“I was playing a lot of jazz when we did Longview. I’d sit in at jazz clubs and read off the Real Book”: If you think Mike Dirnt is another clueless punk, think again

Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt performs at the Thomas & Mack Center on October 6, 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Remember 1994? Relentless airplay from MTV and modern-rock radio, along with a headline-grabbing mud melee at that year's Woodstock festival, injected Green Day's intoxicating brew into the mainstream.

Adolescent America was hooked, buying up eight million copies of the band's major-label debut, Dookie, and propelling them into the stratosphere with three top-20 hits.