Middle years and decline in commercial success (1997–2002)
After a brief hiatus in 1996, Green Day began to work on a new album in 1997. From the outset, both the band and Cavallo agreed that the album had to be different from its previous albums.[22] The result was Nimrod, an experimental deviation from the band's standard pop-punk brand of music. The new album was released in October 1997. It provided a variety of music, from pop-punk, surf rock, and ska, to an acoustic ballad. Nimrod entered the charts at number 10. The success of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" won the band an MTV Video Award for Best Alternative Video for the song's video, which depicted people undergoing major changes in their lives while Armstrong strummed his acoustic guitar.[23] The song was also used in the second "clip show" episode of Seinfeld and on two episodes of ER. The other singles released from Nimrod were "Nice Guys Finish Last", "Hitchin' a Ride" and "Redundant". The band made a guest appearance in an episode of King of the Hill entitled "The Man Who Shot Cane Skretteberg", which aired in 1997. In late 1997 and most of 1998, Green Day embarked on a tour in support of Nimrod.
In 2000, Green Day released its sixth studio album Warning, a step further in the style that they had hinted at with Nimrod. In support of the album, the band participated in the Warped Tour in 2000. The band also had an independent tour to support the album in 2001. Critics' reviews of the album were varied.[24] Allmusic gave it 4.5/5 saying "Warning may not be an innovative record per se, but it's tremendously satisfying."[25] Rolling Stone was more critical, giving it 3/5, and saying "Warning... invites the question: Who wants to listen to songs of faith, hope and social commentary from what used to be snot-core's biggest-selling band?"[26] Though it produced the hit "Minority" and a smaller hit with "Warning", some observers were coming to the conclusion that the band was losing relevance,[24] and a decline in popularity followed. While all of Green Day's previous albums had reached a status of at least double platinum, Warning was only certified gold.
At the 2001 California Music Awards, Green Day won all eight of the awards that it was nominated for. The group won the awards for Outstanding Album (Warning), Outstanding Punk Rock/Ska Album (Warning), Outstanding Group, Outstanding Male Vocalist, Outstanding Bassist, Outstanding Drummer, Outstanding Songwriter, and Outstanding Artist.[27]
The release of two compilation albums, International Superhits! and Shenanigans, followed Warning. International Superhits and its companion collection of music videos, International Supervideos!, sold well, being certified platinum in the United States. Shenanigans contained some of the band's b-sides, including "Espionage",which was featured in the film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
In the spring of 2002, Green Day co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Blink-182. Despite the co-headlining title, Green Day would play each show before Blink-182, who at the time were experiencing more success. The tour was documented on the DVD Riding in Vans with Boys.
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