The only Green Day song not sung by Billie Joe Armstrong
Every Green Day song thrives off the energy radiating from Billie Joe Armstrong. When most of the rock community was still reeling from the death of Kurt Cobain, Armstrong’s tales of being a teenage burnout helped fans move on from grunge’s gloom and start having fun again. Although Armstrong was responsible for every song that Green Day had to offer, one track saw him taking a backseat to his bandmates.
When Armstrong first started, his tastes gravitated towards musicians like Van Halen and Ozzy Osbourne, learning songs like ‘Crazy Train’ and ‘Ain’t Talkin ‘Bout Love’ when he was still in high school. Hooking up with classmate Mike Dirnt on bass, Armstrong began writing original songs once he got into local punk bands like Crimpshrine and Operation Ivy.
Pumping out a handful of EPs on Lookout Records, the newly-christened Green Day began making a name for themselves in the local punk scene, with drummer John Kiffmeyer behind the kit. Once the band started making strides on their debut, 39/Smooth, though, Armstrong quickly realised something was missing.
Acting as the band’s publicist and de facto manager, Kiffmeyer’s drumming style was starting to hinder the rest of the band, eventually drafting in Tre Cool from local band The Lookouts. While Cool’s style was far more hectic than Kiffmeyer’s initially, things began to fall into place when he cut dead weight from his kit for the band’s sophomore release, Kerplunk.
One bonus factor that Cool contributed to the group was an outrageous sense of humour. Originally going to school to become a clown, Cool’s sense of comedic timing behind the kit was unheard of since the days of Keith Moon, making outrageous remarks whenever he stepped up to the mic.
Since the hilarious banter became a staple of their shows and rehearsals, it was only a matter of time before Cool stepped behind the microphone for his lead vocal debut. Playing Armstrong’s guitar, ‘Dominated Love Slave’ was a joke song that Cool had written about a character who loves nothing more than to engage in S&M.
While Cool isn’t horrible behind the microphone, it’s clear that every instrument is being played for laughs, from Armstrong’s frantic drumming to Dirnt adopting a faux-hick twang to his voice when singing the backing vocals. This one joke song would open the door for even more joke songs being released as B-sides, from Cool’s hidden track on Dookie, ‘All By Myself’, and the B-side ‘DUI’.
That wouldn’t be the last time Armstrong would take a back seat to his bandmates. When working on their massive rock opera American Idiot, the suite ‘Homecoming’ features snippets of songs written by every band member, each taking their section of the song to perform.
Despite being a complete joke, the bondage theme would serve the band well a few years later. Almost a decade after recording their tongue-in-cheek joke song, Green Day’s album, Warning would feature a song titled ‘Blood Sex and Booze’, featuring a “performance” by a dominatrix to kick off another ode to being whipped. While Green Day may be considered one of the foundational rock bands of the modern age, there was never any notion that the band were taking themselves too seriously.
