billie joe armstrong

In our latest fan poll, we ranked the five greatest pop-punk vocalists of all time. See who made the list.

The hype about punk rock has always been that anyone can do it. This has resulted in misguided notions that musicianship is absent from punk. Truth be told, you only stand out in this scene if you can really play. Nothing grates eardrums harder than a punk band with no chops...

“Teenage dream, so hard to beat…”: 1970s pop-punk roots As long as there’s been punk rock, pop punk — a more tuneful variant — has existed. What’s wrong with washing down your high-speed guitar crunch with some sunny melodies? Many of the earliest punk rockers grew up...

Green Day have shared another snippet of possible new music from the band. They began teasing new music in December, sharing a short video of themselves in London's RAK Studios. Now, their latest Instagram post reveals a bit more information about the upcoming project...

Misfits are the very model of an influential punk band. Which was most likely not Glenn Danzig’s goal when he formed them in 1977 in his native Lodi, New Jersey, naming them for Marilyn Monroe’s final film from 1961. After initially being driven by Danzig’s distorted electric piano, Misfits became known for sludgy power chords pitched in the key of Black Sabbath set to Ramones-oid tempos and song

Could it be? A holiday miracle in the form of Green Day teasing new music?Green Day posted a short video on their Instagram Dec. 19, featuring audio that fans are speculating is new music from the band. The post features clips of the bandmates at the legendary RAK Studios in London, seemingly in the middle of recording...

The ‘90s was the moment when the experiments wrestled control of the laboratory away from the scientists. Suddenly, punk rock — the ragged step-sibling of rock and pop — was squarely in the mainstream of culture, after years of ruling the underground. It spawned alter... Read More ...

At this point, you could practically write a textbook on the art of creating a pop-punk song. Ever since people discovered Green Day’s Dookie and the masses fell in love with “All The Small Things” on MTV, the genre has blossomed. Pop punk’s bi...

There is no doubt that Green Day leader Billie Joe Armstrong is a great guitarist, punk rock or not. He gets great tone and comes up with solid, catchy riffs and tight, tuneful leads. His most iconic guitar is “Blue,” the heavily stickered Fernandes Stratocaster copy his mother bought him for his 11th birthday. It was use...

Technically, my first exposure to punk was through Green Day’s Dookie. At the time, I was young—probably too young. As kids so often do, I followed a friend’s older brother to check out his collection of older brother music. Dookie immediate...

It’s nearly impossible to overstate the influence Green Day have on the rock scene these days. Ever since breaking into the mainstream in the mid-‘90s, everyone from blink-182 to Lady Gaga have cited their music as an inspiration at some point in their career. If you’re ...

Green Day's American Idiot is celebrating another year around the sun. Check out the band's 2004 Alternative Press cover story in honor of its anniversary.

September 1963: A young R&B combo called the Rolling Stones are rehearsing, preparing for a recording session. Their manager, former Beatles publicist Andrew Loog Oldham, was tearing his hair out. They were about to record their second single, a follow-up to their modestly successful remake of Chuck Berry’s “Come On.” But they had ...

Top 15 punk albums of 1998? You’d be forgiven for thinking that there weren’t any in the year the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal dominated the news. A quick perusal of Billboard’s Hot 100 singles of the year sees domination by several R&B (Destiny’s Child, Janet Jackson, Usher, Mariah Carey) or hip-hop (Puff Daddy, Master P, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott) acts. Neo-country artists Shania..

Whether due to personal reasons, creative differences or non-music-related conflicts, it’s pretty common for a band’s lineup to shift over time. And in that same vein, it’s noteworthy when a core group of original members are able to stick it out through all the ups and downs that the music industry brings. In a world wh...

1997: All media is declaring the alternative-rock explosion—for which Nirvana lit the fuse—over. This means the commercial pop-punk wave Green Day touched off was over in their eyes, too. That selfsame media could not have been more wrong. Green Day ...

The long-awaited Hella Mega tour finally kicked off in Dallas with Green Day performing a surprise cover of KISS’ chart-topping 1975 classic “Rock And Roll All Nite.” The performance earned a shoutout from the band on Twitter. Read more: MXPX... Read More ...

The ‘90s: the decade punk went mainstream. First, SoundScan made radio safe for Nirvana and the grunge-ified hordes. Then Green Day and other pop-punk acts moved in and squatted at the top of the Billboard charts. True, it seemed to be finished two years later, only to be reinvigorated at the turn of the century. Pop ...

Green Day announced a surprise show ahead of their long-awaited Hella Mega tour. The concert will be held at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While the Hella Mega tour will feature performances in some of the largest stadiums pop-punk music has ever seen, the surprise show is being held in a more intimate 1,800 capacity venue. Rea...

1996: President Bill Clinton was squaring off against Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in a successful bid for a second term in the White House. On April 3, former math professor Ted Kaczynski was arrested in his remote Montana cabin, suspected (correctly, it turns out) to be American domestic terrorist the Unabomber...