A Punk Rocker’s Life
Loud music, screaming fans, and camera flashes. These things aren’t normal for an average, everyday person, but they are all a part of daily life for Green Day’s frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong. For over 30 years, he has been playing guitar riffs alongside his two best friends, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool. Even though he has a crazy, rambunctious life in the media’s eyes, he still maintains a happy, healthy family life with his wife and two kids. Billie Joe has achieved great things overtime but not without some adversities along the way. Due to the band’s hard work to overcome these issues, Green Day will always be remembered as one of the greatest rock bands of all time. The rock singer has had conflicts occur in his life,
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Even from an age as young as ten, he has been struggling to get by in this crazy world we live in. On September 1, 1982, Billie Joe’s dad, Andy, died from esophageal cancer just four months after being diagnosed (9). Billie was deeply affected by this death, and he clung onto the one thing that was unchanging in this time of confusion: music. If it would not have been for his father’s death, Billie Joe might not have completely submerged himself into music, and he would not have written the song “Wake Me Up When September Ends”, a song inspired by the struggle. In the past, Armstrong has had drug addiction problems which hindered the band's growth at times (71). The mixture of pills and alcohol Billie was on made it difficult for him to perform for audiences; he had a “meltdown” at the iHeartRadio Music Festival a few years back, which ended in him checking into rehab. With Billie Joe sober now, the band continues to grow and function better overall. Even from a young age Armstrong has always pursued music as his career, and anything else that was a distraction in his life, including school, was eliminated (47). The decision to dropout of high school was a huge one, and it was a decision that could have turned out for the worse. Thankfully, Green day-formerly known as Sweet Children-were even more successful with all of their time being directed towards the band. Obviously, Billie Joe Armstrong has gone through some tough conflicts, but they made him a stronger person in the