Nimrod (album) - Background

Background

In 1995, Green Day released Insomniac, which did not perform as well critically and commercially as the band's breakthrough major label debut Dookie (1994). Speaking of Insomniac, vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong noted, "It did a lot better than I thought it was going to do...From the sound of it, we knew it wasn't going to sell as much as Dookie." The group embarked on an extensive world tour to promote Insomniac in early 1996, which saw the band performing in sports arenas that contrasted with the small clubs the group was accustomed to playing. The members became increasingly uncomfortable with the level of stardom they had attained; Armstrong recalled, "We were becoming the things we hated, playing those big arenas. It was beginning to be not fun anymore."

Green Day also became homesick as touring forced the members to leave behind their families. The band eventually decided to cancel the late 1996 European leg of the Insomniac tour to take time off to spend at home. During this time, the band continued to write, and eventually completed over three dozen new songs by the beginning of 1997. Although the group's last effort with producer Rob Cavallo was considered a disappointment, the band did not contemplate choosing anyone else to work with on Nimrod, as the members viewed Cavallo as a "mentor".