Before they were known as Green Day, the teenaged musicians Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt were in a band called Sweet Children, which grew a small following around Berkeley, California. With the addition of drummer John Kiffmeyer, they recorded the 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours album on Lookout! Records, and changed their name to Green Day after this song. A few years later, Tre Cool took over on drums, and in 1994 their album Dookie make them superstars. They would join Black Sabbath in the ranks of wildly successful bands who named themselves after one of their songs.
A "Green Day" is a day off to lounge around and smoke pot. Billie Joe Armstrong explained: "It's basically about staring up at the ceiling, thinking about a girl and being stoned." Green Day were bona fide stoners, but they were anything but lazy: they built a following through constant touring and a do-it-yourself work ethic that found them playing for just about anyone who would listen in their early years.
At the beginning of the song, you can hear the sound of someone using a bong (a device used for smoking marijuana), leaving little doubt about the meaning of a "Green Day."
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