It's easy for jaded music industry insiders to dismiss a group because "it's all been done before," but every once in a while, a band arrives in the right place at the right time with the right twist on a familiar formula, and it registers with a new generation of fans as the freshest and most innovative thing they've ever heard. "Ramones and Kinks? We don't need no stinking Ramones and Kinks! We've got Green Day!"

The trio came together in the East Bay, and guitarist/vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist Mike Dirnt cycled through a few drummers before linking up with Tre Cool. Recording for the hip Berkeley punk label Lookout, they built an underground following for their simple but catchy high-adrenaline tunes. The group proceeded to sign with Reprise, polished the sound a bit with producer Rob Cavallo, and miraculously went multi-platinum.

At first, Green Day seemed to be much happier with its success than Nirvana, the last trio to pull off a similar trick. (The raucous mud fight at Woodstock '94 would seem to stand as evidence.) But the band's second major-label effort, Insomniac, was a darker affair, and it subsequently sold far fewer copies.