Greenday

Band history

Formation and Lookout years: 1987–1993

	“Welcome to Paradise” Sample of “Welcome to Paradise” from Kerplunk This was before Green Day re-recorded the song for its major-label debut Dookie.
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In 1987, friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, 15 years old at the time, 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.^[1] In 1988, Armstrong and Dirnt began working with Sean Hughes and the former Isocracy drummer John Kiffmeyer, also known as Al Sobrante. Kiffmeyer served as both the band’s drummer and business manager, handling the booking of shows and helping the band establish a fan base, and Sean Hughes served as the band’s bassist.^[10] As said in the film Punk’s Not Dead, Armstrong cites the band Operation Ivy (which featured Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman of Rancid) as a major influence, and a band that drove him to form a band.

After Hughes left Green Day in 1989, 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 to avoid confusion with another local band Sweet Baby.^[11] The band adopted the name Green Day, allegedly due to their fondness of marijuana.^[12]

Lookout! would release Green Day’s first album, 39/Smooth in early 1990. Green Day would record two EPs later that year, Slappy and Sweet Children, the latter of which included some older songs they had recorded for Minneapolis indie label Skene! Records. In 1991, Lookout! Records released 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, a compilation of the 39/Smooth, Slappy, and 1,000 Hours EPs. In late 1990, shortly after the band’s first nationwide tour, Sobrante left the East Bay area to attend college.^[10] The Lookouts drummer Tré Cool began filling in as a temporary replacement, and when it became clear that Sobrante did not plan to commit to the band full time, Cool’s position as Green Day’s drummer became permanent. The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a stretch of shows overseas in Europe. The band’s second full length album Kerplunk sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S

Chealsea

For more details on this topic, see History of Chelsea F.C.

For information on the current season, see Chelsea F.C. season 2010–11.

The first Chelsea team in September 1905

Chelsea were founded on 10 March 1905 at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher’s Hook),^[7] opposite the present-day main entrance to the ground on Fulham Road, and were elected to the Football League shortly afterwards. The club’s early years saw little success; the closest they came to winning a major trophy was reaching the 1915 FA Cup Final, where they lost to Sheffield United. Chelsea gained a reputation for signing big-name players^[8] and for being entertainers, but made little impact on the English game in the inter-war years.

Former Arsenal and England centre-forward Ted Drake became manager in 1952 and proceeded to modernise the club. He removed the club’s Chelsea pensioner crest, improved the youth set-up and training regime, rebuilt the side, and led Chelsea to their first major trophy success — the League championship — in 1954–55. The following season saw UEFA create the European Champions’ Cup, but after objections from The Football League and the FA Chelsea were persuaded to withdraw from the competition before it started.^[9]

Chart showing the progress of Chelsea’s league finishes from 1905–1906 to 2007–08

They challenged for honours throughout the 1960s, and endured several near-misses. They were on course for a treble of League, FA Cup and League Cup going into the final stages of the 1964–65 season, winning the League Cup but faltering late on in the other two.^[10] In three seasons the side were beaten in three major semi-finals and were FA Cup runners-up. Chelsea were 1970 FA Cup Final winners, beating Leeds United 2–1 in a final replay. Chelsea took their first European honour, a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup triumph, the following year, with another replayed win, this time over Real Madrid in Athens.

The late 1970s through to the 1980s was a turbulent period for Chelsea. An ambitious redevelopment of Stamford Bridge threatened the financial stability of the club,^[11] star players were sold and the team were relegated. Further problems were caused by a notorious hooligan element among the support, which was to plague the club throughout the decade.^[12] In 1982 Chelsea were, at the nadir of their fortunes, acquired by Ken Bates for the nominal sum of £1, although by now the Stamford Bridge freehold had been sold to property developers, meaning the club faced losing their home.^[13] On the pitch, the team had fared little better, coming close to relegation to the Third Division for the first time, but in 1983 manager John Neal put together an impressive new team for minimal outlay. Chelsea won the Second Division title in 1983–84 and established themselves in the top division, before being relegated again in 1988. The club bounced back immediately by winning the Second Division championship in 1988–89.

Chelsea supporters passing a tifo flag before a match

After a long-running legal battle, Bates reunited the stadium freehold with the club in 1992 by doing a deal with the banks of the property developers, who had been bankrupted by a market crash.^[14] Chelsea’s form in the new Premier League was unconvincing, although they did reach the 1994 FA Cup Final. It was not until the appointment of former European Footballer of the Year Ruud Gullit as player-manager in 1996 that their fortunes changed. He added several top-class international players to the side, as the club won the FA Cup in 1997 and established themselves as one of England’s top sides again. Gullit was replaced by Gianluca Vialli, who led the team to victory in the 1998 Football League Cup Final and the 1998 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup Final in 1998, the FA Cup in 2000 and the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in 2000. Vialli was sacked in favour of another Italian, Claudio Ranieri, who guided Chelsea to the 2002 FA Cup Final and Champions League qualification in 2002–03.

In June 2003, Bates sold Chelsea to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for £140 million, completing what was then the biggest-ever sale of an English football club.^[3] Over £100 million was spent on new players, but Ranieri was unable to deliver any trophies, so he was replaced by Portuguese coach José Mourinho. Under Mourinho, Chelsea became the fifth English team to win back-to-back league championships since the Second World War (2004–05 and 2005–06),^[15] in addition to winning an FA Cup (2007) and two League Cups (2005 and 2007). In September 2007 Mourinho was replaced by Avram Grant,^[16] who led the club to their first UEFA Champions League final, in which they lost on penalties to Manchester United. Grant was fired days later^[17] and succeeded by Luiz Felipe Scolari in July 2008.^[18]

Scolari spent only seven months in the job before being dismissed after a string of poor results.^[19] Russia coach Guus Hiddink was appointed caretaker manager until the end of the 2008–09 season,^[20] and guided Chelsea to a second FA Cup triumph in three years.^[21] Two days later former Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was confirmed as Chelsea’s new manager.^[22] In his first season, Ancelotti led Chelsea to their first league and FA Cup “Double“; in addition, Chelsea became the first English top-flight side to score over 100 league goals in a season since 1963.[23