"Within a few minutes, one of the first conversations we ever had was about songwriting. We were just pointed into something that we thought was cool, 'cause at the time we were each struggling to mitigate our own home lives and things like that."
"We became fast friends, and playing guitar back in the day was such a cool thing. Then it was like, 'How do you get a gig?' That was the biggest struggle was just how to get a gig that wasn't us playing at like our friend's older brother's keg party."
"We were quote-unquote 'too poppy' to play Gilman Street for a long time. I mean, what do you want us to write about? All we knew [then] was, 'I wanna meet a girl and I have a guitar. I'm frigging 13, 14... leave me alone!'"
Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt first met at age ten and quickly connected over songwriting while coping with difficult home lives. The pair became fast friends and found playing guitar empowering, but struggled early on to land legitimate gigs beyond backyard parties. Early Green Day faced resistance from local scenes like 924 Gilman Street for sounding 'too poppy' and writing adolescent-themed songs. Drummer Tré Cool joined in 1990, solidifying a long-standing lineup. The band later achieved major milestones, including induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Mike Dirnt now has a signature Epiphone Grabber G-3 bass available via Reverb.
Read at Consequence
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