Just getting into Green Day?

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

No need to be sorry, thats awesome!

You really must get the other albums for your collection!

I only need to find Nimrod, Kerplunk and 1039/SOSH now.

(and it's surprising how cheap you can find the post-Dookie albums. I haven't bought a single album, except for 21CB, for more then 10 euros, and that's including BIAB)

[Nele]

I only need to find Nimrod, Kerplunk and 1039/SOSH now.

(and it's surprising how cheap you can find the post-Dookie albums. I haven't bought a single album, except for 21CB, for more then 10 euros, and that's including BIAB)

you can get them for 5€ at the moment... and i spend like 15€ for every a few years ago...

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

you can get them for 5€ at the moment... and i spend like 15€ for every a few years ago...

Yeah, I got Insomniac for 5, AI and BIAB for 10, and the rest all in between that.

(Mm...I just realized that I payed more for the KYE single then for Insomniac, and probs also then for my non-green-case Dookie.....Hmm.)

[Angela.]

I think this is a great topic. If there aren't any new fans, all you AI era fans, maybe you can rely your experiences?

I am an AI era fan. I remember seeing a girl wearing a GD hoodie at a bus stop, and I was curious. The 1st song I listened to was a live version of Extraordinary Girl. It was actually this exact video (just on a different website): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpcEhIdF0Eg I think it was the guitar in the beginning (:17 - :41) that amazed me. It was addicting, it was enchanting, and it was fucking beautiful. I knew I was hooked from that moment onward. I first bought AI. Then, I bought BIAB soon after. Then, a friend gave me Dookie. And after that, I can't remember the exact order of the rest of the GD CD's that I bought. (But I do know that the last GD CD I bought was a special edition of 21st Century Breakdown.)

I actually think that BIAB really got me into GD. I mean, I already did like GD, but when I watched BIAB for the first time... it was an indescribable experience. Just watching this HUGE crowd gather in one spot to see a band that they all had a passion for, and seeing GD put on such an amazing show left me speechless. It made me want crave a chance to attend a GD show. And for a couple of years, that wouldn't happen. But I am going to one soon, and I couldn't be happier.

[Modern Zero.]

This is a really great topic! I discovered Green Day six years ago (I was only ten years old, so it was summer of 2003) , so I don't really consider myself a new fan anymore. XD But the first GD album that I ever listened to was Nimrod, because I remember that my dad was playing Good Riddance on his acoustic guitar and so I asked him what he was playing (I was just learning how to play guitar around that time) and so he told me that it was GD and that he had the CD with the song on it. And so I was curious and got the CD, popped it in my CD player, and listened to it. At first I was just going to listen to Good Riddance. But you know how the CD just automatically starts when you put it in the CD player? Well, Nice Guys Finish Last began playing and let's just say that I ended up playing the whole thing. I was pretty much obsessed with GD after that. I ended up getting all the other albums after that. It's really weird because I actually remember looking through the Nimrod booklet and I didn't know which band member was who and then I remember looking at the band names all like "What kind of name is Tre Cool!" lol And I think that I discovered GDA in 2005-ish...

[Greenday_Aussie]

I had heard Green Day way back in like 1995 (I cant believe I can remember hearing When I come around then!) But I didnt know who they were till 2004 when I heard American Idiot in this crazy video a friend did, after that Mum got me American Idiot and I was hooked! The second album I got was Bullet in a Bible, heard some of the older songs so I go Superhits, then...Dookie? Didnt really like it then () and the one that stays with me as my favourite old school album, nirmod! I actually cant really remember the order anymore, but I became a fan in the Dookie era/AI era. Depends how you look at it!

[Zalex]

I only got into Green Day December '05. For some reason, I was like the only kid in the seventh grade that had never heard American Idiot, Holiday or BOBD. Anyways, I really wanted the new Gwen Stefani album for Christmas, and I saw that American Idiot was part of the 2 for $25 at HMV so I figured, what the hell, I'll ask for it. This was about a year and a half after American Idiot came out.

