10 Perfect Band Members That Everyone Forgets About

95% of people who get into Green Day from an early age usually pick up on Billie Joe Armstrong's knack for songwriting. Even if he isn't the most flashy player in the world, punk was never about being a virtuoso, and Billie's poppy melodies had friends like Larry Livermore calling them the 'punk Beatles' before they had even released Dookie. All great bands feed off of a partnership though, and Mike Dirnt matches Billie's melodies step for step on his bass.

Across almost any song from Green Day's back catalog, Mike is flying all over the fretboard of his bass, creating little lines that propel the groove forward and standalone melodies that you can sing along to. For every song like Basket Case, there's another like Longview, which is all bass for the verses, or even later tracks like Warning where Billie practically takes a back seat as Mike plays the lead lines on his bass. For people getting into Green Day's back catalog to perform them, Mike is practically what happens when you graduate from power chords to actual complex lines, like the nutty bass break in the middle of Stuck With Me.

You also have to indirectly give Mike credit for accidentally inspiring Billie to make the grandiose side of American Idiot, writing a flimsy joke song while he was alone in the studio before the rest of the band made their own short song which morphed into the final suite Homecoming. For all of the guitar heroes that have come and gone in the world of rock and roll, Mike's role as the calm anchor behind Green Day has turned him into the few bass heroes to come from the world of punk.