You might love Green Day's music, but how much do you really know about frontman
Billie Joe Armstrong? He's one of the most famous modern rock stars on the planet,
but there's probably plenty about him that you'd be surprised to discover.
Billie Joe Armstrong was born to rock. He recorded his first single in 1977 when he was a mere
five years old. James J. Fiatarone, the owner of a music shop and the label Fiat Records,
spotted young Armstrong's talent and made his mother an offer: If Armstrong would record a
few songs for his label, Fiatarone would give him and his siblings free music lessons. Mom agreed,
and "Look for Love," a cheery ditty about finding positivity even in the darkest of times,
was born. Fiatarone's wife recorded an interview with Armstrong to accompany the single release.
When she asked him how long he'd been singing, he answered,
"For many years."
And when she asked him how he liked being a recording artist now, he joyfully replied
that he loved it. In 2017, Armstrong shared on Instagram a photo of himself recording
"Look for Love," along with a fun fact: 16 years after that formative moment, he returned
to the same studio to record Green Day's 1994 album Dookie. Talk about coming full circle!
When he was nine years old, Armstrong still had his sights set on becoming a musician.
In an essay that's now preserved at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
he wrote at length about his lofty career aspiration. He began by declaring,
"When I grow up I want to have a band that can play rock and roll.
We will start out at the age of fifteen. Then it will [get] bigger and bigger."
He continued to describe his future in great detail, as he went on to predict,
"At the age of 20 we will have great big amplifiers and guitars. At the age of 29
we will go to big time. We'll play for a lot of people [...] We will make a lot
of people happy. And we'll have a lot of money."
Armstrong ended up even more successful than he could've ever predicted. He started his first
band, Sweet Children, which eventually became Green Day. He was just 14 at the time, besting his
forecast by a year. By the time he was 20, Green Day had already signed to the indie label Lookout
Records. By 29, he was already an international superstar thanks to the multi-platinum success
of Dookie, Green Day's major label debut. And it's impossible to deny that Green Day
has gone on to bring joy to millions of fans and raked in a lot of cash along the way.
Even though Armstrong knew he really wanted to be a rock star, he was pragmatic enough to
recognize that his dream might not work out. The same essay from his grade school years
reveals that he was equipped with a backup plan: becoming a famous football player. As he mused,
"If I don't get a band then I am going to have to do something else.
I could become a football player? That's what I'll be. We will travel
all over [...] We will win all of our games. And we will be the champs."
Young Billie Joe concluded his essay by reconsidering his choices once more as he wrote,
"But what if I don't play football. I don't [know what I'll] be. I know I'll be something. The end."
At the bottom of the page, his teacher left an encouraging comment:
"I'd bet on that!"
Obviously, Armstrong didn't grow up to become a professional football player.
But he nevertheless still keeps the game close to his heart. In 2016, he told Us Weekly that
he had binge-watched all of Friday Night Lights. And in a 2005 interview with Sports Illustrated,
he revealed that he's friends with former NFL fullback John Ritchie:
After meeting him in a jewelry store, Ritchie came to a few of Armstrong's shows,
and Armstrong then went to see him in the Super Bowl in 2003 when he was with the Oakland Raiders.
Armstrong likes to watch a variety of sports, and if he had to pick a favorite, it would probably
be baseball. In 2005, he told Sports Illustrated that his passion for the Great American Pastime
runs in the family, as his father used to be a Minor League catcher. If Armstrong could play on
a professional team, he would want to take the same position. As he told Sports Illustrated,
"I would love to be a catcher and throw out somebody attempting to steal second
base [...] Throwing someone out at second base is just a power move.
It's so fast and furious and just a challenge, the best play in sports."
Armstrong enjoys baseball so much that he decided to share his love with his sons
Jakob and Joey. He coached their Little League team when they were young,
alongside his wife Adrienne. Although those days are behind him now,
his love for baseball will be forever immortalized on YouTube thanks to the time in 2009 when he
led a crowd of Chicago Cubs fans in a rousing rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
Armstrong might be an international superstar, but he also fantasizes about being an International
Man of Mystery. He reportedly once said that if he could play any movie role in history,
it would be Austin Powers, everyone's favorite cryogenically frozen swinging superspy.
Armstrong is more than just a casual fan of the franchise. He loves it so much
that he named his cat after Basil Exposition, Austin's controller at British Intelligence.
In 1999, Armstrong even got to be a part of the Austin Powers universe when the Green Day song
"Espionage" was featured in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. He also even managed to attend
the film's premiere, along with his bandmates Tré Cool and Mike Dirnt. What a groovy turn of events!
"Yeah, baby! Yeah!"
In addition to cranking out hit song after hit song,
Armstrong has tried his hand at being a thespian. In 2002, he made his live-action acting debut
with a guest appearance on Haunted, a short-lived UPN horror series. The series starred a pre-Lost
Matthew Fox as a police officer whose life falls apart after his son is abducted. Armstrong was
in an episode called "Last Call," in which he played a character named "Ghostly Betting Man."