The CD blew my mind, but I didn't even consider that they might have other albums. I was 13 and dumb. But then my brother told me that they were the same people that sing Good Riddance (which had been my favourite song since I was 5) and I was all HOLY SHIT and went and researched that. Which is what lead me to realizing that Green Day had indeed been around for a very, very long time.

Insomniac was the first CD I ever bought with my own money & I got it the week before Father's Day 2006. So three years ago. I'd already downloaded (yes, illegally) pretty much the whole Green Day discography, but after buying Insomniac, I slowly ended up buying all their albums. I was amazed by everything, the names of the albums, the artwork, how the lyrics were handwritten, etc.

Buying 21stCB on its release date was an indescribable feeling. As unpoetical as this sounds, I suddenly felt like I was no longer a noob. It's one thing to just mosey into a record store and buy Dookie, it's another thing to have to count down the days to release & rush into the store to get your hands on the new music the moment it's released.

Wow. Okay.

Wow, this sounds a lot like my "story" with the exception of some details.

I never really took much note when AI first came out but somewhere in February 05 which was 8th grade for me I caught on and just fell in love with them. I too was kinda like "oh wow so THEY sing Good Riddance, I remember that song!". In the beginning I had most of their stuff from limewire and American Idiot was actually the last album I bought (I had my friend copy it for me) and Warning was the FIRST one I bought. I still remember the day I went to Coconuts to buy Warning. Good memories. And I totally feel the same way finally not feeling like a noob when 21stcb came out

[kokonut_soda]

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" got me into Green Day.

Well, really, that song got me into punk/rock music in general. But I got into Green Day in the American Idiot era.

Although, it was a nice surprise when I looked up their older music and a few songs that I had heard, but never knew who it was by. (Like "Time of Your Life")

[Zalex]

First off, I loved all of your stories. Here's mine. It was early 05' and my friend and I were hanging out when the BOBD video came on. We both immediately loved the song and were making fun of how there were three people walking so he wasn't walking alone...So then, I started watching FUSE more and more and got aquainted with American Idiot the song, which I loved. I felt it was just what I needed. So the next day I went to the record store and picked up AI. I listened to it and it totally blew me away. I ran over to my bestfriends house and then we listened together and he loved it as much as me. I began to look up stuff about them on the web, which led me to GDA. I've come here at least once a week since 05' just never made an account.

Anyways, second CD I got was Kerplunk! which I loved also. Then I began buying the rest of the CDs relatively quickly (the last one I got was Warning I believe). Then in Sept. 05 I went to the Hartford show with my Green Day loving best friend and sang along every word. We were both totally thrown back. It was amazing. Right then, we knew we wanted to make music and start a band. We had a GD party the weekend 21CB came out.

They just inspired me so much. This summer I'll be attending my third Green Day show with my bestfriend in the same arena we saw our first GD show in. We are stoked. Green Day are and always will be my favorite band, and there's my little story

I just have to say that your first comment about making fun of how they WERENT walking alone in bobd cracked me up- I am one to make fun of things like that and I never even thought of that!

[Drink Drank Punk]

It all started yesterday when I heard Boulevard of Broken Dreams at Hot Topic. I had no idea who they were but I later went home googled "I walk this lonely road" and then BAM! I was in love with Green Day.

[TheBullwinkle]

It all started yesterday when I heard Boulevard of Broken Dreams at Hot Topic. I had no idea who they were but I later went home googled "I walk this lonely road" and then BAM! I was in love with Green Day.

Lolocaust.

[fashionvictim86]

Wow, thanks for all the stories guys! It must have been awesome to have a full catalog of albums that were new and exciting to listen to. As opposed to when I became a Green Day fan, I only had Dookie, Kerplunk, and 1039. Luckily every album sounds different. Now new Green Day fans should start listening to 1039 first (well, I'm sure they listened to 21CB first...but if they wanna get into all of their music) and then progress to 21CB. It's amazing to see how much their music has changed and how they've matured over the last 21 or so years.

