Talk:Billie Joe Armstrong

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Too many quotes. Quality > quantity, methinks. :Okay what am I supposed to do

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  • "Can you do one thing for me and I swear to God I'll leave you alone... starting over there can you guys do the wave?"
    • From Woodstock '94
  • I don't like LA. The majority just seem to be so artificial. Look at how they worship everything they think is fashionable. Isn't it sick?
  • What annoys the hell out of me is the arrogance of some people. They don't even listen to our music, they decided in advance that they don't like it.
  • I live a pretty normal life at home, go shopping, all that. I don't want that part of my life taken from me.
  • I'm not interested in groupies. I have to say I've never been with a groupie in my entire life.
  • Are you Canadian? Oh, okay, 'cause you're sure as hell acting like one right now.
  • I'm very monogamous.
  • Sometimes it gets kind of ugly because there are some of ignorant people out in the audience.
  • I sort of enjoy the fact that I'm misunderstood most of the time. That's fine.
  • Let's face facts, it's a lot harder to be on tour and just live it up when you've got a family.
  • There is a war on terror, which is basically a war on fear. It is playing with our fear.
  • I'd love to go to art school. I'd love to learn how to draw. I'd love to be fluent in Spanish. I'd like to be a brain surgeon.
  • If I look at my old lyrics, they seem to be full of rage, but empty. There was an emptiness in my life.
  • I'm not gonna sit and try to market myself to anybody. If you feel like getting into this record, then do it. If you don't, then don't.
  • I don't want to limit myself musically. It would be really limiting if we'd neglect something we really want to do, like explore other styles of music.
  • All Saints are gonna be there? Tré, you might get laid!
  • “Some times I need to apologize, sometimes I need to admit that I ain't right, sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut, or only say hello, sometimes I still feel I'm walking alone.”
  • [Our 'Waiting' video] was a total failure. [MTV] doesn't show any videos anymore. If we had a booty video - if we had, like, McG, with girls shaking their ass in the video -- it would probably get played. Actually, I am just really bitter right now.
  • "Alright I want everyone on this side of the audience to yell 'rock and roll' and everyone on that side to yell 'SHUT THE FUCK UP'"
    • From Woodstock '94
  • It's fun until someone gets hurt...then it's hilarious.
  • I'm always telling the people in our audience to look out for one another.
  • I am the greatest guitar player in the fucking world. I can play heavy metal goddamnit.
  • Punk rock is dead... and I fucking killed it.
  • Minority is about being an individual. It's like you have to sift through the darkness to find your place and be that individual you want to be your entire life.
  • There will always be problems, but you've got to find solutions.
  • You think your life is tough? Try being a parent!
  • “I'm a crazy son of a bitch. Do you think I have time to care about what all the other ass holes care? If they don't like us fine. We don't play for the people, we play because we have fun doing it.”
  • I'm not gonna say anything inspirational; I'm just gonna fucking swear a lot.
  • I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan songs, Tom Waits and Springsteen. I always thought it was important to be interested to what happened in the past.
  • If journalists ask you again and again about the same bands, you'll end up saying you hate them just because you're so fed up with being asked all those stupid questions.
  • They have bad taste. I am not a good-looking guy.
  • School is practice for the future, and practice makes perfect; and nobody's perfect, so why practice?"
  • “We've been together as a group for a long time so this means a lot.”
  • We don't hurt people. I think we're actually a very friendly band. How many other bands stop shows if they see a kid falling in the pit?
  • I sound like an Englishman impersonating an American impersonating an Englishman.
  • There's nothing wrong with being a loser, it just depends on how good you are at it.
  • We'd rather have a disappointed audience than an audience that got seriously hurt or even killed.
  • I think the little Bush is a bit stupid and more or less the puppet of his old man."
  • “Having children is a big responsibility and I don't want to make a mess out of it. I don't want my son thinking that I care more for booze than I care for him. If you have children, you don't want to have drugs and drinks in the house. You know they might reach it. It's just not good.”
  • I fucking hate Lynyrd Skynyrd, I've always hated Lynyrd Skynyrd. Fuckin' backwards ass hillbilly shit.
  • B-I-L-L-I-E J-O-E. My real name is Billie Joe. And it's southern, my mom's from Oklahoma and that's how I got the name.
