Kingunderpants Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 Okay, so the only reason I'm posting this is because I read this and found it harsh. I think it's really funny that they were in no mood to kiss anybody's ass during this interview. You can tell they were in bad moods that day. GUITAR WORLD When did you first discover punk rock? MIKE DIRNT I suppose when I was 14 years old. BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG I can remember a few different instances. There were these two guys who introduced me to things like D.O.A. and the Dead Kennedys. Then, in the seventh grade, there was a girl at school who would bring in records like T.S.O.L. and say, "Here, listen to this." But I think I really started getting into it in 1987 with Turn It Around, a double seven-inch compilation record put out by [punk fanzine] Maximumrocknroll. GW Definitely California punk. ARMSTRONG Mostly bands from the [san Francisco] Bay Area, yeah. There's a certain amount of depth that a lot of the bands from around here had, especially in the mid Eighties. GW Billie, where do you get your sense of chord progressions? ARMSTRONG From everywhere. I don't limit myself. I was really into Paul Westerberg and Bob Mould, and I think it started there. The Replacements and Husker Du are probably the bands that influenced me most. A lot of people try to pinpoint where we get our sound from. And they're all pretty much completely full of shit. DIRNT We always get this thing about how we're trying to sound like the Buzzcocks. I hadn't heard the fucking Buzzcocks when we started. ARMSTRONG I thought it was supposed to be the Clash. Or was it the Ramones...? DIRNT First off, you can't sound like any of those bands. And secondly, those are probably the last ones in my record collection. ARMSTRONG Mine too. Those are all bands I got into later. GW A lot of people say you sound like the Dickies. ARMSTRONG The Dickies would like to think so. The Dickies would like to think they've influenced everybody. But basically the Dickies are just another Ramones rip-off. DIRNT I've never owned a Dickies album, although I did see them live - I snuck into one of their shows at the Berkeley Square. I saw them right around the time of our second album. But by that time, we'd played so many shows it really had no bearing. ARMSTRONG Those guys have to be the most bitter old bastards I've ever read about in my entire life. Their whole thing is, "It shoulda been us." Well, fuck you, it's not. It never will be. You're old and you're never gonna write a good song for the rest of your life. CW Do you get a lot of resentment from first-generation punk bands? ARMSTRONG Sometimes, but not a lot. Henry Rollins has a stick up his ass. He's another bitter old bastard. Basically he's complaining because we've made more money than he has. But hey, Henry, you fucking suck. You were not even close to being the best singer for Black Flag, and you didn't even write the lyrics back then. So why should I give a fuck what you think? DIRNT The only band that has any right to be bitter would be the Ramones, because they fucking stayed together. But even then, I don't feel sorry for one of the most influential punk rock bands in the world-probably the biggest punk rock band in the world. ARMSTRONG How can they complain? There are bands that were more influential to me who've never seen the light of day, yet even they're not complaining. Take what you've got and appreciate that. I didn't get into punk rock to get famous. It was already a proven fact that you couldn't get famous playing punk rock music. God, we were around for six years before we broke through-from '88 to '94. We did two albums and three EP's. DIRNT This was at a time when bands like Guns N' Roses and Van Halen were totally on top. ARMSTRONG You know who's another bitter old bastard? Johnny Rotten. He sounds like my grandmother, at times. He really sounds old. And he's so predictable in his comments about us. I mean, be a bit more novel. Try and come up with something new. On top of that, some of the stuff from P.I.L. [Rotten's post-Pistols group] was complete shit, as far as I'm concerned. GW So what happened with this last tour? Why did you end it prematurely? ARMSTRONG 'Cause we were burnt. We'd been on the road for two and a half years, non-stop. DIRNT I was having panic attacks every day. The doctors wanted me on Xanax or Prozac all the time. And I wasn't gonna do it. I'd only take Xanax when I got so nauseous I couldn't go on stage. I would pass out. I'd say. "Oh God, I gotta lie down." Then I'd wake up six hours later, just from exhaustion. ARMSTRONG I never thought I'd get to a point where I felt like I was pretending to enjoy myself onstage. But basically I was just going through the motions. We were at the end of our rope. It was mainly me and Mike-we were completely exhausted. The first tour we did was in '89. So we've been touring, on and off, for seven years. And in the past two years, we've done the most touring ever. DIRNT Also, I've been having heart problems for the last few years, where I felt like I was having minor heart attacks all the time. The doctors don't know what it is. I'm at the point now where I'm sick of looking for it. If it kills me, it kills me. It's been happening for a long time now, but it's gotten a lot worse. I'll be standing there and all of a sudden I'll feel like somebody's jammed a needle into my chest. I basically drop to the ground, gasping. And then my heart's always sore. It's a scary problem to have with the one part of your body that they don't know how to fix. GW So your having ended the tour early doesn't signal the end of Green Day? Or that you're tired of the whole thing? ARMSTRONG No. That's the thing: I don't want to be tired of Green Day. That's why we quit the tour. GW Insomniac is the first album where you seem to get into writing from within other characters from a point of view that's not necessarily your own. Like "Brat," for example. ARMSTRONG I like to write in the first person because I'd rather talk shit about myself than someone else. I do like to create characters. That song is about how envy develops into jealousy. GW You guys were a breath of fresh air after grunge. You helped bring tight, concise songs back to rock. ARMSTRONG Well, we write rock and roll music. We're a rock and roll band. We're extroverted and exhibitionist. We're not shoe gazers no way. We're demented. Up on stage, I'm gonna take my fuckin' clothes off and wiggle my little dick at everybody. I'm gonna be totally obnoxious and rude and spit in the eye of every fucking heavy grunge band that ever came out. DIRNT It's nice that people actually picked out the difference between us and some of the grunge stuff. I really like Nirvana, but there is a difference between them and us. I thought a lot of people would just throw us in the same class. GW Grunge has that Seventies metal vibe that isn't a part of your music. DIRNT Yeah. Sabbath or something. Deep Purple type shit. ARMSTRONG Well, "Brain Stew" is kinda metal. GW Do you think that's why radio picked up on it? It almost has that "Kashmir" beat. ARMSTRONG Hey, watch it, buddy. Who's Kashmir? No, actually I'm a metaller, in a lot of ways. I think Metallica's Master of Puppets is one of the best metal records of all time. And I really like the sound quality of Pantera's last record. The drums and guitars are enormous. That might seem an unlikely thing for me to say, but I like Pantera. DIRNT I had a bad reaction to metal when I was younger. All of a sudden I hated it, couldn't stand it anymore. That's why, for all the good there is in Soundgarden, it's always been hard for me to like them. Their songwriting's getting better, but I still don't care for a lot of the high vocals. And Alice in Chains - their music's okay, but you see them live and it's like, "God, these guys are fucking metal." The bass player is a fucking hair machine. I've met these guys and they're like, black boots/leather jacket types. I dunno, man. They're nice guys, but you just can't take 'em seriously. When I saw them live, they were so separated from the crowd. I think their lead singer has a real problem with that. Whatever his name is. GW Layne Staley. DIRNT Yeah, Lame. ARMSTRONG When 'Nevermind' came out, everybody was going for that "Butch Vig Big Muff sound." We just couldn't do that. Instead of sounding bigger, it would be defeating. So much saturation with such fast-paced music would sound like shit. But I really think Guns N' Roses' 'Appetite for Destruction' has a really good sound. I like that record a lot. I'm not ashamed to say it, either. I like a lot of the Cure's guitar playing, too. Robert Smith writes great songs and gets really great guitar sounds. I like Elvis Costello, and some of the guitar sounds he gets, too. Are you a Bush fan? GW No. ARMSTRONG Good. I think those are some of the crappiest guitar sounds I've ever heard in my life. That song "Glycerine" has to have the shiftiest guitar sound ever. DIRNT I don't like some of the vocal effects they use, either. ARMSTRONG I've talked a lot of shit about Smashing Pumpkins, but I think the guitar sound on "1979" is really good, and so is the song itself. DIRNT I think us talking shit about Smashing Pumpkins is more just making fun of how pathetic those guys are. Especially Billy Corgan. I think it would have been better if he hadn't made such a big issue of his guitar playing right when they put out their first album, like "I played most of the guitar on this album. Any hot licks you hear, that's me, not James [ha]." GW What's it like to have to live up to someone else's definition of punk? Or being told that you've betrayed that ideal? ARMSTRONG I can't think of anything less punk than establishing a set of rules. I don't set any rules on myself. I don't live up to anybody's expectations. I'm totally self-sufficient. That's what punk is about to me, not some elitist attitude. DIRNT They're afraid of change. THE END (First Published in Guitar World August 1996)
rudiecantfail Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 Up on stage, I'm gonna take my fuckin' clothes off and wiggle my little dick at everybody. I'm gonna be totally obnoxious and rude and spit in the eye of every fucking heavy grunge band that ever came out OH MAN. that made me lauugh :laugh:
Kingunderpants Posted January 5, 2006 Author Posted January 5, 2006 The reason I re-found it is because(I'm not trying to name drop here!) I was talking to an old singer of The Queers earlier and he told me that the Dickies were the most bitter bastards that he ever played with before, and I remembered the Green Day quote, so I looked it up and told him. I then re-read it and realized that this is definetly worth posting here.
TotalBasketCase13 Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 OH MAN. that made me lauugh :laugh: Ha Ha, me too. Cool interview
woven_basketcase Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 wow....that was interesting. thanks for posting.
Lotus Eater Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 I've seen people complain about Green Day talking shit about other bands...now I know where that comes from. But I think it's great, heh. At least they've got the balls to be honest.
rudiecantfail Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 haha, at least they talk shit about bands that deserve to be talked shit about. if that made any sense
justcause Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 The reason I re-found it is because(I'm not trying to name drop here!) I was talking to an old singer of The Queers earlier and he told me that the Dickies were the most bitter bastards that he ever played with before, and I remembered the Green Day quote, so I looked it up and told him. I then re-read it and realized that this is definetly worth posting here. Interesting stuff - it was the Insomniac tour they scrapped, right?
