Through a shared interest in music, school friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt formed the band Sweet Children.

With the addition of drummer John Kiffmeyer, they played at the local punk club 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California, where they started attracting a following.

They co-produced their debut EP, 1,000 Hours, with Andy Ernst at the Art of Ears Studio in San Francisco, California, in early 1989.

Before its release, Sweet Children changed their name to Green Day, which Livermore said would make it difficult to shift copies of the EP.

[9] Kiffmeyer helped refine their sound, and give them a work ethic of recording music as cheaply and quickly as possible, in homage to the acts that influenced them, such the Buzzcocks and Ramones.

[19] Livermore acknowledged that they were poppier than their contemporaries acts from Gilman: "But I thought the songs and the performances were so good that they deserved to be captured on vinyl ..."[19] Sweet Children recorded their debut EP, 1,000 Hours, at the Art of Ears Studio in San Francisco, California, in early 1989.

Andy Ernst co-produced the proceedings with the band; he worked with fellow Lookout act Corrupted Morals prior to the session.

[21] Gaar called the sound of 1,000 Hours EP as up-tempo power pop,[20] with AllMusic reviewer Ned Raggett adding that he could hear hints of heavy metal in the music.

He explained that the latter's 1988 track "I Think We're Alone Now" shared the similar lyrical topics of "teen confusion, alienation and lost love, and the same sense of melody, as Billie Joe's first release[d] song[s].

[27] The back of the EP sleeve, taken by Murray Bowles,[27] had a picture of the band; additional roles were listed for each member, such as Armstrong with "hat", Dirnt with "hair" and Kiffmeyer with "bus".

[30] Gaar suggested that the extra credits alluded to back cover, which had Armstrong wearing a baseball cap on backwards and Dirnt hanging off a railing upside as his hair reaches the floor below.

[27] Dirnt said the members of Green Day went into Lookout's office when the EP arrived from the pressing planet to help staff fold the sleeve for each record.

"[22] Spitz was also impressed with "how ready the band sounds";[24] Myers, similarly, commented that what he heard to be alarming was "not the relatively cheap-sounding production ... but the ability of three school kids who have been lucky enough – or talented, or a bit of both – to find their own unique voice early on.