2003–present

In the summer of 2003 the band went into a studio to write and record new material for a new album, tentatively titled Cigarettes and Valentines. After completing 20 tracks, the master tapes were stolen from the studio. The band, understandably upset, chose not to try to re-create the stolen album, but instead started over with a vow to be even better than before. In this same year, Green Day collaborated with Iggy Pop on two tracks for his album Skull Ring. In addition, they underwent serious band therapy, engaging in several long talks to work out the members' differences after accusations from Dirnt and Cool that Armstrong was the band's Nazi and a show-off bent on taking the limelight from the other band members.


Bassist Mike Dirnt playing and showcasing the band's new look.The resulting 2004 album, American Idiot, debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, the band's first ever album to reach #1, backed by the success of the album's first single, American Idiot. The album was billed as a punk rock opera which follows the journey of the fictitious Jesus of Suburbia. American Idiot won the 2005 Grammy for Best Rock Album and the band swept the 2005 MTV music awards, winning a total of seven of the eight awards they were nominated for, including the coveted Viewer's Choice Award.

Through 2005, the band toured in support of the album with about 150 dates — the longest tour in its career — visiting Japan, Australia, South America and the UK, where they drew a crowd of 130,000 people over a span of two days. While touring for American Idiot, they filmed and recorded the two concerts at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, which was voted 'The Best Show On Earth' in a Kerrang! Magazine Poll.

These recordings were released as a live CD and DVD called Bullet in a Bible on November 15, 2005. This CD/DVD featured hits from American Idiot as well as a few songs from all its previous albums, except Kerplunk and 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours. The DVD featured behind-the-scenes footage of the band, and showed how the band prepared to put on the show. The final shows of its 2005 world tour were in Sydney, Australia, and Melbourne, Australia, on December 14 and 17 respectively. On January 10, 2006 the band was awarded with a People's Choice Award for favorite group.


Green Day live in Germany during the American Idiot tour.On August 1, 2005, it was announced that Green Day had rescinded the master rights to their pre-Dookie material from Lookout! Records, citing breach of contract regarding unpaid royalties that had been ongoing for some time, a complaint shared with other Lookout! bands. The pre-Dookie material, which remained out of print for about a year, was reissued by their current label, Reprise, on January 9, 2007.

In 2006 Green Day won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for Boulevard of Broken Dreams which spent 16 weeks at the number one position of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, a record it shares along with Red Hot Chili Peppers' Scar Tissue and Staind's It's Been Awhile. Green Day was also nominated for Best Rock Video for Wake Me Up When September Ends at the 2006 MTV Video Music awards, but lost to AFI's Miss Murder. Both the music videos for Wake Me Up When September Ends and Boulevard of Broken Dreams retired showing on TRL after being on the top ten for 50 days each.

In September 2006, Green Day teamed up 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 is to benefit Music Rising, an organization to help raise money for musicians' instruments lost during Hurricane Katrina, and to bring awareness on the eve of the one year anniversary of the disaster.

Music sample:
Working Class Hero


Working Class Hero, a cover of a John Lennon song, was released on the Instant Karma CD.
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In December 2006, Green Day and NRDC opened a web site in partnership to raise awareness on America's dependency on oil. (See related projects.)

Green Day released a cover of the John Lennon song Working Class Hero, that 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.


Green Day as caricatured in The Simpsons Movie.That summer, the band appeared in a cameo role in The Simpsons Movie, where they perform the show's theme song. Their version was released as a single on July 24, 2007.

In an interview with Kerrang!, Billie Joe Armstrong revealed that 2008 would be a fair estimate of the release date of their new Untitled 8th Studio Album,

In October, Billie Joe announced more on this new album, saying he had been writing new material on the piano, and had around 45 songs. He stated he wanted the new music to dig into what he's feeling at the moment - which is middle-aged