Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong named his favourite British invasion songs: “Off the top of my head”
Billie Joe Armstrong was under a lot of pressure when he created 21st Century Breakdown. But even though it had its challenges, he was also having the time of his life.
“I was putting so much pressure on myself,” he later reflected. “It’s a triple album, which is absurd. There was not a lot of self-care going on, if any at all. And my panic attacks were going up and turning into rage attacks.” He was also in the throes of addiction and stressing himself out by constantly writing, frustrated by his own desire to make it their best work yet.
Despite the low points, though, everything about 21st Century Breakdown saw Armstrong celebrating all parts of his love for music. Mostly by using familiar 1960s sounds, like The Kinks and other leaders of the British invasion, to tackle the clash of looking outwards and in. In the music, his raw, punkish guitar solos and Kinks-inspired grooves went hand in hand with the ultimate lesson he hammers home in the end.
That, in the end, the problems start with us. Or as he put it, a message to “rally up the demons of your soul” and “just try to have a sense of urgency about yourself.”
A suitable mantra for a record called 21st Century Breakdown. But channelling the British invasion was also perfect for its sound. Because, unlike American Idiot, 21st Century Breakdown was Armstrong figuring out how to navigate the aftermath of societal transition, while the other was him deep in the fires of it. And mirroring the despair of disillusioned people like Ray Davies meant he could go into that headspace, but also use it as a gateway to innovation.
Explaining this to Guitar World, he said he adores the “power pop kind of music” from British invasion groups like The Who, Cheap Trick, Creation, The Beatles…but on songs like ‘Before the Lobotomy’, he took that elsewhere by also doing the familiar Green Day trick of making a song sound like five in one. On songs like that one, this was ideal because it was all about trivialised American culture, starting softer before exploding into something more demanding, then returning to acoustic sounds.
But he was also able to do this because, while he loves the faster-paced pop songs from that era, he also gets what it takes to play with dynamics in a way that creates meaning and a story. Which is why, when pressed to name some of his favourites, his answers were pretty predictable: “I’m gonna say ‘Afternoon Tea’ by the Kinks. And ‘Waterloo Sunset’ by the Kinks,” he said.
Continuing, “I’m kind of on a Kinks trip right now. I would say ‘Making Time’ by Creation, ‘Pictures of Lily’ by the Who, ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’ by the Rolling Stones and ‘We Gotta Get Out of this Place’ by the Animals. That’s just off the top of my head. Tomorrow I’ll think of five more and say, ‘Why didn’t I mention those?’”
What was most interesting about these picks was that Armstrong didn’t go into the intricacies of why they’re so great. He didn’t discuss their appeal like their success was an equation only inner circles knew about. He simply enjoyed how much the melodies raised “the hair on your arms”, even if he didn’t immediately know why. That’s also why 21st Century Breakdown, although the work that draws the most criticism, brought together everything great about his artistic identity.
