924 Gilman Street, the punk club in the band's hometown that had once banned Green Day after the group signed with a major label, booked bassist Mike Dirnt's side project The Frustrators for a show. By the end of the tour, the band noted that its audience had evolved. The band embarked on the Nimrod promotional tour, which largely featured more intimate shows with audiences of 1,500 to 3,000 people. Vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong recalled that the song's stylistic departure from the group's earlier work made him anxious about the song's release: 'I was scared for that song to come out.because it was such a vulnerable song, to put that song out and it was like which way will it end up going? It was really exciting and it kind of sparked more in us as songwriters to expand on that.' The record, which delved into a more wide variety of genres including folk, ska, and surf rock, featured the unprecedented acoustic hit ' Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)'. Worldwide it has sold 3.5 million copies.Īfter taking a break from touring in promotion of the band's fourth album Insomniac (1995), Green Day recorded the more experimental Nimrod (1997). The album has nonetheless been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, and has sold over 1.2 million copies as of 2012. However, the album being leaked onto Napster three weeks before its release may have been a contributing factor to its low sales. Although it peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200, Warning represented the lowest commercial slump in Green Day's career, being their first album since signing to a major label not to achieve multi-platinum status. Warning was also Green Day's first album since Kerplunk (1991) that was not produced by Rob Cavallo, although he did have a hand in its production and was credited as executive producer.ĭespite mixed criticism towards the band's stylistic change, the album received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong's songwriting. Lyrically, the album contains more optimistic and inspirational themes in comparison to the band's earlier releases. Building upon its predecessor Nimrod (1997), it eschewed the band's trademark sound and incorporated acoustic elements and pop and folk styles. Warning (stylized as WARNING:) is the sixth studio album by American rock band Green Day, released on October 3, 2000, by Reprise Records.

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