Kingunderpants Posted January 5, 2006 Author Posted January 5, 2006 Best shit talking moment was when Tre said he'd like to choke Avril with her tie. Or in the mid 90s when Billie went on and on about the Smashing Pumpkins kissing their fan's asses while he was onstage. But what would Billie know about kissing asses? ENGLAND!!!!!! Interesting stuff - it was the Insomniac tour they scrapped, right? yeah
Lotus Eater Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 But what would Billie know about kissing asses? ENGLAND!!!!!! HAHA, true that.
justcause Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 haha, at least they talk shit about bands that deserve to be talked shit about. if that made any sense But it has to be said, they don't take criticism well themselves!
*withoutadoubt* Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 "Up on stage, I'm gonna take my fuckin' clothes off and wiggle my little dick at everybody." Right from his own lips...now we don't have to wonder anymore. :laugh:
Lotus Eater Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 Yeah, talk about being bitter. But they had a right to be bitter at that point. I mean, how would you react if everyone was saying you were ripping off other bands?
WaitingInBattleScars Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 "Those guys have to be the most bitter old bastards I've ever read about in my entire life. Their whole thing is, "It shoulda been us." Well, fuck you, it's not. It never will be. You're old and you're never gonna write a good song for the rest of your life." That was my favorite part. Good interview. Thanks for posting.
DeathOrGlory Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 Haha, I can't see Billie or Mike saying a lot of that stuff if they were interviewed today. Thanks for the interview, it was interesting.
justcause Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 This is heaven - we're actually discussing Green Day's music instead of crap. How long can it last? I don't blame them for being bitter about the reception that Insomniac got - I think it was the best thing they ever did, the most experimental and dark. I've come across all kinds of attitudes to Insomniac, largely people who considered that Green Day were just trying to get back their punk cred after Dookie by producing something with a hard-ass attitude; I think they totally missed the point, Insomniac was a progression. I think they were really stung by the criticism - when you think of it, they had been the darlings of the punk world for years, then they lost that but became a mainstream sensation instead. Insomniac must have been the first time they were really kicked in the teeth. They didn't have Gilman St. anymore, then their follow-up to Dookie got this weak reception; I know they always say they make music for themselves and they don't care who else likes it, but I think it obviously hurt at the time. It's interesting to see that Insomniac has stood the test of time, and is now many people's favourite GD album - certainly is mine.
..whatsername.. Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 ^^exactly what i was thinking (about the first part) that was really great. thanks for posting it! i thought this was great "Up on stage, I'm gonna take my fuckin' clothes off and wiggle my little dick at everybody. "
Kingunderpants Posted January 5, 2006 Author Posted January 5, 2006 I really like Insomniac, but mostly in theory. I like how it's a response to their surroundings(Banned from Gilman, burning out, meth...), and I really most of the songs. With that said, I can only rarely get into the album. I get bored after the first few songs, which it weird, considering it's their shortest album(Or is Warning??). Maybe it's the order of the songs that gets to me, because I have no problem listening to each song at different times.
justcause Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 I really like Insomniac, but mostly in theory. I like how it's a response to their surroundings(Banned from Gilman, burning out, meth...), and I really most of the songs. With that said, I can only rarely get into the album. I get bored after the first few songs, which it weird, considering it's their shortest album(Or is Warning??). Maybe it's the order of the songs that gets to me, because I have no problem listening to each song at different times. The thing about Insomniac is that for the people who like it, it's kind of compulsive - you just want to play it all the time - I talked to a guy on another site who told me that the first time he heard it as a kid, he had to play it about three times a day for the longest time! I think the idea that it was a pissed-off response was what other people put on it, not where the album came from. I think people had a prejudice towards it, because it wasn't 'Son of Dookie', they went, 'oh yeah, so now you're trying to be hard-ass punks again'. I don't think that was true - I think GD tried to do something brave and different, and nobody got it. I agree it's not to everyone's taste, but it has its serious fanatics!
Kingunderpants Posted January 5, 2006 Author Posted January 5, 2006 The thing about Insomniac is that for the people who like it, it's kind of compulsive - you just want to play it all the time - I talked to a guy on another site who told me that the first time he heard it as a kid, he had to play it about three times a day for the longest time! I think the idea that it was a pissed-off response was what other people put on it, not where the album came from. I think people had a prejudice towards it, because it wasn't 'Son of Dookie', they went, 'oh yeah, so now you're trying to be hard-ass punks again'. I don't think that was true - I think GD tried to do something brave and different, and nobody got it. I agree it's not to everyone's taste, but it has its serious fanatics! Yeah, most people are either super into it or not really into at all.
Lotus Eater Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 I've been meaning to get Insomniac. If I like all the songs I've heard from it (the singles, Walking Contradiction, 86), will I like the rest of it?
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