Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda recently sat down with Allison Hagendorf for an interview and discussed his dislike for Green Day when he was a high school student.
The rocker recalled a time when his opinion of Green Day changed because of who he saw representing the band’s fans:
“When I was in high school, I could love a band and I see their patch on somebody’s backpack, and it was somebody like a vapid cheerleader… I remember seeing this girl with a Green Day patch on her backpack and I was like, ‘Number one: she knows one song. Number two: I hate Green Day now.’ Sorry, Green Day, but she’s ruining it.”
A Second Look At Music Fan Dynamics
Shinoda then questioned the fairness of his judgment, saying:
“I don’t want to go to the show and see her there. I can’t stand her. I don’t know the way this culture works. I’m not going to listen to you anymore. It’s not Green Day’s fault. We ended up in that position. There are literally people that I wouldn’t hang out with at our shows, and I’m going, ‘Is that fair of me to do that? That’s not cool.’ There’s nothing wrong with being a cheerleader.”
Billie Joe Armstrong’s Views On Mainstream Success
In the 1990s, Green Day brought punk rock from the underground to the mainstream with their hit albums featuring energetic performances and relatable lyrics that broadened punk’s appeal. The band has also had a great influence on the young generation of the time. Still, the band members don’t much care about going mainstream, as Armstrong revealed in a 2017 chat with Rolling Stone:
“There was a time between ’91 and ’95 where alternative bands and the like could get on the radio. But in the big scheme of things, it wasn’t that long of a time period where you could. When it comes down to it, we’re a rock band. I don’t really give a f*ck about the mainstream. The mainstream doesn’t offer me anything. Why would I offer it anything? I love the world I have. I love the sort of subculture that Green Day represents.”
As the two important acts of the late ’90s and early 2000s, Green Day and Linkin Park had a chance to perform together during the iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 21, 2012, in Las Vegas.
You can watch the entire conversation below.
