Tuesday, March 6, 2007


After taking a break in 1996, Green Day began work on a new album in 1997. From the outset, both the band and Cavallo agreed that the album had to be different from their previous records.[20] The result was nimrod., an experimental deviation from the band's standard pop-punk brand of music. The new album was released in October 1997. It provided a variety of music, with everything from upbeat pop-punk, laid-back surfer rock, and peppy, silly ska, to an acoustic ballad. nimrod. entered the charts at number 10, thanks to the surprise hit "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," an acoustic ballad that singer Billie Joe almost did not place on the album for fear of it being too different from the band's usual style. The success of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" won the band an MTV Video Award for Best Alternative Video for the song's video, which depicted people undergoing major changes in their lives while Billie Joe Armstrong strummed his acoustic guitar.[21] Other singles released from nimrod. were Nice Guys Finish Last, Hitchin' a Ride and Redundant. Nimrod. also featured one of the band's live staples, "King for a Day," which, when played live, is accompanied by Billie Joe wearing a crown and/or cape. After the release of nimrod, Green Day took a two-year break, deciding to step back from the spotlight and spend some time with their new families.
In 2000, Green Day released Warning:, a step further in the style that they had hinted at with nimrod. Changes in their personal lives were reflected in the more mature and straightforward approach they took to their music, replacing nearly adolescent mantras of masturbation with more introspective statements. Critics' reviews of the album were fairly positive, although the album was greeted with mixed reviews within their fan base, who had grown accustomed to their 1990s pop punk sound. Though it produced the hit "Minority" and a smaller hit with "Warning," some observers were coming to the conclusion that the band was losing relevance, and a decline in popularity followed. While all of Green Day's past albums had reached a status of at least double platinum, Warning: was only certified gold. Although the band felt this was some of their strongest work to date, the decline of sales fueled questions regarding the band's future.

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