Green Day/Headscratchers

• Jesus Of Suburbia:

...Of the 7-11 where I was taught
The motto was just a lie
It says home is where your heart is

• • Isn't the slogan of 7-11 "Thank Heaven for 7-11?" Or does the motto have nothing to do with 7-11? Was Green Day just mashing up words?
  • You missed the first part "In the center of the earth in the parking lot of the 7-11", it wasn't the 7-11's catchphrase, presumably just a place where they hung out and they said a lot, probably ironically. It could have been graffiti as well.
    • The motto doesn't have anything to do with the 7-11. The lyric could read: "I was taught that the motto: 'home is where your heart is' is just a lie in the parking lot of the 7-11" and be less confusing, but it wouldn't sound as good.
  • Um guys? I'm pretty sure you're getting confused about the 7-11. Try reading it like this: "I was taught the motto was just a lie. [The motto] says 'home is where the heart is.'"
  • It might also refer to the city's motto. In the song "Letterbomb", there's a lyric that goes "As the city's motto gets pulverized".
• What does "Green Day" even mean?
  • A "green day" is a slang term used to describe a day spent doing nothing but lounging around and smoking cannabis. Hence a lot of their early work.
    • Thanks. I like their name better now. I always thought it had something to do with the environment.
      • Well, technically...it does.
    • Green Day is a song on one of their earlier E Ps about a day spent smoking pot. The song was re-released on 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours.
  • I recall watching MTV back when the album Dookie first came out, and a VJ made the claim that both "Green Day" and "Dookie" were "bathroom references," in her words. Ever had a case of diarrhea that caused your shit to turn green? This is what I have always assumed the VJ meant. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that this was the interpretation the band members had in mind when the chose their name. (It is not unheard of for musicians to be deliberately inconsistent and/or offensive when asked "What does your band name mean?" for the fiftieth time in the same day.)
• How come Green Day gets a Rock Band game? They're nowhere near as popular and influential as the Beatles in their heyday.
  • It sounds perplexing at first, but they're one of the most popular acts from the last 20 years. Many bands are more important or influential, but "influential" doesn't sell units. Also, many Green Day songs are actually difficult and reasonably catchy across the breadth of their work, something you sometimes can't say about older bands (since most people know them for their singles).
• Doesn't Billie realize that Billie is the feminine spelling of Billy? Its like the difference between "Joe" for a male and "Jo" for a female.
  • He probably had this pointed out to him in school multiple times. Or otherwise, talk to his mother, Ollie.
  • I've read in multiple sources that Ollie Armstrong was totally out of it because of painkillers after giving birth to Billie Joe and, as a result, spelled his name wrong on his birth certificate. What said birth certificate actually reads has never been released, but my theory is that she meant him to be "Billy Joe," spelled it "Billie Joe" on the birth certificate, and just went with it since, hey, it is the same name. Oprah Winfrey got her name by similar means, so it's not unheard of. Liner notes of early albums seem to imply he did go by "Billy Joe" for a while, but he's obviously gotten over that now.
  • "It's not William Joseph, it's just Billie Joe."
• Is it just me, or is the refrain of "21 Guns" the same tune as "All The Young Dudes" by Mott the Hoople?
  • As well as "Telephone Line" by Electric Light Orchestra and the Route 209 music from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Hey, with only so many (appealing) original melodies possible in music, it's bound to happen.
  • Also, I swear the guitar solo is the melody from the theme song to Full House.
  • Oh my gosh, yes. I've always heard the Full House theme in that and thought I was crazy for it.
• Why do American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown have their own pages? I understand that they are very different from Green Day's older material and polarizing for fans, but I can't think of any other band who has separate pages for their different albums. Even bands whose albums are much more different or polarizing than Green Day's (see: Guns 'N Roses).
  • Because they are Rock Operas, with a story and tropes of their own. Other albums, like The Wall have pages as well.
  • We have the Albums Index.