Accidents that Didn't Wait to Happen
Green Day is an accident waiting to happen, but their accidents don't always wait to happen; they're always getting hurt! Caution and coordination are not the two words that come to mind when thinking about Green Day.
If you have ever been to a Green Day concert you know they cannot be beat live, they rock, but even they have had some goofs. One word, MUDSTOCK!! How many injuries did that cause? Billie Joe started the biggest mud fight in history. Poor Mike was accidentally thought to be a fan, a security guard tackled him, flipped him over a monitor, and ended up sending him in for emergency dental surgery to fix the teeth that got knocked out. Back in 1998 during the song She, Mike stumbled and whacked his nose pretty hard! He broke it, and it was aired live on MTV for everyone to see, nice one Mike.
Tré is not the most well-balanced person in the world; he’s had some live injuries too. On the Late Show with Dave Letterman, Tré thought it would be a good idea to throw cymbals up in the air and catch them. (Kids don’t try that or anything Tré Cool does at home, he’s a professional.) As most people's common sense says, that’s a bad idea. It resulted in him getting a nasty gash between his thumb and index finger that left a scar. Tré just doesn't have good luck with cymbals: he also smacked his head pretty hard on cymbals during the Pop Disaster Tour and got a mild concussion. Concussions happen to him frequently and in an interview with Drummer Magazine in 1998 he said he also got one in New York.
Billie Joe is perfect, he never messes up, right? Wrong! When the other guys got hurt at least they were still on the stage. Billie Joe fell completely off the stage onto some equipment in Milwaukee. He didn't want to disappoint his fans, so he stuck it out and finished the show, even though his leg was swollen and covered with multi-colored bruises. Somehow he managed to not break any bones, so they continued the tour.
Green Day have had some other injuries other than just their slip-ups onstage. Back before the Dookie era, Mike and his girlfriend Anastasia (later to become his ex-wife) were having a pillow fight. Yes, that’s right, soft and fluffy pillows. Mike was not paying any attention to where he was going and ran head first into a low ceiling. This knocked him off his feet and he fell on his elbows. Even though he was in excruciating pain because he broke both of his arms, Billie Joe said that they laughed all the way to the hospital.
Mike seems to be very accident prone. He was also in a fight with Arion Salazar from Third Eye Blind. Arion ran on stage and, as he called it, "bear hugged" Mike. Mike however didn't see this "bear hug" as a friendly gesture and kicked him away. Backstage they got into a bigger fight, and then Arion claimed some "unidentified fan" broke a beer bottle over Mike's head, which resulted in Mike being sent to the emergency room for a skull fracture. No charges were pressed, but we all know what happened.
Mike also had wrist surgery in 2002. Mike's bass has practically been glued to his hand for the past 17 years, and it has taken its wear and tear on him and caused him to develop Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Don’t worry though, he's fine.
Billie Joe, as graceful as he may seem running and jumping across the stage, has also had his share of mishaps. Not so long ago in 2002, Billie Joe was surfing at Newport Beach in California. He somehow got a minor head injury and had to be treated by lifeguards.
Tré currently holds the crown for injuring himself the worst. He was slam dancing and dislocated his knee in 2002; it was completely separated from the rest of his leg. He had to have knee surgery and get a bone fragment removed. At the Californian Music Awards that year, Tré was still recovering and had to accept the 4 awards (Outstanding Group, Outstanding Artists, Outstanding Guitarist, and Spirit of Rock) while wobbling on a pair of crutches. It took him six months to recover from that surgery.
As many injuries as they have had individually, they cause chaos together quite well. Among the other things that happened at 'Mudstock', the guys had a brilliant idea, "Let's play Chicken with golf carts!" So they rounded up the Beastie Boys and The Breeders. The thing is, when you play Chicken, it helps if someone chickens out, but no one did. The next thing they knew, they were all in overturned golf carts. Everyone was pretty sore, but Mikey D from the Beastie Boys got hurt the worst.
Along with Mikey D, Green Day (mainly Billie Joe) have also been at fault for other people's injuries. During the Pop Disaster Tour, Billie Joe and some other people in the Kut U Up dressing room had decided it would be fun to brand Chris Cote with a pool bridge head. Well, it really wasn't, and poor Chris suffered 2nd degree burns on his butt cheek. Although in all the pictures Billie Joe looks pretty proud of himself, Chris, however, doesn’t look as thrilled.
Green Day have no use for caution or safety warnings, and Tré has also been at fault for shooting someone with a BB gun. With such a colorful past, it's fairly certain that this article will need updating, so be sure to check back to see what the latest injury of Green Day is.
