Drag - As I said...twice, Green Day was not the first. I could think of plenty of bands that started earlier or at the same time. What I stated was that none of them had the success that Green Day did. And it didnt start out as mainstream success, I listened to them when they werent played on MTV 50 times a day, it was a worldy success. They played everywhere, they were what every punk group wanted to be. And they were punk, they werent mainstream pop, the musical culture has grown to accept the "punk" style and music. Therefore, it takes harder, whinier, and faster punk bands to truly be labeled as "punk" anymore.
Myself personally, like very few punk groups on any level these days. I dont like the mainstream punk, and I dont like the non mainstream, I prefer the old school. Give me OLD AFI, any Green Day (I've aged with it, I can say), Rancid, Distillers, Sex Pistols, I dont care. Point being, Music has turned to crap. Were Green Day pioneers? Abso-friggin-lutly.
RsStang - Yes, I will agree with you that Green Day has both mellowed it and changed their tone. But similar to what I said above, is that being that all the groups have conformed to one universal sound, that what Green Day did put out for the last couple of cd's is kind of refreshing. Would I rather listen to the first 4-5 cds Green Day put out rather than the last 4-5? Yeah...for the most part. But I've grown up with the band, and I dont like one genre of music anymore, so I still jam to the new tunes as I still enjoy them. To sum it up, yes their style has changed, but they're still great in my books.