Five musicians who hate Green Day
As an instrumental force in Californian punk rising to global prominence in the 1990s, Green Day have been widely influential, with a host of equally famous acts emerging in their wake. These disciples range from direct descendants such as Wavves, Fidlar and Fall Out Boy to global icons such as Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish.
Yet, unlike many of the acts that sprung out of 924 Gilman Street, Green Day continued to keep moving up the pyramid and stretching their association with punk to the limit. While they found immense success with crossover hits such as the Grammy-winning Dookie in 1994 as well as its successors, it was with 2004’s rock opera American Idiot that the dimension of the band changed forever.
Spawning the ubiquitous title track and the likes of ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, it was a chart-topping sensation worldwide, earning the trio many younger fans. Although Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool were a celebrated act before it came out, it was after this release that they became a stadium-filling cultural monster, and their music took on a different light. Since then, many have denigrated their work as a watered-down, sanitised caricature of the quick-witted punk they were initially praised for developing.
While American Idiot was divisive and blacklisted Green Day forever for many people, there were already a host of music lovers who had scorned them for years. This was either due to frontman Armstrong’s whiny delivery or other issues, such as the fact that they had ostensibly sold out. Naturally, given their status, their list of detractors also includes a string of prominent peers who have delivered some of the most stinging accounts of their work.
Find the list of five musicians who hate Green Day below.
Five musicians who hate Green Day:
John Lydon
As one of the men who had a defining role in punk emerging, it’s unsurprising that former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon should have something less-than-positive to say about Green Day. He dubs them cheap imitators and has taken numerous pops at them over the years.
The most notable instance came in 1996 when Sex Pistols were promoting their long-awaited Filthy Lucre Tour. As Green Day were one of the biggest so-called punk acts of the day, Lydon had them in his crosshairs. Asked by MTV what Sex Pistols could give a 16-year-old punk that Green Day couldn’t, he vomit-inducingly said: “A big willie”.
“No, you’ve seen imitators, that’s what you’ve seen”, Lydon continued. “And you settled for that, and you think that that’s what it’s all about, Alfie. Well it ain’t. It’s a little bit more. It’s called content, which is something none of those wanky third-rate outfits have.”
The following year, Armstrong noted that his group might well not have existed without Sex Pistols. However, he maintained that the ‘God Save the Queen’ band certainly would not have been able to reunite without acts such as themselves. This likely irked Rotten further, who had more vitriol for the Californian trip after American Idiot arrived.
When appearing on Sex Pistols axeman, Steve Jones’ radio show, Lydon argued: “It’s hokey little silly sods like Green Day that come in and think by sucking up to that system that you’re somehow, ‘beating the system’. You’re not. You’ve become part of it.” He added: “We made it easy for ’em to come in and nick our things off us – which is alright, it’s nice, but they’re silly, rich fat kids”.
This crusade against Armstrong and his two friends would continue, and speaking to the LA Times in 2011, Lydon expressed his utter “hate” for them, once again asserting that they were cheap imitators. He said: “To me, they’re like coat hangers, and haven’t earned the right, they haven’t earned the wings, to be wearing the mantle of punk. They haven’t had to go through the violence, and the hate, and the animosity that us chaps way back when had to put up with. We had to fight for every single footstep. I don’t think I’ve done anything good if it ends up with Green Day on Broadway.”
Following this, in a conversation with the New York Times in 2018 about the state of punk, Lydon criticised Green Day again, calling them embarrassing. He laughs when he sees them, he said. That’s got to hurt.
Noel Gallagher
Regardless of what you may think of him, Noel Gallagher is a lifelong fan of the first wave of punk and, like many of his generation, was galvanised when he first heard Sex Pistols’ 1977 debut, Never Mind the Bollocks. Years later, he would package his take on punk into Oasis’ sound. Of course, their music would become a bombastic caricature of itself as their career wore on, but their first two albums are underpinned by raw punk spirit.
Given his staunch opinions of what punk should be and sound like, Gallagher thought that American Idiot was a “corporate” blight upon the genre. Furthermore, in 2006, he claimed that ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ had ripped off the chord progression from Oasis’ own horrific hit, ‘Wonderwall’.
He said: “They consider themselves to be a kick-ass rock and roll band. That couldn’t be more kick-ass if they tried. They’re obviously a corporate punk band –and they ripped off one of my songs! They should at least have the decency to wait until I’m dead”.
Blink-182
Given their origins in California’s punk scene, it makes sense that Blink-182 should take at least some inspiration from Green Day. This materialised in the song ‘J.A.R.’, influencing Mark Hoppus to happen across the riff of ‘What’s My Age Again?’ Furthermore, both acts co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour as the kings of the pop-punk scene in 2002.
However, after the run, when answering a Q&A with fans in Kerrang!, both Dirnt and Cool surprisingly tore into Blink-182 after they were slyly asked by one that they must have looked at Hoppus and his band and thought, “We were that good once.” Following the glib remark, Cool rhetorically asked whether the fan had seen the San Diego band live. Dirnt then added that he liked them at first but now found them “irritating” due to trivialising what they and NOFX had done and punk rock in general.
However, Blink frontman Tom DeLonge would give his side of the story years later. He would say that the problem was with the Green Day drummer, not the other band members, and claimed that Cool’s “out of his mind and mildly retarded, I think.” After, he maintained that he was still friends with Armstrong and Dirnt individually.
Third Eye Blind
In 1998, Green Day and fellow Californians Third Eye Blind played the KROQ Weenie Roast festival. However, following an altercation, Dirnt was rushed to the hospital with a skull fracture after reports that he was struck on the head with a beer bottle.
Afterwards, Third Eye Blind bassist Arion Salazar released a statement apologising to Dirnt for a joke escalating so intensely, as he had had too much to drink. Things reportedly unfurled after Salazar ran on stage when Green Day were playing and he drunkenly tried to tackle Dirnt, before security intervened and the Green Day man kicked his fellow bassist when he was pinned down.
According to one fan who allegedly witnessed what happened afterwards, an angry Dirnt looked for Salazar backstage, and a scuffle ensued. It is not clear whether the Third Eye Blind bassist or an incensed fan hit Dirnt with the bottle. Still, when things had cooled down a little, during an interview with MTV, 3EB frontman Stephan Jenkins said it was someone else who injured Dirnt, wishing him a speedy recovery.
Liam Gallagher
It’s not just Noel Gallagher who hates Green Day, but his nemesis, brother and former Oasis frontman Liam, too. When speaking to Tim Shiel for Australia’s Double J on the 25th anniversary of the Britpop band’s debut Definitely Maybe, the Mancunian reflected on the album’s making and The Stone Roses’ impact.
Later in the chat, he was reminded of a few other records celebrating the same birthday that year, including Green Day’s Dookie. After the introduction to ‘Longview’ played, Gallagher asked who it was before being told it was the punk trio. He said: “I’m not having them either. No, no, no. Pretend punks. Nothing worse.”
