Why I Admire Green Day (Essay I did for English class)

Music is my life. I live, eat, sleep and breathe music. It's what keeps me alive, it's the blood pumping through my veins, it's the one thing I can relate to when times are too tough to handle. There is one particular rock group that changed my life completely, and I am fully prepared to explain why. They are called Green Day, the single most inspirationally powerful band that I have ever looked up to. I admire them for several reasons, the main one being that no matter how much each of them have been through, they still followed their dreams of becoming music superstars.

Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead vocalist and lyricist of the band knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life at a young age. He grew up in the small town of Rodeo, California and was the youngest of six children. There were constantly harmful and deadly fumes emitting from the nearby power plants. It was so bad that people were getting seriously sick, some even dying from inhaling the contaminated air every day. When Billie Joe was in Elementary school, he recalls having to go home from school because kids were falling ill too often.

His family was relatively poor. His mother worked at a barbeque resteraunt and his father worked as a truck driver to support their large family. His father eventually died from cancer in September of 1982, when Billie Joe was only 10 years old. He later wrote a song called "Wake Me Up When September Ends", a touching memorial to his father. His mother had trouble supporting her children, and married a man that both Billie and his other siblings hated. Billie Joe then retreated further into music, playing the guitar his father bought for his birthday before he died.

At school he met Mike Pritchard (a.k.a Mike Dirnt), his best friend and also the future bassist for Green Day. Mike had a hard life too, his birth mother being a herion addict and living with different foster parents throughout his life before getting adopted. Being born addicted to heroin, Mike has had health problems his whole life. Heart palpitations cause him to get panic attacks often. Because of his hardships, he turned to music as a source of comfort. When he met Billie Joe they put all their time and effort into creating music. Pretty soon they formed a band called Sweet Children with another friend named John.

After writing more songs they decided to rename the band Green Day, and they released their first album called 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours when they were in their teens. After it was released John left the band, leaving his drumming career behind and also making room for a new one. Billie Joe and Mike were introduced to Frank Wright (a.k.a Tre Cool) who had been drumming in a band since he was 12 years old. They immediately dubbed him as the new drummer for Green Day. Tre grew up in a boring town where the music didn't catch his ear. Once his family bought him a drum set, he found out what he wanted most in life, and that was to become a musician.

Every member of Green Day were born with natural gift for music. They dedicated their whole life to music and the underground punk scene of a small club on Gilman Street. Although neither Billie Joe or Tre finished high school, they used their abilities to their advantage, and it ended up making them world famous. They went on to make more albums and went to greater heights when American Idiot was released. This album had a different sort of vibe that their older fans weren't used to. They lost some fans and gained even more when the record sold over 14 million copies worldwide in 2004, literally making them the most successful punk band of all time. This was all made possible by a lot of hard work and perseverance, and that alone motivated many people to pick up the guitar, bass or drums by learning from the band.

Not only do they make incredible music, they also give back to the community. They started a project called Green Day + NRDC. It's a collaboration between Green Day and NRDC, the nations most effective environmental action group. What it does is make people aware of the danger around them and what they can do to help. They make videos about America's addiction to oil, global warming, pollution and goverment indifference . It encourages fans to make donations and gives information on how to contact the people who can make the change happen. The group is all about letting people know that they're the ones who can make a difference in the world.

Green Day is the reason why I'm alive today. If it weren't for them and American Idiot, I don't know where I would be. Probably lost, confused and depressed. When I discovered Green Day I found a reason to go on living my life without limiting myself and following a false crowd or listening to the nonsense politicians had to offer. Green Day helped me in ways that people can't imagine. Most of all they helped me find myself, and made me realize that I can make my own decisions and have my own opinions. I knew I was living a lie up until I listened to Green Day. I think when I saw the way they were making change happen by speaking out letting themselves be heard, I became motivated to be whoever I wanted to be. That is why I admire Green Day.