  • Well, you know, I look at myself in the morning and yes, yeah I-I am a God.
  • It's my fucking life and you know what nobody invited you...so there's the door...see ya!
  • When someone is in a car accident and they're driving at 100 mph, drunk, whose tape do you think he's listening to at that time? Think about it.
  • The darkness is coming now, God dammit!
  • My mom was from Oklahoma, hence the name Billie Joe...It's not William Joseph, it's just Billie Joe.
  • Just about 99% of the population masturbates, while the other 1%, lie about it.
  • What? You can heckle me if you want; it's okay, I won't understand!
    • at a foreign concert in Spain
  • People are so damned afraid that one day they might wake up and discover that they've grown old.
  • “We don't really have a fair system, our social system doesn't work if you're poor in the US you're dirt poor and the distribution of wealth is more than uneven. If you're poor and you get sick you have no health insurance, no financial security, nothing. if that could be changed I wouldn't mind paying more tax, but I mind my taxes being spent on wars!”
  • 'Welcome to Montreal -- fuck you', would be a good sign at your highways.
  • Ah, if someone falls down, please pick him back up, 'cause it doesn't mean that there's a fuckin' camera in your face that you don't have to lookout for each other.
  • Never run in the rain with your socks on.
  • You reach a point in your life where you ask yourself, Is it all I want to do? And then you decide.
  • I never thought that being obnoxious would get me where I am now.
  • “After 30 minutes watching TV you belive you're on drugs. They're perfect in trying to turn you into nothing more than mindless consumers. For example there is a melancholic movie on, and right after they send advertising for mood elevators and the people will but it because we are so conditioned to consume!”
  • Aw, how the fuck are you all doin' tonight?... That's what I fuckin' wanted to hear, goddammit!
  • I'm not as depressed as I used to be. The Prozac's working!
  • “It's better to regret something you have done than to regret something you haven't done.”
  • I hate celebrities. I really hate them.
  • I actually have less friends now than I ever had.
  • Our passion is our strength.
  • One thing I want to teach my son is sensitivity to other people. I want to teach him not to be this macho freak.
  • Attack your instruments. Don’t let them attack you.
  • Punk is always something that’s going to be with us and to try and explain that would be stupid at this point.
  • Do I want to change the world with music? Well, fuck yeah, I want to change the world to a certain extent, yeah. It needs to be changed....
  • I thought it was kinda lame. The story was great. Totally hilarious. But it was too much. Kinda like turning us into a parody of ourselves.
    • on the story written about the Kerplunk cover The Diary of Laurie L
  • I’m going to point a gun at Tré. Tré is going to point a gun at Mike. Mike is going to point a gun at me.
  • Mike: We’re going to count to 3 and pull the trigger.
    • When asked in 1992 where they would be in 3 years
  • History will tell if we were really a good band or just a one day fly.
  • Rock 'n' roll can be fun and dangerous at the same time.
  • Woodstock was about the closest thing to anarchy I've ever seen in my whole life, and I didn't like it.
  • You're the fucking leaders, you have the fucking power. Don't let these bastards dictate the rest of the world, or dictate your fucking life!
  • What has two thumbs, speaks French, and likes blow jobs? Moi!
  • None of your business! First name Billie, last name Joe!
  • I really enjoy what I do for a living. Its a fun thing. Some people think we suck, but I think we're fucking great.
  • It's a proven fact that music can change people.
  • You might grow up with a lot of anger, but what's important is how you educate yourself, what comes out of that anger, how does it apply later on in your life.
  • A lot of bands will say they prefer small shows, but let's be honest, playing stadiums doesn't suck either.
  • Rockers want to be rebels, but they don't want to offend anybody. Well that's no fun! I think America needs to be offended now more than ever.
  • My job description is that I'm a rock star. And I'm good at it, you know?
  • Hi everyone, sniff. We are Green Day, sniff. I have a, sniff, cold, but you probably won't notice. Sniff.
  • Everybody say "Shut the fuck up" and we'll stop playing. Wait, 1-2-3 -- (crowd responds) Okay, we're gone. Goodbye! (Green Day leaves stage)
    • Woodstock Mudfight
  • This isn't love and peace, this is fucking anarchy!
