Tattoo

When you’ve come as far in the music industry as 40 year old guitarist and frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and his band, Green Day, has you know that you’ve cemented your name into music forever.  He first started playing music in his first band, Sweet Children in 1987 when he was just 15.  The band evolved into Green Day and has grown in popularity and rock stardom especially since the 1994 release of Green Day’s first major label record, Dookie.  Since then his band has sold over 65 million records the world over and maintained a huge following. A Difficult Childhood As with every rocker, he has a story of a childhood full of heartbreak and difficulties.  As a child of 6, money way often tight and it was made worse when his father died of throat cancer when he was just ten years old.  When his mother remarried, none of her children liked their new stepdad, leading to Billie Joe writing his first song, Why Do You Want Him?   The rest, as they say, is history. Personal Tattoos Billie Joe has always remained very grounded despite the successes he has had with his band Green Day.  He has been married to his wife, Adrienne since 1994 and has two children, Joseph and Jakob.  Billie Joe’s tattoos, of which he has many, are all personal and each have a strong personal meaning to the rock star.  His first three were done at a small local tattoo parlour called ‘Ink’ in the East Bay area and since then, he’s added to them whenever inspiration strikes. His arms are the most covered area, where several very personal tattoos are on display, mostly dedicated to his family and friends.  On his right arm you’ll find his wife’s name (Adrienne) along with a film strip of pictures of her.  Along with that he has Joseph, one of his son’s names.  There’s a vine and the Jesus Christ Superstar Logo, which consists of two angels facing each other praying.  He has the words ‘all ages’ flanked by stars, the Japanese symbols for ‘pot’ and ‘pinhead’, and the Riverdale’s logo (the number 27 inside a circle). On his left arm, Billy Joe sports a clown bracelet, a baby smoking a cigar and the letters EBPM (or East Bay Punk Mafia) flanked on each side by stars.  Also on his left arm is his son’s name (Jakob) surrounded by soccer balls, stars and several rockets.  Also on this arm is a crawling tiger and several stars of different colours. On his hands you’ll find the skull and crossbones logo of his record company, Adeline Records on his left middle finger and the word PUNX near his index finger and thumb.  A small cross with beams of light between his thumb and forefinger and a red star on his wrist can be found on his right hand. Green Day are currently in the studio recording a follow up to 2009’s 21 st Century Breakdown, so look out for it in the next few months.

The full story can be read/found on Body Art Fun