In 1987, 14 year old friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt formed a band called Sweet Children. The first Sweet Children show took place on October 17, 1987, at Rod’s Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California where Armstrong’s mother was working. In 1988, Armstrong and Dirnt began working with former Isocracy drummer, John Kiffmeyer (also known as Al Sobrante). Kiffmeyer served as both the bands drummer and business manager, handling the booking of shows and helping the band establish a fan base.
Larry Livermore, owner of Lookout! Records, saw the band play an early show and signed them to his label. In 1989 they recorded their first EP, 1,000 Hours. Before 1,000 Hours was released, the band dropped the name Sweet Children, according to Livermore this was done in order to avoid confusion with another local band Sweet Baby. The band adopted the name Green Day, allegedly due to their fondness of marijuana.
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
Originally a “B-side” song on the Insomniac album, in an interview in Guitar Legends magazine in May of 2005, Billie Armstrong said:
“At the time I wrote Good Riddance, I was breaking up with a girl that was moving to Ecuador, and I was trying to be as understanding about it as I could. I wrote the song as kind of a bon voyage. I was trying not to be bitter, but I think it came out a little bit bitter anyway… I thought that calling the song “Time of Your Life” was just a little too level-headed for me, so I had to come up with something different”
http://djallyn.org/media/good_riddance-time_of_your_life.flvAnother turning point, a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test, and don’t ask why.
It’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time.It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind.
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time.
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial.
For what it’s worth, it was worth all the while.It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
Break