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Going To Pinole Valley: Here’s a teenage Green Day performing at their high school in 1990


Green Day were just inducted to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but back in the day, they were just another snotty high school punk band trying to get the attention of the freaks, geeks, and weirdos from homeroom. In video footage from 2013 that has exploded all over the internet this week — thanks to the HOF induction and a front-page Reddit plug — the punk trio show what it’s like to be a teenage band showing off their sounds between classes.

The footage is from May 1990, when Green Day played Pinole Valley High School in California and busted out tracks from that year’s debut, 39/Smooth, and a song that would be eventually heard on Kerplunk!. The trio performed with original drummer John Kiffmeyer, who drops his sticks twice in the first song.

In the beginning of the set there doesn’t appear to be much of a crowd, but interest spreads as they keep playing over the course of 50 minutes. Of course, all the assholes who walked on by during the first few minutes missed Green Day playing their greatest song ever, “Going To Pasalacqua,” which also doubles as one of the greatest songs of all time.

Of. All. Time.

Here’s the set list, so you can jump around while watching the full video down below.

Green Day playing songs from their first album 39/Smooth + one song from Kerplunk!
00:00 Going To Pasalacqua
03:31 At The Library
06:33 409 In Your Coffee Maker
10:07 16
14:29 The Judge’s Daughter
17:30 Road To Acceptance
21:28 Knowledge [Operation Ivy]
24:22 Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?
27:37 1000 Hours
30:36 Don’t Leave Me [Incomplete]
– In between the point of the broken bass pedal [31:46] Billie Joe plays a few solo songs. None complete though. They include a very short version of the intro to World Vs. World [Unreleased Song] and again a very short version of The Judge’s Daughter.-
34:25 Rest
35:31 Paper Lanterns
38:52 Disappearing Boy
40:42 I Don’t Know [Ozzy, within Disappearing Boy]
41:07 Disappearing Boy [Back into it, from I Don’t Know]
42:19 At The Library [Again]
45:06 I Was There
48:48 Dry Ice