[MassHysteria]

Well, like a lot of the previous posts, my awareness of Green Day started after American Idiot. However, I did not have some life altering reaction to it at first. In fact, I really had never heard anything from it other than American Idiot and Boulevard of Broken Dreams. And I am ashamed to admit, I actually HATED Green Day and American Idiot. The music was loud and noisy to what I was used to at the time (I was just discovering my obession with the Beatles at the time, smuggly felt that no music could ever compare, especially modern music (I felt that the listeners of the album were the American Idiots for buying it). Having never owned CDs as a kid, I was pretty musically uneducated, and I knew nothing of their earlier work. My childhood did nod echo of Dookie, Insomniac, or Nimrod. I saw these weirdly dressed middle-aged punks, and my sheltered 14 year old Utahn mind, it was too bizarre. It wasn't until I three years later when I had matured a little more that I got hooked.

It all started with my step brother playing Holiday while we were hanging out. For some strange reason,I'd never heard the song before. There was something about this song that stuck with me more than the previous stuff that I'd heard. I had my brother tell me why he liked this music, and he told me about how American Idiot was a rock opera that was basically a big “Fuck you!” to President Bush. This really caught my interest, since I was a big fan of The Wall, and I really disliked Bush. So I decided to give the whole album listen, and I stunned and blown away. American Idiot quickly became one of the few albums I could listen to front to back, and not skip any song. Not only did I love the songs, I loved the story as well, which was brilliant because it had emotions that the average kid could easily identify with. Even now, I kick myself for not getting into you Green Day sooner.

But at this point, I still wouldn't say I was a Green Day fan, more of a fan of American Idiot. Green Day was just a band with one CD I could really get into. I knew by this time that they had older material put the sound was so different, it held no interest to me. And as for purchasing American Idiot? No, the only Green Day item I had bought at this point was their amazing cover of Working Class Hero. (John Lennon being my idol, this track is like heaven to me).

It wasn't until 4 months ago when I heard that there would be a NEW album coming out this year (and one in similar style to American Idiot) that the more “obsessive” fandom started. It was also around then that I started going back and listening to their earlier stuff, knowing that American Idiot would not satisfy me While much of it was worlds away from the sounds of Letterbomb and She's An Extraordinary Girl, it slowly caught on with me. Now I love rocking out to Nice Guys Finish Last and Basket Case as much as I do St. Jimmy and She's A Rebel. I also really started to admire them for not being afraid to come out and speak up for a cause, whether its Katrina Victims, Darfur victims, Environmentalism, or War Protesting. To few of today's artists do this, and I am just glad that there are still role-models out there like them for us to look up to.

So around the middle of April, I heard Know Your Enemy, and that was it, I knew 21st Century Breakdown was going to be something special. I quickly ordered the Limited Edition, and joined Idiot Club so that I was sure to get tickets when they came to SLC. Since I work all day on a computer, I was able to watch tons of interviews and concert taping. I got caught up in Rhapsody's Green Day challenges, eventually winning one. I tuned in to KROQ over the internet to hear they're 6 song preview (which I quickly ripped and stuck on my iPod for repeated pleasure). And a week before release, there was no way I could help but listen to the leaked streaming version. The first time I listened to it all the way though, I had it cranked up, half the house to myself, and it was audio bliss.

I knew I could never last 3 months of waiting for them to come to Utah, so I found every contest I could to go see them, calling into a Texas Radio Station and KROQ (before I realized you can't win using internet radio). I even tried for ticket here in Utah. I eventually just bought my pre-sales, and resigned that I would have to wait. Then the week after the album came out, they announced they would be giving tickets away to the Fonda show in LA. Having watched NYC with envy that week, I knew this would be my one chance. I entered my name, and by some miracle, won my 2 tickets. A fellow Idiot Club member was able to get me a wristband for the Hot Topic signing in exchange for one of these tickets, and even let me stay over at his house.