    • Woodstock Mudfight
  • Let's go shopping!
  • This song's called American Idiot. It's about me.
  • "Look at you fuckin' dirty mother fuckers!"
    • Talking about the fans in the rain at Woodstock'94
  • You think your life is tough? Try being a parent!
  • [on if he believes in heaven] I consider myself an agnostic, so I'm not really sure. I kind of believe that there's something possibly out there. I'm not stubborn enough to cancel that out. I believe there's a higher power somewhere. I just don't know what it is. I really like a lot of Catholic symbolism. Me and Adrienne collect a lot of crucifixes and rosary beads and stuff like that. In our house, we have a lot of candles and stuff like that.
  • [on what he would like to do instead of music] I've done some producing, that I can do. But acting for me, I'm pretty sure I don't know how to do that. I really don't want to go through a process of trying to figure out how to do it. I think as soon as you start acting that realness of you that people love is gone because you're pretending to be something else on screen.
  • [on the media] You know, I've made it a point not to read a thing. From what people have been telling me, everything has been really positive. Hey, it's the kids who are going to buy our records and they're not going to read things written in Entertainment Weekly anyway. Critics never really want to like my band. I think they have this thing up their asses that we are a lesser band now. They feel we weren't the originators of punk rock or we are not cool or whatever. So everything that comes from these people sounds somehow backhanded, like with the Spin piece. For a while, we were a best kept secret and for a long time none of these bigger magazines knew about Look Out Records or for that matter the Berkeley scene in general. At the time, I think that irritated them a bit. To them, if they don't know about it, it obviously wasn't cool enough to begin with.
  • Minority is about being an individual. It's like you have to sift through the darkness to find your place and be that individual you want to be your entire life.
  • A lot of people, when they talk to me, I can't wait for them to shut up. Like, shut up. you're a moron. They have nothing to say, you know?
  • Adrienne is the only woman I will ever love.
  • I'm not as depressed as I used to be. The Prozac's working!
  • In five years, I will be pointing a gun at Tre, Tre will be pointing a gun at Mike and Mike will be pointing a gun at me. We'll count to three and pull the trigger. - Billie Joe Armstrong
  • Billie Joe Armstrong: [turns toward Mike, still sitting on couch & says this as if he were talking to a very attractive woman] 'Wanna have sex and get married?' [long, silent pause] 'Oh... sorry.'
  • Some people use touring as a cure-all for their problems.
  • To do something that you feel in your heart that is great, you have to make a lot of mistakes to get there. Anything that's successful is a series of mistakes.
  • Music to me is the air that I breathe, it's the blood that runs through my veins that keeps me alive. And without it, I don't know what I'd do.
  • All problems are essentially the same, they just come in different packages.
  • We're all entitled to say something stupid once in a while, even if it's only half true.
  • The problem is, that when you go on tour you miss being at home; but when you finally get home you don't know what to do with yourself because your so used to being on tour, and your stuck in the routine.
  • This isn't a fucking tea party- this is rock and roll!
  • “We've been a band for 16 years. This is what you dream about.”
  • “Just seeing the things on TV and the things in front of you, the amount of information coming in, and the lack of information not coming in, how could you not help but write songs about it.”
  • “Some times I need to apologize, sometimes I need to admit that I ain't right, sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut, or only say hello, sometimes I still feel I'm walking alone.”


  • “We've been together as a group for a long time so this means a lot… we've done everything ourselves until this point, so thank you to everybody … do everything you f---n' believe in, because this is what it's all about,”
  • "Adrienne is the only woman I will ever love."
  • “Having children is a big responsibility and I don't want to make a mess out of it. I don't want my son thinking that I care more for booze than I care for him. If you have children, you don't want to have drugs and drinks in the house. You know they might reach it. It's just not good.”
  • “We don't really have a fair system, our social system doesn't work if you're poor in the US you're dirt poor and the distribution of wealth is more than uneven. If you're poor and you get sick you have no health insurance, no financial security, nothing. if that could be changed I wouldn't mind paying more tax, but I mind my taxes being spent on wars!”
  • "I approach playing acoustic guitar more of as a percussive instrument. It's fragile. I don't have a lot of finesse when it comes to my guitar playing."
