The year was 1993 and, notoriously, sharks were patrolling the waters of rock’n’roll’s subterranean scenes. In the wake of Nevermind’s paradigm-shifting success, major labels had scrambled with their chequebooks to every percolating punk rock scene across the U.S., in the hope of snagging the next Nirvana and copping some of that sweet crossover action. So maybe it’s a testament to the modesty of Billie Joe Armstrong that, when A&R bods began phoning Larry Livermore, founder of Lookout! Records, in a bid to sign Green Day, the frontman waved them off, believing they had to be crank callers. But they weren’t. And soon, Billie Joe and his bandmates found themselves in the unlikely position of being wined and dined by execs toting corporate credit cards, the subjects ...
