See Billie Joe Armstrong’s 30-year-old throwback photos to celebrate the milestone anniversary of Green Day’s second LP, and read a fascinating retrospective piece written by Lookout! Records co-founder Larry Livermore.
The members of Green Day have marked the 30th anniversary of Kerplunk! (released on December 15, 1991) on social media.
While bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool simply shared the album's artwork, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong embraced the throwback and posted some amazing photos from that era. He also got in touch with Lookout! Records co-founder Larry Livermore, who wrote an awesome retrospective piece for the anniversary: I Am The Disappearing Boy: 30 Years Of Kerplunk.
Reflecting on the success of Green Day that he knew was coming straight after the first time he ever saw them live, Larry shared that: "What made me so sure? Part of it was just a gut instinct, the same sort of feeling that had prompted me to ask Green Day (still Sweet Children at the time, strictly speaking) to do a record within minutes of seeing them play for five teenagers in a candlelit cabin in the middle of a mountain wilderness.
"Billie and Mike were only 16 at the time, and their then-drummer, Al Sobrante was all of 18. It was only their third or fourth show ever, but there was no doubt in my mind that their music was ready for the world. It might have taken the world a little while to catch on, but three years later, it felt like that was about to happen."
Detailing the young band's attitude towards their craft, he also wrote: "But when it came to music, they were Very Serious Indeed. I was working with a lot of young bands in those days, and one thing I constantly struggled with was getting musicians to strike the right balance between having fun and making the most of their musical abilities.
"That was never an issue with Green Day. Other musicians would say things like, 'We’re just a dumb punk band anyway, nobody’s gonna care what we do, so we might as well have fun.' Green Day had plenty of fun, as anyone who knew them in those days can testify, but they also wrote and played music with the quiet, exuberant confidence of artists who didn’t need anyone else’s opinion to validate them."
Read the full thing right here, and check out Green Day's posts below:
Catch Green Day live at the following dates next year:
March 2022
19 Tampa, FL Innings Festival
May 2022
29 Moscow Spartak Stadium
June 2022
1 Berlin Kindl-Bühne Wuhlheide
3 Nürburg Rock am Ring
4 Nuremberg Rock im Park
7 Copenhagen Forum
9 Ålesund Color Line Stadion
11 Johanneshov Tele2 Arena
15 Milan Milano Summer Festival
15 Hradec Králové Rock For People
16 Florence Firenze Rocks Festival
19 Vienna Ernst Happel Stadion
21 Merksem Sportpaleis
22 Groningen Stadspark
24 London Stadium
25 Huddersfield John Smith's Stadium
27 Dublin (venue TBA)
29 Glasgow Bellahouston Park
30 Marmande Festival Garorock
July 2022
2 Paris La Defense Arena
