• Factoids: • |
General Green Day Facts:
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Billie and Tre' never graduated from high school.
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Mike graduated high school and even did a semester at a community college.
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Billie Joe has a cat named Basil.
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Mike Dirnt owns Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Emeryville, California.
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Tre' was born in Germany.
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Billie Joe has never smashed a guitar on stage.
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Mike was put for adoption as a baby because his other was a heroin addict and
didn't feel she could take care of him.
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Billie Joe's dad died of cancer of the esophagus when Billie was just 10 years
old.
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Tre' started playing drums for The Lookouts! when he was 12 years old; he didn't
even know how to play the drums.
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Billie's mom spelled his name wrong on the birth certificate cause she was high
off of the pain medication.
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In 3rd grade these two girls used to force Billie Joe to go out with one of them
or they would beat him up.
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Billie uses Jermac Styling Spritz to get his hair good and crunchy.
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Mike wears women's Dickies.
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If Billie Joe and Mike could play any movie role in history, they would both
choose Austin Powers. Tre would prefer to be Cat Woman.
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Green Day cursed the second most times on Behind the Music (27 times) which is
fifty less than the leader, Oasis.
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The band, The Network, is actually Green Day with masks!
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The band each takes a shot of Vodka before every gig.
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The real origin of the name Green Day. Ernie from Sesamy Street said the frase
Green Day in one of the shows and it kinda was funny for the guys smoking pot
and all. So it became an inside joke with Green Day meaning a pot-filled wasted
day. Then came the song Green Day and also Al Sobrante wrote Green Day on the
back of his jacket and it kinda caught on from there and they decided to use it
as their band's name. Green Day has 14 transitional songs. They are "Chump" /
"Longview", "Brain Stew" / "Jaded", "Uptight" / "Last Ride In", and "Jinx" / "Haushinka",
"Holiday" / "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Are We the Waiting?" / "St. Jimmy",
and "Give Me Novacaine" / "She's a Rebel".
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Tre's name was given to him by the owner of Lookout Records Lawrence Livermore
when Tre played in the band "The Lookouts".
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Five of Green Day's mainstream albums all begin with drums.
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When Green Day first got started, their tour bus was an old bookmobile van that
Tre's dad bought and fixed up. (Which was on sale on Ebay!)
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Billie and Mike are a vegetarians.
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Green Day had more drummers than just Tre and Al Sobrante. They actually had
quite a few! It's just that the only recorded drummers are those two.
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The dog on the Slappy E.P.'s name is Mickey, "Slappy" was a nickname given to
him by Jason Relva.
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The noise heard at the beginning of the song "Green Day" is a bong, and for
those who dont know, a bong is a weed smoking device.
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When Green Day recorded "Dry Ice", they kept messing up and ended up doing about
18 takes on the song until they finally got it down. So at the end of the song
you can hear them all shouting "YES! YES! YES!", becasue they were so happy they
got it done.
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When Green Day toured in the Bookmobile they used as a bus, people would
acutally ask them if they had books to sell.
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On the Slappy! 7" record, if you look closely on the rim of the artwork on the
A Side, you can see that is says, "Might Bleed Today".
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Billie and Mike recorded the vocals for "1,039 / Smoothed Out Slappy Hours"
simultaneously, to save money, and Lawrence Livermore gave them the $1000 needed
for the album.
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In Going To Pasalacqua at the very beginning right before you hear Billie sing
"Here we go again" you can hear someone cough. Also, in Prosthetic Head after
the bridge and when it's just a soft guitar then Billie Joe starts sining right
before he does you can also hear someone cough then too.
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In the "Kerplunk" inlay, it also thanks Addrienne Nesser, now Billie's wife.
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In the "Kerplunk" credits, they thank some guy named "Brain Stew".
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The album Kerpluk! is dedicated 'in loving memory of Gravy'.
