Back in 2005, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong was interviewed on-screen by The New York Times (in association with the City University Television) about his band's hugely successful American Idiot album.
For inspiration on that record, Armstrong turned to The Who, a band who he had always admired, particularly for their knack for writing rock-opera-style songs. American Idiot, a concept album centred around the the story of the anti-hero character Jesus of Suburbia, would also go on to be dubbed a "punk rock opera" by the band's members.
When asked by the newspaper's Chief Pop Music Critic/host Jon Pareles if he had ever met his idols, Armstrong reveals that he had actually met Roger Daltrey, albeit under a "weird circumstance", that being that The Who's frontman was naked at the time.
As Armstrong explains, Green Day were playing a show in Vancouver, and as he was feeling hungover, he decided to freshen up in the steam room of the hotel in which the band were staying, ahead of the night's performance.
"So I ended up going in and then I was like, 'Oh, great. There's nobody here,'" the frontman says. "I went in the steam room and I've got my shorts on and I'm like, 'okay, cool.' So I go walking in and all of a sudden it was like, 'Man, [there's a] weird old guy naked right in front of me"
He continues, "So I just kind of turned my head. And then I walk in the steam room again and I go 'Oh, thank God, he left', and so I'm sitting here and it's all steamy and stuff and all of a sudden, I go 'Oh, no, here he is again'.
"So I'm sitting there, and then he says in this real thick cockney accent, he's like, 'Do you want it hotter?'. And then I look and I go, 'Yeah, sure", and I look up and I'm like 'Oh my god, you're Roger Daltrey.''" Armstrong adds: "There he was in all of his glory."
Speaking of Daltrey's reaction to recognising Armstrong in return, the singer explains how the awkward conversation played out: "He's like, 'Yo, you play in a band, you're in Green Day!'...and I'm just like 'Oh...yeah'.
"So yeah... under the under weird circumstances I met members of The Who...and a member of The Who", he concludes.
Check out the interview moment below:
