't stop their old punk attitude! In New York City's Tower Records store, Green Day arrived
to make an appearance for their release of the new album. The first thing Billie said was "Let's have a fuckin' riot!" and
he spray painted 'Nimrod' and 'Fuck You' on the store windows - and before people were allowed inside to buy the record, he
mooned the whole crowd. Green Day did a forty minute show and at the end, Billie Joe threw Tre's bass drum from the second
floor of the store down onto CD racks below. The band was banned from the store after that performance. |
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| The albums first single was 'Hitchin' a Ride' in August of 1997.
Their next single in 1997 was even more successful than the last; 'Good Riddance.' It's also more commonly known as 'Time
of Your Life' but only because people didn't always know what the real title was, so they just said 'Time of Your Life.'
Billie did write this song way before the album was made (during Dookie period) but he was afraid to play it because
it wasn't 'punk' enough and he was singing it alone. Green Day won their first VMA with this new video; it also hit number
one on Billboard Charts in 1998. Their next single was Redundant in 1998, but it didn't go too far on the charts; it was
written to Adrienne about their marriage problems at the time. The last single off of Nimrod was Nice Guys Finish last in
1999. (This is probably my favorite video from the album)! they got nominated a VMA with this song for best song from a movie
(it was in Varsity Blues) but it didn't win. |
| Yet again, with the 'families,' Billie Joe and Adrienne had their
second child in September 1998; Jakob Danger. A while later, Tre remarried to a woman named Claudia and had a son, Frankito
in 2001. Around the same era, Billie Joe and Adrienne Armstrong started their own record label, called Adeline records (also
owned by Jim Theibaud a skateboarder). The label manages bands such as AFI, Green Day vinyl's, The Living End, The Network,
and Pinhead Gunpowder (several others). Recently, the record label opened up a punk clothing line called Adeline Street in
the early 2000’s. |
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