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The song 'Who Wrote Holden Caufield?' is actually about a character, Holden
Caufield, from J.D. Salinger's book "The Catcher in the Rye", one of Billie
Joe's favorites.
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On the Kerplunk CD, there's a song called Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?, and on
the Screeching Weasel CD, "How to Make Enemies and Iritate People", There's a
song called I Wrote Holden Caulfield.
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When original drummer John Kriftmeyer (aka Al Sobrante) left Green Day, he
didn't tell Billie Joe. Billie Joe found out he was leaving through a friend. So
when Green Day replaced John with Tre, Billie Joe returned the favor by not
telling John directly that he was being replaced. Billie Joe doesn't think that
Green Day would have had as much success if John was still in the band.
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To raise spending money for the tour, Mike shucked clams, Billie Joe flipped
pizzas, and John drove a diaper truck.
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On the cover of Operation Ivy's "Knowledge" the part at the beginning that is
said backwards says "Lets get personal" when played forwards.
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Jesse Micheals, ex-lead singer of Operation Ivy did the disc and cover art for
"1,039/ Smoothed Out Slappy Hours", Jesse Micheals and Operation Ivy were then
thanked in "Kerplunk!" along with Tim Armstrong from OPIV.
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At the very begining of "Going to Pasalacqua", Before "Here we go again...." if
you turn it up and listen closely in the silence he says "Here we go again"
before he actually says it.
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"80" is short Addie which is Adrienne's nickname!
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In between playing shows in Florida in '91, the band's van was broken into and
many of their clothes were stolen.
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Dookie's original title was Liquid Dookie, but they changed it because they
thought it was too gross.
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New copies of Dookie are made without Ernie on the back. That's because Sesame
Street threatened to sue Green Day.
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All By Myself, the hidden song on Dookie, was recorded at a party (sung by
Tre').
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On the Dookie cover, the right side, on one of the building's it's written
'Twisted Dog Sisters'--this was the name for an actual group of girls from
Berkely.
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Pat Hynes is a well known Berkely artist who did the liner notes for both
Dookie and Kerplunk.
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The video for "Basket Case" was filmed in black and white, they added color
afterwards.
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The guitar chords to the Blink-182 song "What's my Age Again" are exactly the
same as When I Come Around.
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At the end of Burnout, you can hear someone laughing.
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The house where they filmed Longview wasn't only inhabited by the band...it was
also lived in by several other people, and it was the basement to a real house,
and in the kitchen the pipes were so low that they would hit their head on them.
And it only had about one bedroom.
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In the music video of "When I Come Around", midway through the video you can
see present back up guitarist Jason White with his girlfriend, now his wife!
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In 'Longview' just after Billie Joe says "call me what you will", if you listen
carefully, you can hear Mike call Billie 'Whatyouwill'. I suppose he thinks he's
being clever.
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The album Insomniac is called with that name because Billie Joe didn't sleep at
night. His son (Joey) cried all night, so Billie would write a lot of songs.
Another way it is said that they got the name for Insomniac I s that when Billie
Joe came to Winston Smith the guy who made the cover for it to see what it was
like Billie Joe thought that it was really cool and he asked Winston Smith how
long it took him to do it and he said about 36 hours and Billie Joe said "man
you must have been tired " and Winston Smith said "to really I'm kind of an
Insomniac".
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The Insomniac cover art (created by Winston Smith) is called "God Told Me to
Skin You Alive."
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When Green Day were recording songs for Insomniac, they were trying to think of
an appropriate name for the song Stuck With Me. The band recorded the song now
called "Do Da Da" around the same time, and that song was originally called
"Stuck With Me", because those words actually appear in that song. But, there
was a studio mix-up, and someone labeled the third track on Insomniac "Stuck
With Me". When the band discovered the error, they felt the name was appropriate
for the song and kept it. Later, they decided to release the real "Stuck With
Me" as a b-side, so they gave it the nonsensical name "Do Da Da".
