Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong explains why he still loathes the term 'pop-punk'

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong says his hatred of the term ‘pop-punk’ hasn’t waned over the years.

Shortly before New Year in 2015, Billie Joe took to Twitter to tell his followers his sole mission for 2016 was to “destroy the phrase "pop-punk" forever.”

Explaining why, Billie Joe later told Kerrang!: "I've always hated the phrase 'pop-punk'. I think it's a contradiction in terms. Either you're punk, or you're not.

"(The tweet) was not directed at any of the band (described this way), it's just that it's too singular a term for my tastes."

More than five years on from his remarks, Billie Joe has told Vulture |nofollow|newtab) that his loathing for the phrase remains and he “doesn’t regret anything” about his comments.

“I never really liked that term (pop punk), it turned into sort of a genre,” Billie Joe said. “I never thought of myself as a pop artist. I’ve always been left of center. To say you’re a pop-punker … it never sat well with me.

“I’m very proud that we came from a diverse scene. We were definitely the most melodic band playing at that time, but we’d also play with bands like Neurosis, Engage, Spitboy, Blatz, and Filth, and it was just all over the spectrum as far as punk rock. We played with Fuel, which sounded more like Fugazi.

“(Pop-punk is) this term that kind of just all of a sudden showed up when people wanted to put a label on things. I feel the same way about, like, ska-punk. It seemed like a silly way of trying to kind of create a genre or a sub-genre.”

Billie Joe Armstrong isn’t the only music icon to hate the label bestowed upon their band.

In a 2007 interview with student website The Maine Campus, My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way lambasted the emo genre calling it “a pile of s---.”

He ranted: “Basically, it's never been accurate to describe us. Emo bands were being booked while we were touring with Christian metal bands because no one would book us on tours.

“I think emo is f---ing garbage, it's bull----. I think there's bands that unfortunately we get lumped in with that are considered emo and by default that starts to make us emo.

“All I can say is anyone actually listening to the records put the records next to each other and listen to them and there's actually no similarities. I think emo's a pile of s---.”

The real names of famous rock stars including Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool:

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• Green Day
• Billie Joe Armstrong