Needless to say, meeting them was one of the best moments of my life, and after the signing I was in shock that I had actually talked to my heroes of the last 4 months. Two days later, things only got better. Waiting only 5 1/2 hours, me and my friend ended up on the second line of people in the front, just 5 ft from Billie. The energy was insane, the music amazing, and I was having "the time of my life". When the guy in front of me got pulled on stage, I was moved to the front! But it got even better: during Longview, Billie leaned in close enough for me to reach his hand, gave me one of his picks, and let me strum Blue from the pit while he did the chords! I was in shock that I was actually playing Billie's guitar! And then during King For A Day, he wore my John Lennon style glasses for part of the song before throwing them back to me. Not only was it my first Green Day concert, but my first rock concert of any kind! And its defiantly something I'll never forget.

That was 2 weeks ago, and there is now 2 months until I will see them again my home state. And I can hardly wait. Next month I go on a trip to San Francisco, but you can guarantee there will be a stop over in Oakland to see 924 Gilman, Studio 880, and Rudy's Can't Fail Café. I might try to see the American Idiot musical later this year too.

So yeah, that's my Fandom story so far. I can only imagine it will get better.

I think I wrote way to much

[Trina]

I was 11 years old. It was the day the American Idiot video came out. I was just sitting on the sofa, flicking absent mindedly thru the music channels. I remember it was such a nice sunny day and I was going to start 6th class in primary school soon. When I flicked thru the music channels, I'd never stop and listen since I didn't like any of the music that was played on them.

Then I seen green. It caught my eye. I left the channel on. I think my heart stopped. My jaw must have dropped open. I just fell in love straight away.

The video was almost over when I had switched on. I remember it was played on The Box, which is an English(I guess) music channel that plays anything in the charts, new, whatever.

So I quickly went to look for it as soon as it finished, in almost a frenzied state. This was the first time I had ever felt greatly for a band or for music...well for anything really.

I found the video on another channel again and it had just started.

"Green Day - American Idiot"

I remember reading that.

It was just the weirdest moment. I became so alive or something.

Well thus began my Green Day adventure

This guy, fondly known as "DVD Guy" calls around to our doors and sells bootlegged/piratted cds and dvds.

My neighbour bought her daughter, who was my friend at the time a copy of American Idiot.

She asked me if I wanted to listen, since I must have told her about my new found treasure.

We listened in silence. I was amazed.

We played thru to the end of Novacaine...then either a.) She stopped it and was like, lets go outside or whatever or b.) the cd was only of them 7 songs...

I really am not sure which.

Anyways, you know when you're younger and you get all excited about xmas. Well we were already making lists and my dad was like, "Well, put the album on your list" So I did. :]

When xmas came, we got up really early and my brother had gotten a crappy portable cd player (lol, remember them?) and it had these little speakers that you could plug in. So I stuck my cd in. Sure the sound was probably awful and really wuite but I was totally in awe. I just spent the whole day lying on my tummy on the ground with my head against the speakers. Reading the lyrics books. Tracing my fingers over those words.

I guess I better mention that this wasnt exactly my first experience with Green Day.

I have memories of some of the songs. But I never associated it with Green day or whatever.

I remember my aunt from America coming over when I was really young and we went to a fair/carnival type thing and Good Riddance was playing and my mom and her were singing it.

I also have a really strong memory of Prosthetic Head being used on an ad or something (I think a nickelodeon one!)

I have small memories of Basket Case, Hitchin a Ride and WICA MV's

The pool place had a jukebox type thing where you could select videos and they'd play on big tv's. they had the song Warning and a pic above it of a screencap of Mike!

My dad listening to them when they played them occassionaly on some snowboarding show.

Anyways..