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On the Insomniac cover, there are three skulls which are supposed to be the 3
skulls of the 3 members of Green Day, and in order to see the third one you have
to look in the flames and hold the paper at an angle in order to see it properly
This technique was used back in the Renaissance.
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The corner of Stuart and the Ave. is the corner of Stuart Street and Telegraph
Avenue in Berkley, California.
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Billie, Mike, and Tre did all of their own stunts in the "Walking
Contradiction" video including a scene were Billie almost gets nailed by a car.
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Billie had to be forced to doing the 'walking across the road almost getting
hit by cars' stunt on the Walking Contradiction video by Tré. Billie said "Tré
scared me into it. I was so scared..I thought I was gonna die right there with
all the cameras on me..Well I can think of worse ways to die".
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On either the cover art or booklet art of Kerplunk, Dookie, and Insomniac
they're is a gun.
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On the front cover of Insomniac, in the flames,there are hidden pictures. you
can find a naked woman, 3 faeries, a skull, and several other ghosly faces.
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Insomniac was originally going to be called Tight Wad Hill.
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On Brain Stew, right after the verse when the drums come in, if you listen
closely, you can hear Billie Joe say "oh" then "yeah" under his breath.
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"The Grouch" (on nimrod.) was originally titled "Happy Grouch".
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The video for "Redundant" has the same scene playing over and over again behind
the band... "Redundant," eh?
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"Haushinka" was originally written for Kerplunk, but at the time they didnt like
the sound of it. So they excluded it from the album then when Nimrod came they
decided to include it.
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In the Last Ride In video, Tre plays the accordian part to DUI, but you can't
hear it very well.
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If you turn the volume up and listen very closely to Good Riddence you can hear
Billie-Joe says "fuck" after screwing up twice.
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In the "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" video, the lamp shade is on the
floor (it's lit) and the rest of the lamp is by the shade (unlit).
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One reason there was such a long break between Nimrod and Warning was because
Billie Joe was at a rocky point in his marriage and needed to spend time at
home.
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Insomniac, Nimrod, and Warning all came out in October. Insomniac on October
10th 1995, Nimrod on October 14th 1997, and Warning on October 3rd 2000.
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At the end of the song Walking Alone on Nimrod you can hear a glass break and
someone says something like "It's not like one thing..." or "it's not like I
wanted it...".
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Good Riddance (Time of your Life) was the official theme for the Golf PGA Tour
in 1998.
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If you look closely on the Nimrod inlay, you can see that all the words that
are scratched out in the entire booklet simply say "Delete This. Delete This.
Delete This. Delete This." over and over again.
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In the Minority video, Billie Joe is running around with the cape on and Mike
throws a hand to trip him. The hand is given the peace sign. When it hits him it
nocks off the pointer and gives the middle finger.
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On the American Idiot CD on the track Jesus of Suburbia, during the part Dearly
Beloved, you can clearly hear Billie Joe sing "Am I retarded or am I just
overjoyed?". However, if you watch Sessions @ AOL on tv for Green Day, Billie
Joe clearly sings "Am I retarded or am I just unemployed?"
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On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams video, St. Jimmy and Whatsername (the ones
from the Limitied Edition booklet of American idiot) are shown standing around a
trashcan fire.
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In the 'Holiday' video, just after he kisses Tre, Billie Joe's trousers slip
down at the back and you can see his butt crack!
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In the video for Holiday, if you look closely at the bar when Tre (in drag) is
dancing, you can see pictures of Billie Joe with TNT on him.
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Billie Joe used to have a nose ring, but he took it out because it kept getting
caught on his guitar.
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Billie Joe sometimes suffers from panic attacks and aniexty.
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Billie wears Jockey underwear.
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It has been said that Billie Joe is a registered member of Poetry.com. I've
heard his name is B. Armstrong.
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At age 15, Billie tried to go to an Operation Ivy concert, but he was refused
entry. One of the members of the band heard he wasn't allowed in, so they came
out and personally esorted him into the show.
