Controversy

The band has generated controversy over whether the band's musical style and major-label status constitutes "true punk".^[110] In reaction to both the style of music and the background of the band, John Lydon, former front man of the 1970s punk band the Sex Pistols commented:

So there we are fending off all that and it pisses me off that years later a wank outfit like Green Day hop in and nick all that and attach it to themselves. They didn't earn their wings to do that and if they were true punk they wouldn't look anything like they do.^[111]

Armstrong himself has discussed the group's status of being a punk band on a major record label, saying "Sometimes I think we've become totally redundant because we're this big band now; we've made a lot of money – we're not punk rock any more. But then I think about it and just say, 'You can take us out of a punk rock environment, but you can't take the punk rock out of us.'"^[110]

Related projects

Since 1991, members of the band have branched out past Green Day, starting other projects with various musicians. Notable projects related to Green Day include Billie Joe Armstrong's Pinhead Gunpowder with Jason White, The Frustrators with Mike Dirnt, and The Network, a collaboration between Green Day and members of the band, Devo in which all members play under fake stage names.^[91] Green Day has also released an album titled Stop Drop and Roll!!! on May 20, 2008, under the name Foxboro Hot Tubs, which the band uses to book secret shows.^[92] In late December 2011, Armstrong formed a new side band called The Boo along with his wife Adrienne and their two sons.

In September 2006, Green Day collaborated with U2 and producer Rick Rubin to record a cover of the song "The Saints Are Coming", originally recorded by The Skids, with an accompanying video. The song was recorded to benefit Music Rising, an organization to help raise money for musicians' instruments lost duringHurricane Katrina, and to bring awareness on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the disaster.^[93] In December 2006, Green Day and NRDC opened a web site in partnership to raise awareness on America's dependency on oil.^[94][95]

Green Day released a cover of the John Lennon song "Working Class Hero", which was featured on the album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. The band performed the song on the season finale of American Idol. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2008 but lost to The White Stripes' "Icky Thump". That summer, the band appeared in a cameo role in The Simpsons Movie, where the band performs the show's theme song; Green Day's version was released as a single on July 23, 2007.^{[96][97][98][99]}