Green Day: The Divine Torment of Billie Joe Armstrong

by wildwoman1313

Some people run to clear their head. Some find respite on a stretch of pristine beach while still others resort to humming the Solfeggio scale to get into the zone. For Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, it takes garish klieg light and pulverizing decibels to silence his demons. The rakish rabble-rouser finds his bliss in a thrashing live performance. Inciting huge masses of people to pogo and shout along with him is his idea of peace. The stage is where Armstrong is in his element. For him, it’s where the thinking ends.

To say he lives for music is an understatement. As the man behind such hits as “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and the group’s latest single, “Know Your Enemy,” Armstrong is singer, guitarist, and the main songwriter for the punk rock band Green Day. He has spent the past three years consumed with writing virtually every word and note of the group’s recent release, 21st Century Breakdown, a rock opera no less, and doing so in utter secrecy. Armstrong went so far as to mix demos with his vocals so low that they could only be half-understood behind the guitars, denying his bandmates and producer even as much as a hint at what was to come until he sat them down and read the words aloud--every song, in order. Green Day drummer Tre Cool describes Armstrong as someone with a lot of things going on in his head simultaneously. Cool says Armstrong will engage in conversation and then when asked his opinion, look you dead in the eye and go, “Huh?”.

Billie Joe Armstrong was born and raised in California. His interest in music began at a young age when a teacher encouraged him to record the song “Look for Love” on a local label at the age of five. His first guitar was a Cherry Red Hohner acoustic given to him by his father before he succumbed to cancer when Billie Joe was 10 years old, an event Armstrong identifies as the root of his discontent. In the wake of his father’s death, the young boy was practically raised by his five older siblings while his mother worked nights as a waitress at Rod’s Hickory Pit, the place where Armstrong and childhood friend Mike Dirnt would play their first-ever gig. When his mother remarried, Billie Joe retreated even further into music, developing both a passion and sensitivity far beyond that of his peers. Says Armstrong, “There are people who go, ‘Oh, that's a snappy tune.’ I listen to it and go, ‘That's the greatest f***ing song ever. That is the song I want played at my funeral.’”

Billie Joe received his first electric guitar from his mother shortly after his father’s death. She got a Fernandes Stratocaster copy from a man named George Cole, who bought the guitar new from David Margen of the band Santana. Billie Joe named the guitar “Blue” and took lessons from Cole for ten years. Although he never really learned how to read music in all those years, Armstrong did learn how to handle “Blue.” And he learned what it is to be cursed with song.

Next Up: Billie Joe Armstrong forms Green Day, revives the punk rock scene, and pisses off Johnny Rotten.

He and Greenday are musical-lyrical genius'. Their music is timeless and appeals to young kids, Moms and Dadolescents like me. My son was two when he first heard me playing Dookie and American Idiot. He knew then that if he does not make the Yankees he will play guitar. He started writing songs that day..Influence yes..Respect yes...My daughter was three at that time and she figured out Boulevard of broken dreams on the piano within that week..Needless to say they take lessons play tinker and create...Torment is usually reserved for those alone...This Divine Torment is appreciated and embraced by me and my kids and all those who spiritually unite with Green Day...Thank you Billie Joe Armstrong

He is defiantly a genius. I would have to put his songwriting up there with John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater fame. Two of the best american songwriters for sure. He can play a simple chord on a guitar and make it sound like an orchestra. I do admire his talent and drive.