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Billie drives a blue 67 Ford Fairlane. Mike drives a BMW, and Tre sports an
SUV.
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Billie Joe's cat, Zero, died in his washing machine.
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Billie's trademark first guitar is named Blue, and was given to him by his
father before he died. Blue is now retired, but Billie has several replicas of
the guitar.
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Billie Joe has been rumored to have been romantically linked to Winona Ryder.
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When Billie was younger he put 409 in his teacher's coffee. (409 in Your
Coffeemaker)
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Billie Joe's nickname in high school was "Two Dollar Bill" because he sold
joints for two dollars.
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Billie Joe's mother spelled his name wrong on his birth certificate. Not
because she was high with illegal drugs, she was loopy because of the massive
amounts of painkillers in her body to ease childbirth.
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In the second grade two girls beat up Billie Joe so that he would date them.
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Billie Joe and Adrienne spent their honeymoon at Berkley's Claremont Hotel,
which is a short distance from their house.
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The first time Billie Joe kissed Adrienne he went home and wrote 2,000 Light
Years Away.
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Billie Joe's birthday is on the same day as National Cabbage Day.
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Billie likes playing the drums most out of the piano, harmonica, and the
mandolin.
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Billie occasionally wears nail polish.
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For the video for Jaded, because the lyrics are about being stoned and how you
feel when you're stoned. Billie decided to get high while shooting the video
just to get the feel for the song.
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It's an old tradition of Billie's that at every one of his concerts he kisses a
guy.
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Billie Joe thinks that Staind's lead singer sounds like Cher.
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Billie Joe hates Slipknot. He said that the masks "Are so fucking retarded",
and one time, a fan threw some screwed up mask on the stage, and when Billie Joe
picked it up he looked in disgust and said, "Were not fucking Slipknot, you
asshole!"
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Billie Joe doesn't like Eminem.
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Billie Joe played football for John Swett High School in Crockett, CA.
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Billie uses Jhirmack Styling Spritz to get his hair good and crunchy.
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Billie has a guitar made with with different parts called Frankenstein.
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Billie Joe's brothers that introduced him to "punk" were named Matt and Eric.
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On the "1,000 Hours" record they spell Billie's name as "Billy".
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Billie's had his blue 67 Ford Fairlane for ages, it's even featured in Christie
Road "Standing on my beat up car". When Billie first earned enough money with
his music, he had the car primered.
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Billie Joe when talking about future plans said he would become a soccer team
coach. The first album Billie Joe bought as Elvis Presley's "The Sun Sessions".
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In the song "Sick Of Me" on Shenanigans, right before Billie Joe says "Like a
dog...." you can hear a "squishy" noise.
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Billie Joe likes to take books on tour.
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The electricians tape on Billie Joe's large cutaway on Blue is there because
some dude knocked into him at one of their first gigs and he dropped the guitar,
causing it to crack from the strap lock down. He then later taped it up.
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Billie Joe got expelled from 2 schools.
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The BLACK FORK album ROCK FOR LOOT was produced by Billie Joe. Even though in
the insert it is spelled Billy Joe.
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In early 2001 Billie Joe was mugged at gunpoint and is now terrified of guns.
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Billie Joe got body lice while on tour in Germany in Green Day's early days.
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Billie Joe said that if he could be any female celebrity, he would be Chrissie
Hynde.
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Billie Joe was in a documentary called "Mayor of the Sunset Strip" in 2003.
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Billie Joe played "Ghostly Betting Man" on the show Haunted in 2002. The
episode is named "Simon Redux." It has never aired in the USA.
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Billie Joe guest starred on the Howard Stern Radio Show on December 9, 2000.
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Mike took the picture of himself in the Nimrod booklet.
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Mike smoked his first joint with his mom's friend.
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Mike wrote the bassline for Longview while he was high and forgot it the next
day.
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Mike was born with a heart problem and sometimes has panic attacks.
