Green Day

The members of Green Day would be the first to admit they never expected to become pop-punk elder statesmen. Like their East Coast compatriots, the Beastie Boys, the trio of Cali kids in Green Day started out as snot-nosed brats sneering three-chords-and-an-attitude songs, but unlike the Beasties’ party anthems, Green Day’s work had a tuneful accessibility—and glimmers of substance—from the get-go. Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool could harmonize and play their instruments, and Armstrong proved capable of writing not only slacker anthems like “Basket Case,” but gorgeous masterpieces like their massive crossover hit, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”

Their major-label debut, Dookie, went 10 times platinum in the U.S. alone, and laid the foundation for Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning. But by 2004, Green Day seemed like an anachronism—till the band released American Idiot, a powerful, political rock opera (a form they just about single-handedly saved from extinction) that earned them a Grammy for Best Rock Album. They kept the rock-opera format—and hit another home-run—with Idiot’s equally political 2009 follow-up, the Butch Vig-produced 21st Century Breakdown, which earned them their second Best Rock Album Grammy. They’ve since turned Idiot into a bona-fide rock opera—a musical that broke attendance records during its debut run at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. It opens on Broadway April 20. Next up is the June release of the video game Green Day: Rock Band.