  • "I don't like LA. The majority just seem to be so artificial. Look at how they worship everything they think is fashionable. Isn't it sick?"
  • "I don't want to limit myself musically. It would be really limiting if we'd neglect something we really want to do, like explore other styles of music."
  • "I'd love to go to art school. I'd love to learn how to draw. I'd love to be fluent in Spanish. I'd like to be a brain surgeon."
  • "I'm a father. It isn't just my life any more. I don't want my kid finding bottles in the house or seeing his father completely smashed."
  • "I'm very monogamous."
  • "If I look at my old lyrics, they seem to be full of rage, but empty. There was an emptiness in my life."
  • "What annoys the hell out of me is the arrogance of some people. They don't even listen to our music, they decided in advance that they don't like it."
  • "There’s supposed to be a curfew at this shithole. We don’t do fucking curfews. We’ll go off when we want"
  • "We pride ourselves on trying to put on the best show we can and we're not afraid to say that we happen to be the best live band in the world"
  • "To me, it doesn't feel like it's just another rock record that somebody put out. It feels like we taped into the culture a little bit"
  • "Rock bands are such pussies, you know? I honestly think that people are looking for something that's more than just a piece of shit"
  • "The one thing that's always stuck with us is that we're crazy mother fuckers."
  • "I kind of became everyone’s weird uncle. I was drunk all the time wearing a fucking leopard g string."
  • "You want a drumstick? Like a ice cream cone or a chicken wing!?"
  • "This song's off our album. It's called Kerplunk. It's kind of in line with the shit thing, ya know, it's like you take a dookie and it kerplunks in the toilet."
  • "Yeah I've met members of The Who, and "members" of The Who"
  • "We are not afraid to be entertainers."
  • "The day you become old is the day you're not looking for new experiences anymore."
  • "Punk is dead to anyone who didn't get it in the first place"
  • "Music is the air that I breathe, it's the blood that pumps through my veins."
  • "And for our fans, they're just crazy people anyway. I always look at people in a Green Day shirt, and I think, 'What's wrong with that person? What kind of hang-ups does that person have?' Obviously, it's not just the catchy songs, it goes deeper than that."
  • "What do you mean we walked around in girls clothes? We walked around in dresses and they happened to be ours!"
  • "Nobody leaves this band unless it's in a coffin"
  • "Stand the fuck up! This isn't a fucking coldplay show!"
  • "My goal is to be one of the biggest bands in the world, and I have never been bashful about saying that."
  • "I heard Davey Havok has a brand of eyeliner out now... its AFI-liner"
  • "You have to be forgiven of you're sins now so you can start sinning all night long"
  • "You don't mow another man's lawn!"
  • "...and sometimes I think she may have married the end of the world."
  • "Let's shake some shit up - that's all you can do."
  • "I'm a songwriter-I'm obligated to keep pushing myself."
  • "Of course, you also want something that'll make one hell of a killer tattoo."
  • "Do you have a problem? I have a gun. I'll shoot you. No problem."
  • "It's MISTER American Idiot to you..."
  • "You can't live on planet rock star 24/7; you have to be down and dirty and have some fun."
  • "You have to search the absolute demons of your soul to make a great record."
  • "Yeah fuck me! I wish all of you could fuck me!"
  • "I'm still wearing the pants I had in the eleventh grade"
  • "Attack your instruments. Don’t let them attack you."
  • "[Our 'Waiting' video] was totally a failure. [MTV] doesn't show any videos anymore. If we had a booty video - if we had, like, McG, with girls shaking their ass in the video -- it would probably get played. Actually, I am just really bitter right now."
  • "Music to me is the air that I breathe, it's the blood that pumps through my veins that keeps me alive."
  • "If someone falls down please pick them back up. Just because there's not a fuckin' camera in your face doesn't mean you don't have to lookout for each other."
  • "One thing I want to teach my son is sensitivity to other people. I want to teach him not to be this macho freak."
  • "Just about 99% of the population masturbates while the other 1% lie about it."
  • "My name is George W. Bush. Actually my name is Asshole."
  • "To do something that you feel in your heart that's great, you need to make a lot of mistakes. Anything that's successful is a series of mistakes."

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