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Mike's adoptive parents divorced when he was 6.
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Mike once rented a small part of Billie's house to live in during high school.
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Mike got mistaken for a ambushing fan at Woodstock 1994, and a security guard
kicked him and knocked a couple of his teeth out.
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Mike actually believes that one day dogs will take over the world (remember the
Dookie cover?)
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In the self titled New Found Glory CD inlay it thanks Green Day and the bass
player has a special thanx to Mike "...and Mike Dirnt for the influence...".
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Mike has a sister named Myla.
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Mike Dirnt is the part-owner of Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Emeryville,
California. Emeryvillie is between Berkeley and Oakland.
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Mike and Billie Joe are both wearing work shirts that say "Chuck" in two music
videos, Mike in Basket Case and Billie Joe in Redundant.
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Mike Dirnt completed a years worth of college courses after high school.
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On the back cover of the Green Day booklet for Dookie, there is a picture of
Mike Dirnt looking in the mirror. If you look in the mirror, you can partially
see the person taking the p
»icture.
Mike likes donuts and hotel coffee, and Starbucks coffee aswell, maybe just
coffee in general.
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Mike likes to have those little packages of donuts on tour.
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Mike dressed up as a vampire, or as he said "Count Mikeula", for Halloween
2004.
» Tre
has his left nipple peirced (however he might have took it out in recent
years).
» Tre
once milked a dog because he wanted milk for his coffee, and the house he was
staying in didn't have any.
» Tre
was class president for a time when he was in high school.
» Tre
is the only person to ever climb the Universal Studios ball (their trademark) in
Orlando, Florida. He climbed the ball at the 1998 MTV Music Awards.
» Tre
loves to golf.
» Tre
only has one testicle. He lost the other one in a tragic unicycle accident. He
was riding it on a stage at a high school near his home town when suddenly he
fell off the stage and landed on the unicycle. His testicle went inside his
body, and the doctor examining him took one look and said "hmm... translucent
scrotum..."
» Tre
played violin in the second grade.
» Tre's
dad built Lawrence Livermore's house.
» Tre actually went to a clown college before the band got big which explains
his wild antics.
» Tre
uses the same drumkit, Slingerland, as the drummer from The Who does, which is
Keith Moon. This is also of course Slingerland, and oddly the two drummers have
the same wild and crazy stage antics.
» In an
interview on Trio, Tre has said that if he were any female celebrity he would be
"that chick from the Golden Girls, because she's old and loose".
» Tre
once caught a shark on accident, and after beating it with a baseball bat
multiple times, it finally died when he hit it with the stump of the bat.
» Tre
is the godfather of Billie Joe's kids.
» In an
interview, they were asked what kind of music they liked, and Tre answered, " I
like Fisher Price music, nursery rhymes, and the alphabet
song"................Mike "seconded the motion".
» In
the Walking Contradiction video Tre is chased by a bread truck.
» Tre's
dad was a Vietnam helicopter pilot.
» Tre
likes his shoes.
» On
MTV's Wildest moments of the VMA's there's a short Clip of Tre with David Grohl
from The Foo Fighters (and previously from Nirvana) singing to Marilyn Manson's
"Beautiful People".
» Tre
dressed as a priest at a gig (in Dublin). It was probably in reference to Matt
Skiba (Alkaline Trio) who is a big fan.
» Tre
dressed up as Benji Madden of Good Charlotte for Halloween, 2004.
» Tre
made his first records with The Lookouts when he was 12.
» Tre
is french for very, which makes him very cool.
» Tre
hopes that if if the band does star in the American Idiot movie, at least he
gets to dress in drag.
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Billie Joe and Mike both went to Hillcrest Elementry school in Pinole,
California. (Rodeo is such a small city they don't have their own school
system.)
Album/Song/Single ... Facts:
Billie Joe Armstrong Facts:
Mike Dirnt Facts:
Tre' Cool Facts:
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