Billie Joe Armstrong is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist of the punk rock band Green Day.
Armstrong and bassist Mike Dirnt started the band together in 1987 when the two were just 15. Early on, their group cycled through a few names, eventually arriving at Green Day. They hit mainstream success with their third album, Dookie (1994), and continued to create hits throughout the 1990s.
In 2004, Green Day released the rock opera, American Idiot, which expanded their repertoire, touched on more overtly political themes, and experimented with genres outside of punk rock. The album was wildly successful, launching the group beyond the upper echelons of punk and into the stratosphere of great rock bands more generally.
In addition to 14 Green Day studio albums and counting, Armstrong has also been the frontman for the punk band Pinhead Gunpowder since 1991, as well as a variety of Green Day side projects including the Foxboro Hot Tubs, the Network, the Longshot, and the Coverups, among other collaborations.
As of 2024, Green Day has sold more than 92 million albums and raked in heaps of music awards, including five Grammys and 15 nominations, three American Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards, 11 MTV Music Video Awards, and 17 international MTV awards.
Armstrong discussed his sexuality in a 1995 interview with The Advocate.
I think I've always been bisexual. [...] I think people are born bisexual, and it's just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of "Oh, I can't." They say it's taboo. It's ingrained in our heads that it's bad, when it's not bad at all. It's a very beautiful thing.
Armstrong says that the 1994 song, "Coming Clean", is about contemplating his sexuality as a teenager in San Francisco.
Green Day’s 2024 album, Saviors, includes the single “Bobby Sox”, an explicitly bisexual anthem which features the chorus, “Do you wanna be my girlfriend? Do you wanna be my boyfriend?”
Billie Joe is also a member of the board of directors of Project Chimps, a sanctuary for former research chimpanzees.