Green day was my first concert. Billie Joe Armstrong was my second love[1]. I used to write “I <3 BJ” on the inside hem of my skirts and pants in sharpie, just because my love for Billie Joe could not be contained within my tiny seven-year-old body. You might be thinking, “Jenna, if you’ve loved Green Day for so long, why didn’t you write about it earlier?” Great question! The answer is because the Great Green Day Revival of 2015 was definitely more impactful than any of the previous 15 years of loving them, despite having been in the mosh pit for my second ever concert at age eight, which was also Green Day.
Green Day is half the reason I met
my friends in college. I started school a semester later than everyone else in
my class, so it felt like everyone else had already made friends. I knew exactly
one person at school, and they introduced me to a group of people who were all
already friends with each other. I don’t know how it started, but eventually I wormed
my way in by bonding over Green Day with two of the people from the group. We
would pile into each other’s dorm rooms, sitting side by side on the lifted
twin bed, watching every single Green Day music video available. I remember my
first birthday at college, we ordered Indian food and sat watching Green Day
documentaries until 2am. When they learned it was my birthday, they slid a Billie
Joe Armstrong card under my door. It was perfect.
Eventually I became friends with
everyone in the group, forming relationships outside of a shared obsession with
Green Day. Those people are some of the smartest, kindest, and most emotionally
intelligent people I’ve known. Without having met them, it would’ve taken me much
longer to figure out who I am and what kind of impact I want to have on the
world. I’m so fortunate to know them.
I know that our obsession would
occasionally alienate people[2]
who didn’t love Green Day as much as we did, but I felt so gung-ho about this
revival phase because I saw it as a bridge to being friends with people I
admired. As a kid, the album I was most obsessed with was American Idiot.
During the revival, I rediscovered all their earlier work. While I spent most
of my adolescence groaning about the terrible albums post American Idiot,
during the revival I decided I admired how into rock opera they got after
American Idiot turned into a Broadway show[3].
I grew newfound appreciation for how authentic Billie Joe Armstrong is and has
always been, writing songs unabashedly proclaiming his love for cross-dressing,
for his bisexuality, and his politics. Green Day has aged better than I think
anyone expected. Also, Jesus of Suburbia fucking SLAPS and I stand by loving American
Idiot, Wake Me Up When September Ends included.
[1] I
have a distinct memory of kissing a poster of the Backstreet Boys but I cannot
remember any of their names. Does that still count as a first celebrity crush?
[2] Sorry,
Rowan
[3] I
highly suggest watching the documentary on the making of the Broadway Musical
version of American Idiot
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