I remember my cousins friend had a copy of International Superhits and my cousin got a copy and gave it to me (to burn and give back). It was a dark night driving back from her house with my mom and I put it in the cd player and was just in love with it.

I then bought Nimrod, Warning and Dookie together in Zhivagos (Irish Music Store) in a 3 for 30 deal!!

On the day of my confirmation I bought Insomniac with money my aunt gave me.

I had to ask HMV to order 39/Smooth & Kerplunk in!

I got Shenanigans on my school tour to Athlone in some crappy mall. All the kids were like "What's that shit" lol

Sorry for the rambling, bad grammer, spelling, whatever.

I've never looked back

It all started yesterday when I heard Boulevard of Broken Dreams at Hot Topic. I had no idea who they were but I later went home googled "I walk this lonely road" and then BAM! I was in love with Green Day.

Yeah, I lied. This is how I actually got into them.

[St. Matt]

I remember the day I first heard a green day song.

I was a 7 years old brat and I just loved the Ramones cause someone gave me a ramones album when i was like 5 (good intent, bad result).

Anyway one day I was in the car with my mom and Minority was on the radio, it was before Warning even came out.

Something about the song just got me and I bought the single with brat and 86 and absolutely loved the hell out of them.

Since then I've been with Green Day and they've helped me a lot over the years, in bad times and all I would go to a quiet place alone and listen to Dookie by myself, now that I think of it, the pre-American Idiot era was the most beautiful time of my life, although I love AI.

I kinda think that when you grow into something it makes you who you are, and I'm darn well sure that without green day I would've been a completely different person right now.

[greendaytone]

On the day of my confirmation I bought Insomniac with money my aunt gave me.

Another great story to read there, thanks! Something quite ironic about using money for your confirmation to buy Insomniac! haha love it!

[louizex]

i got into green day when i was 12. i was trying to impress a guy. mp3 players had just come out and were quite rare so i was showing mine off and he said 'are there any green day songs on this?' and when i said no, he went 'well its crap then' so about a month later it was christmas and i asked for american idiot and i thought it was incredible! since then every birthday and christmas i got a green day album, but i had them all by my last birthday, so that tradition is now over. i have made about 10 friends/family die hard green day fans too, so word of mouth is (up here anyway) the best way to convert people

[EmmOuGR]

I remember the day when I first heard about Green Day..(not the date of course ) I was 11 when my father bought AI..It wasn't for me,it was for my brother but anyway I borrowed it and literally I heard it all-day long..Then I returned home from holidays and copied the lyrics of the songs and sang it along.. :whistling: Ever since I'm a fan and thankful to have discovered them even by luck..

[Siobhann]

I got into Green Day 5/6 years ago.. I bought Warning, because it was on sale, and I pretty much fell in love after listening to Deadbeat Holiday. I listened to that album everyday for about 2 weeks, then my mum bought me Nimrod (because she was sick of hearing it.) Then I got Insomniac, ISH, 1039/SOSH, Dookie, Keplunk!, Shenanigans, and the finally AI.

[Leisha-LUNA]

I remember, I was 13 the first time I saw the AI clip, and I fell in love. And I bought the album for myself with my christmas money, and before i had even listened to it Mum goes, "Is that Green Day? I think we have an album of theirs somewhere"

So I went through her CD collection and found Dookie, I remembered heaps of the songs from my early childhood which made me smile.

I think Dookie's the album that really REALLY got me into Green Day, I mean if it wasn't for AI I wouldn't have realised we even had Dookie, but Dookie made me go, Holy Fuck, I love this band.

Then I got another copy of AI for Christmas or something. And then I bought Insomniac, Nimrod, Warning, Shenanigans, 1039, Kerplunk, Superhits. That's an approximated order. Although I know it took me forever to get my hands on 1039 and Kerplunk, I hunted everywhere and I wanted to buy them very early on in my GD love but I couldn't find them =[

Then I got given another copy of AI and Shenanigans. haha, I love that I have so many copies.

