Green Day Article: September 17th, 2005

Last update: September 17, 2005 at 12:09 AM
Some special songs for the family
Jon Bream, Star Tribune
September 17, 2005 BILLIE0917



Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong was getting teary-eyed just thinking about performing the current hit ballad "Wake Me Up When September Ends" at Friday's sold-out concert at Xcel Energy Center.

"I originally wrote it about my father who died actually 23 years ago today," the frontman of America's biggest rock band said before going onstage. "I always remember that because Johnny Ramone died the same day. I never sang about my father before. I kind of stayed away from it."

Armstrong, 33, felt the song may have a different resonance on Friday night when his father-in-law, Joe (whose last name is withheld so he can avoid rock-star relative status) of New Brighton, hears it; Joe's father died this week.

"I'm getting all teary-eyed," Armstrong said by phone from his hotel room. "I haven't discussed it with him. I'm sure I'll have that in the back of my mind when I'm singing it."

His face was filled with emotion when he sang that number Friday. And Joe, who watched the show onstage in the wings, said that it was special for him. "That song has meant something to me ever since it came out. I'll always remember his father died in September and my father died in September."

As the singer's wife, Adrienne Armstrong, posed for photographs and signed autographs for fans after the show, she said it's always special when her husband plays in her hometown.

The two met in the Twin Cities in 1990. He played a special number for her, "Minnesota Girl," an acoustic piece he wrote about two years ago but has never recorded or performed in public. "It was awesome," she said with a smile. "Really sweet."

Green Day's frontman spent Thursday night visiting his in-laws. The Twin Cities area has become a second home for the veteran punk-rock hero, who lives in Oakland, Calif., and bought a home in the Twin Cities in 2002.

During the day, Armstrong and Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt visited Willie's American Guitars in St. Paul and stopped by the singer's brother-in-law's house.

"It's really nice when you're on tour to actually go to someone's home. It's not a hotel room or a gig," Armstrong said.

St. Paul was where he wrote some of the songs for the politically charged "American Idiot," the Grammy-winning album that is the best-selling nonrap CD of the past year, with more than 4 million copies sold. In the summer of 2003, he had walked around the track at Macalester College in St. Paul, writing the songs in his head.

While the album, a social commentary about suburban malaise and global misguidance, comes with a parental advisory sticker, Green Day's concerts don't come with a warning about all the F-bombs Armstrong drops between songs. As the father of boys, ages 6 and 10 (who have seen the show, he says), he says that he's well aware of his language and that he uses certain words to make a point. "I don't consider it vulgarity. I think of it more as reality," he said, acknowledging that Green Day is drawing more and more preteens. "It's up to the parents to be the judge of that."

Was he self-conscious because his in-laws were in the Xcel audience?

"It's definitely something I think about when I'm onstage," he said. "I've told them what it's about. They're pretty liberal people. They love me no matter what."

After hearing more than a dozen F-bombs Friday, Joe said: "I always have reservations about the language. It's just a different generation."

Since "American Idiot" has taken this 17-year-old punk band to new heights, some of its songs have taken on new meaning. While Armstrong wrote "Wake Me Up When September Ends" about his dad, the current music video clip for the song, conceived by director Sam Bayer, depicts a young couple beginning life together and the man going off to the war in Iraq in order to provide for his gal.

Said Armstrong: "The connection between the video and the song is it's a about a sense of loss, a sense of innocence that's lost. I feel I lost a lot. I had to grow up real fast."

awww....23 yrs...wow
i knew that already but its a long time

thats a really good article i have never seen him really talk about getting emotional about stuff and talk about his family... bless him

when he talks about WMUWSE he pretty much always gets teary-eyed like in storytellers

wow. It's so...

I dunno. Thanks for the article.

its cool how he doesnt go about being some macho rockstar...it sounds like hes pretty emotional

aw thats a really cool article, thanks for posting it

that is so sweet.

awww.

AWWW Billie Were Here For Ya lol...

Thats A cool Artical... I Want To HEar Minnesota Gal Now!!!

Hmm I Wonder IfI Can Find It!!!

Thanks For That Aritical I Now Have A Mission

Great article. <3

loudleah:

AWWW Billie Were Here For Ya lol...

Thats A cool Artical... I Want To HEar Minnesota Gal Now!!!

Hmm I Wonder IfI Can Find It!!!

Thanks For That Aritical I Now Have A Mission

I wanna hear it, too!

thank god, this article had none of the 'with their hit single American Idiot!' crap, it would've really spoiled the emotional factor
poor billie, i wonder if he remembers his dad very much. it's so weird, reading this, as i'm always screaming at mine, and getting screamed at, while people like billie prolly wish they'd had more time with theirs

thats cool thanks for posting it

that's nice

i like dat artical!!

Personally, I think he should just face his problems instead of running away from them.

lyk omg it's an article about Bully Jo!

Ban Virginity, Fuck Mike!:

Personally, I think he should just face his problems instead of running away from them.

maybe he was to young to really understand... but tha's my opinion

GD4ever:

Ban Virginity, Fuck Mike!:

Personally, I think he should just face his problems instead of running away from them.

maybe he was to young to really understand... but tha's my opinion

yes, thats true, but .... he jsut seems like he's not really facing that his dad died. He knows that his dad has died, but he's not admitting it. I think if he lets it go, then it wont seem like so much of a burden to him anymore.