Haunted was far from his only foray into Hollywood. In 2007,
he had a cameo in The Simpsons Movie, along with his Green Day bandmates. His animated alter ego
sported his signature tousled hairstyle, along with his usual button-up and red tie.
He would go on to land his first starring role with the 2016 coming-of-age comedy-drama
Ordinary World, in which he plays an aging punk rock dad who has to cope with normal
life. His co-stars included such notable names as Fred Armisen and Selma Blair.
"And I don't need a coaster!"
"You're a punk! Look at that! That's gonna leave a huge ring!"
Lady Gaga's music isn't exactly the same genre as Green Day's,
but that doesn't mean she can't appreciate what the California punks are putting out.
During a press conference in 2009, she admitted,
"I remember when I bought Green Day‘s Dookie, I just wanted to lick the pages from the booklet!
That particular album, I mean, it is iconic."
Armstrong was happy to hear that she was a fan, although he did note that the licking
part was a bit "bizarre." He was also quick to share praise for her, as he told MTV,
"She's a good artist. She's a risk-taker. She's an original. It's pretty awesome."
In 2010, Gaga showed that she was still a fan by showing up to a performance of American Idiot,
the Broadway musical based on the 2004 Green Day album of the same name. Armstrong was also there,
as he was playing the role of St. Jimmy at the time. Photos of the event posted to Broadway.com
feature Gaga smiling and posing with the cast and crew. At one point, she even planted a friendly
kiss on Armstrong's cheek. The friendship between these two has reportedly continued to flourish.
A 2011 Kerrang article listed Gaga as one of Armstrong's
"top celebrity pals," alongside the likes of Bono, Courtney Love, and Tom Cruise.
In 2009, Armstrong was interviewed by Larry Livermore,
the producer who signed Green Day to his label Lookout Records in the 90s.
Noting Armstrong's penchant for explicit lyrics, Livermore asked him,
"Out of all your work, is there anything you'd
feel embarrassed about singing in front of your own children?"
The punk rock dad responded,
"Yeah, sometimes the kids will hear a Green Day song on the radio in the car, and there's a cuss
word or something's a little bit suggestive, and I'll cough really loud, or turn it down a bit."
He also noted,
"I don't raise my kids in an environment that would be stereotypically punk
rock [...] I'm helping to build two young men, who I want to be smart. I can't tell them what
to be in their lives, tell them they have to play music or they have to be punk rockers.
Those decisions are part of being your own human being. But I can encourage them to be healthy."
Although Armstrong didn't force his kids to follow in his footsteps, his sons are
in fact now musicians in their own right. Jakob Armstrong is making rock music under the name
Jakob Danger, while older son Joey is the drummer for the punk band SWMRS. Armstrong
is happy to see that they're forging their own paths in the industry. He told NME in 2016,
"I'm proud of both of them. They're great."
"It's great. It's like, because they honestly love music, and that's
why I like talking about it really."
All the members of the Armstrong family are musically gifted, so it makes sense that they
would combine their talents. In 2011, they did just that by teaming up to record a four-song EP
while going by the name The Boo. Instead of taking his usual place at the mic, Armstrong played bass.
His wife Adrienne sang vocals, while his sons Jakob and Joey played guitar and drums,
respectively. The EP was intended as a Christmas card to be distributed to family and friends,
although Billie Joe sent a few copies to 1-2-3-4 Go! Records. You'd be hard-pressed
to find the record in a store, but all four of its tracks can be listened to online.
In 2016, Armstrong looked back on the Boo EP in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. He noted,
"We wanted to start a dysfunctional Partridge Family kind of band. We came up with a bunch of
songs and I convinced Adrienne to sing. She just sounds like a total girl-group diva."
Any casual fan can tell you that Armstrong likes to rock an inked-up look, but it would
be difficult for even the biggest Green Day devotee to name all of the tattoos he sports.
According to Body Art Guru, he has approximately 40 of them,
and each one is unique. Perhaps the most surprising one is a full-color illustration of
Baby Herman, a character from the 1988 Disney film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The cartoon infant can be
spotted on Armstrong's left forearm, snarling and smoking a cigarette, just as he did in the film.
"The whole thing stinks like yesterday's diapers."
While many of Armstrong's tattoos are just for fun, like the clowns embracing on his left hand,
others hold a more deeper meaning. For example, he has the names of his wife and two sons tattooed
onto his skin. "Adrienne" is written in cursive on his right arm, while "Joseph" is printed
below it along with a rose decal. And "Jakob" is inked on his left arm in vibrant block letters.
He also boasts several Green Day-related symbols. The pink bunny from the cover art
of the band's 2011 live album Awesome As F**k can be seen on his right forearm, while the
radio from the band's 2016 record Revolution Radio appears just above his left elbow. Additionally,
he has several tattoos that reference 2004's American Idiot: "St. Jimmy," "Rage," and "Love"
are all written on his arms and "Idiot" in all capital letters is on his left ankle.
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