About three of my friends got really into Green Day at about the same time and I remember I had Dookie and Insomniac and one of them had Nimrod and another had Warning and it was all comparisons and massive discussions and who knew what songs, it was the greatest couple of months.

[xVanessa86x]

I find it weird how people are starting to like Green Day from 21st Century Breakdown because I was one of those fans that started liking Green Day when American Idiot came out. I remember the first time I got into Green Day, I believe it was the music video for Holiday that really got me. I think after American Idiot I got Dookie then 1039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours... How odd of a transition it was. Looking back on it, every year new fans are coming to like Green Day and it's pretty exciting

[iLozza!]

How I got into Green Day:

-Brother plays AI in the car

-Lozza likes

-Lozza hears band 3 years later and goes "Oh yeah, I know that band!"

-Lozza falls in love with GD

The first CD I bought was BIAB, followed by Nimord, ISH, Kerplunk, Dookie, Warning, AI, Shenanigans and the 1039/SOSH. I'd watched a lot of youtube clips before I bought all that, and all my merch and started making my uber awesome GD collage on my wall.

[Hermione]

I have to say I'm quite jealous of the people who are just discovering Green Day now. Make the most of it - it's an amazing experience!

You remember the exact day you got into Green Day?

Haha I do too just because I know it was the weekend before my dad's wedding. 16th April 2005 I borrowed some CDs off my dad and American Idiot happened to be one of them. The coolness of the booklet made me sit and listen to it all the way through and I was hooked! I also remember being very impressed by the bandmember's names when I saw them written on the back of the booklet , and I had no idea what they looked like which seems SO weird now.

I was extremely deprived of Green Day stuff as I had no internet or Sky TV so I made myself wait a month in between buying each album so I could make the most of them. I'd read about their first 2 albums but never DREAMED they were available to buy or that I'd ever hear them. I couldn't believe it when I found them.

The first time I ever saw footage of them live, on Storytellers........oh my fucking god

[Spark of Insanity]

Okay, I had liked them back in Jan. of 04. But I had no clue what their name was and I had kind of drifted off and never got to learn their name so I couldn't listen to them because I had no idea who they were but their music I knew was amazing.

I became a true fan who knew thier name on the exact day of the world priemier of American Idiot music video. I came home from school on that August day in 2004 and I saw the exclusive world premier on tv and just stood there and was memorized as I heard the music and saw the video. I knew finally that they would be my first favorite band and that I would love them to death and get ALL of thier albums. At that exact moment. Then I went online and researched them I started to slowly buy all of thier other albums (because I am really poor) My best friend was a huge Green Day fan as well and she reffered me to 'International Superhits' right after American Idiot; because I would get all the singles and she said it would be best to get a feel for most of their albums and plus when we would talk on the phone for hours I could hear all of the albums on the other line, so I already heard the albums and knew my favorite songs.

Then I got Shenanigans, and then Nimrod. But then my house burned down and I lost all of my CD's. So I rebought those CD's again exept for Shenanigans I still don't have but will get soon, and then I got Dookie next and then Insomniac, and the other CD's I could hear online, and I learned everything possible about this band, got the internet at my house on Feb. 8, 2008 and then I found GDC not too long later like two weeks later on the 23th and I was hooked to this site. I even remember the exact day on Dec. 8th, when the foxies leaked thier music and I fell in love, and I love all the side bands and years later I pretty much know everything about Green Day, have most of thier albums (still working to get enough money to get them) and I love this band to death, and it would do my life discredit if I hadn't found them, and they opened me up to different genres and bands and I love music now more than ever and I always am looking for other new bands to listen to because what if I hadn't discovered Green Day after all. My life wouldn't be as good, and I would be a completely different person.

[Peace and Rainbows]

It happened in a car on 2004 when i heard an Edited version of Bvld of broken dreams. Then the love started. Before i knew it i was on youtube. Later, it was the Grammys and then the obsession which is stilll going on to this day:)