Three Man Operation - Green Day
Green Day. One of those typical bands you hear on the Top 40, or is it for you a day where you would see 500 or so Green Peace people trying to save the whales? No, it’s the sound of not only one of the most well refined musical Gods, but also a historic event for the books the first time they ever got together and strummed out the first notes of pure bliss.
This band is a three man operation. Consisting from the leading vocals and lead guitar of Billie Joe Armstrong, the boy who started early in life with his hit song ’Look for Love.‘ Whilst most of us at the age of five would be playing in the mud or taking up swimming lessons or chilling with your best mate, Sir Armstrong had it right from the beginning, to his parents and friends he was Billie Joe, to fans all around the world today he is considered not only an inspiration, a hero, an idol but a god.
Michael Pritchard, or Mike Drint to you, on bass with those lungs of his, pitching in as back up vocals. He too had been blessed at a young age. Sadly this father of one, Estelle, was adopted at a very young age, but he was also blessed with a family and a best friend, Billie. When the dynamic duo of Armstrong and Drint combined you could have said it was fate. Those two ol’ chaps began their friendship in school, being teenagers they had the dream of making music, becoming a band but did they ever think that they would make it to multi-national sellers.
Then there is Frank Edwin Wright the 3rd, seems to roll right off the tongue doesn’t it? Formally known as Tre Cool to all his faithful worshipers. This ray of lighting is unpredictable and is known to be so that he will strike not once not twice but more than three in the same spot. He’s the nut that doesn’t fit on the bolt but the missing piece of the puzzle that Green Day needed. Tre Cool has not always been the drummer of the ever famous Green Day. Before there was any ‘Cool’ in that band they had Al Sobrante the school kid who hung around with the boys and helped create ‘Sweet Children’ the start of Green Day, the rise of greatness.
Green Day have been together for 19 years now. That’s older than myself, but who said that newer is better? They’ve been blowing people away with their symphonies not of violins and cellos but of power chords and the bitter sweet voices that howl out those meaningful words. “Punk rock for me was always the way I wanted to be, it expressed something the way I thought it should be expressed.” - Mike Drint stating that being a rock star doesn’t only involve being ’hardcore,’ ’bad ass’ and getting into girls pants. Having that title of Punk doesn’t mean you have to be reckless or mean machines, unless you yourself desire to be.
“All we cared about was that we were really tight as a band and we got to play a lot basements and rec halls and squats for beer.” Sure the word beer is in the sentence, but what teenager hasn’t had a drink or wanted one? Note the words ’All we cared about.’ To Mr. Armstrong it meant that he was having fun and privileged to have the opportunity, but would he have thought that he would one day be on billboards, walking down the red carpet with thousands of cameras flashing in their eyes and cameras in their face with Radio’s blasting out their tunes, Televisions showing their interviews or their faces on the latest hybrid add doing the good old Rock star jam and trying to save the world since no rappers will rap a little tune to give the message to save water or our planet.
They have been redounded to ‘Sell outs’ When the exploding album of American Idiot came out. But there’s nothing of Selling out just because someone or something gets a good name, gets noticed by a larger crowd and by a wider extent. These boys have soared, flying high ever since they have started and they are not about to stop, with a new album on the way there is no telling what is expected in the, hopefully, near distant future. With that I must sign off with a salute to Green Day, my inspirations.
