When Green Day fought their fans at Woodstock
Part of why Green Day became a massive success was simply down to being in the right place at the right time. As much as the band had the talent to appeal to millions of kids worldwide, the alternative revolution that wanted something more lighthearted after Kurt Cobain’s death often turned to them for their sophomoric take on rock and roll. While Dookie may have been a strong record to introduce them to millions of people, most fans caught wind of the group the minute they appeared at Woodstock in 1994.
The revival of the iconic music festival was meant to celebrate the 25th anniversary, as rock and roll brought people together yet again for a weekend of peace and love. Given the lineup, the set was about to be anything but peace and love, including a now-infamous performance by Nine Inch Nails where they went onstage covered in mud and kicked the snot out of each other in front of the baying audience.
The main thing in common with the original Woodstock festival was terrible weather, which turned ugly when Green Day took to the stage. After a day of heavy rain, fans were getting restless by the time of the punk trio’s set and decided to start throwing some of the mud back at the band. Any rock band is used to dodging some debris onstage, but Billie Joe Armstrong wasn’t just going to roll over and take it.
Midway through the song ‘Paper Lanterns’, Armstrong threw his guitar down and started hurling some mud back at the audience, eventually swearing into the microphone and insisting that the crowd get super quiet during the end of the set. As the mud flew, there was even a moment when Armstrong caught a massive scrap of mud in midair and ate it.
Although it might have been initially playful, everything escalated once fans stormed the stage, and security had to deal with the baying crowd. Being mistaken for a fan, Mike Dirnt got knocked out by one of the security guards who left him in the dentist’s chair for hours the next day. As he told Alan Di Perna later, Dirnt mentioned how much the security guard messed him up, saying, “I supposed it’s better me than some kid in the crowd because I was at least able to get to a dentist. The guy broke three of my bottom teeth and scraped the rest of them to shit. I sat in the dentist’s office for eight hours, getting all the drilling done. If I had to do it all over again, I’d get my guitar and knock that guard’s ass out”.
Despite having more than their fair share of scraps and bruises, the band did exactly what they were supposed to do: leave an impression on the crowd. From there, Green Day became one of the biggest acts in the world, making Dookie one of the first punk records to be certified Diamond. Green Day may have been called sell-out more than a few times throughout their career, but this was when they were young, hungry, and willing to do anything to play their music for their fans.
