10 Rock Songs Written Completely By Accident
5. Homecoming - Green Day
After writing the song American Idiot, Billie Joe Armstrong suddenly realized that he had a mountain to climb. Since this was the first song intended for Green Day's new album, every song going forward needed to be as good (if not better) than this bold condemnation of the American government. So how do you make it to the other side? Simple...comedy.
When Billie was working community service and drummer Tre Cool was meeting with lawyers, bassist Mike Dirnt went to the studio and wrote a 30 second joke song about everyone leaving him alone in the studio. While the band thought it was hilarious at first, they got in on the action by making their own 30 second songs, which started the idea of combining different song fragments into a multi part suite.
In the end, the original ideas of every member eventually turned up on the last sections of Homecoming, with Tre's Rock n Roll Girlfriend being about his recent divorce and Billie Joe turning in East 12th Street about his time working community service. Since this was the beginning of the sessions, this is what allowed the band to go ambitious as hell for the rest of the record, turning in some of their most vicious songs alongside the more ballad heavy material. And to think, if Billie and Tre just showed up for rehearsal that day, we might not have this punk rock answer to the rock opera.