Last mission to repair the Hubble telescope
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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By GINA VIVINETTO
Published April 13, 2005
1975-1980
*The Buzzcocks form in Manchester, England, around the same time the Jam, led by Paul Weller, was getting its start. This era is known as the "first wave" of British punk rock. (The other big names include the Sex Pistols and the Clash). The Buzzcocks and the Jam, like their American counterparts, the Ramones, created tight, three-minute songs with plenty of bounce and supercatchy choruses.
The mid 1980s
* Childhood friends in Rodeo, Calif., Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt (born Mike Pritchard) form their first band, Sweet Children. The 14-year-olds have a sound that brings back the fun and ferocity of 1970s British punk rock.
1989
* With drummer Al Sobrante, the trio becomes Green Dayand releases an EP, 1,000 Hours. Later that year, Green Day releases 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hour, its first album on California punk label Lookout. Soon after, the band replaces Sobrante with Tre Cool (born Frank Edwin Wright III).
1991:
* Nirvana releases Nevermind, impactful because MTV and mainstream radio saturate the airwaves with the first single Smells Like Teen Spirit and -- turns out -- the mainstream likes it. The music industry realizes: HEY! PUNK ROCK SELLS!
1992:
* The release of Green Day's sophomore Kerplunkand the trio's growing cult following ignites major label interest. The band signs with Reprise.
1993: Green Day plays the Brass Mug in Tampa. Tampa singer Joe Popp and his punky trio opens the show. The tiny bar, which normally books local bands, is packed with fans standing on pool tables.
1994:
* February: The band releases Dookie, its major label debut. MTV spins the heck out of Longview and it becomes a hit. Basket Case tops the modern rock charts.
* April: Nirvana's Kurt Cobain dies.
* Green Day joins the line-ups of both the Lollapalooza and the Woodstock '94 festivals.
* Dookie's sales skyrocket -- more than 5-million in the U.S. alone. (The record would eventually sell millions more and win the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance).
The mid 1990s to 2003:
* Suddenly every new "alternative" band sounds exactly like Nirvana (Bush, Creed, et al) or Green Day (Blink 182, Sum 41). The press loves them.
* Green Day releases two more albums (Nimrod and Warning) to underwhelming press and sales. The band these days gets more attention for causing $50,000 damage to a New York Towers Records store during a 1997 acoustic performance. And, of course, for having its hit Good Riddance (the Time of Your Life) used in the 1998 finale of Seinfeld.
2004:
* The trio releases the spectacular American Idiot,an epic punk rock opera in the vein of Husker Du's > Zen Arcade (1984).
2005: * American Idiot, nominated for seven Grammy Awards, nabs Rock Album of the Year.
[Last modified April 13, 2005, 17:51:33]
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