Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong has spoken about the hard rock albums that helped lay the foundations for his musical career, and revealed the Van Halen song that blew his mind as a nine-year-old... and continues to do so today.
Speaking on the WTF with Marc Maron Podcast, Armstrong says, "Two of the first records that I ever bought was For Those About To Rock by AC/DC, and Fair Warning by Van Halen. It's crazy, because people always thought of AC/DC... I guess because of the cover of Highway To Hell... like, AC/DC was more of the 'devil' band, and Van Halen was more of like, the pop, happy band... but when I heard the beginning of Mean Streets, and the way that he [Eddie Van Halen] plays that guitar solo at the beginning, I was like, that sounds like... the demons from hell are rising right now, and I felt like I was being possessed or something, I had a crazy reaction to it. To this day, still, when I listen to that solo, it just blows my mind."
Later in the conversation, Armstrong admits that one of the things that ultimately turned him off heavy metal was the fact that, in the 1980s, the genre became like "The Guitar Olympics."
"I'm like, I don't have time to sit here and play guitar in my room until I get close to, anywhere close to Eddie Van Halen. But what I did notice about Van Halen was that they wrote kick-ass songs, with melody, and fun lyrics, and I felt that came the most natural."
Armstrong also admits though that he felt immensely proud after recently learning a metal guitar solo that he's wanted to learn for 40 years.
"I learned, on YouTube, how to play the guitar solo for Crazy Train, Randy Rhoads," he reveals. "Here I am, 51-years-old, and I'm patting myself on the back for a guitar solo that I've been learning how to play since I was 10!"
Green Day release their 14th studio album, 'SAVIORS' on January 19.
Listen to Billie Joe Armstrong on the WTF with Marc Maron Podcast below:
