Armstrong grew up in Rodeo, California, the youngest of six children. His father, Andy Armstrong, was a retired Minor League Baseball catcher, who worked as a jazz musician and truck driver for Safeway to support the family. He died of cancer on September 1, 1982 when Armstrong was 10. The song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a memorial to his father. His mother Ollie worked as a waitress at Rod's Hickory Pit, where Armstrong and Mike Dirnt got their first gig during their teen years.
Armstrong's interest in music started at a young age. He recorded a song titled "Look For Love" at the age of five on the Bay Area label "Fiat Records". As a teenager he originally was into metal music, but got into punk after hearing the Sex Pistols song "Holidays in the Sun". He attended John Swett High School, and then Pinole Valley High School, dropping out on February 16, 1990, a day before his 18th birthday, to pursue his musical career. While in high school he was nicknamed "Two Dollar Bill", because he was supplying the school with marijuana joints for two dollars.Guitar
Armstrong's first guitar was indeed a Cherry Red Hohner acoustic which he received from his dad, which he mentions in the book Nobody Likes You- Inside the Turbulent Life, Times and Music of Green Day. Armstrong received his first-- and most famous-- electric guitar, a Fernandes Stratocaster copy that he named "Blue", when he was eleven. Armstrong was shocked when his mother bought the guitar from Armstrong's teacher, because he knew their family were no where near to be able to afford it. He modified the guitar to have a humbucking pickup in the bridge position. He initially installed a Bill Lawrence pickup but later switched to the Duncan JB model. He toured with this guitar from the band's early days and into their first few major-label tours. "Blue" also appears in several of their music videos starting with "Longview", and appearing most recently in "Minority". Armstrong has made several replicas of this guitar and uses them at concerts. He also owns several Gibson SG models which he has removed all of the sound/tone knobs except for one volume.
Today Armstrong mainly uses Gibson and Fender Guitars. Twenty of his Gibson guitars are Les Paul Junior models from the mid to late-1950s. His Fender collection includes: Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Telecaster, and his Fernandes, "Blue". He states that his favorite guitar is a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior he calls "Floyd". He bought this guitar in 2000 just before recording their album Warning.
Armstrong also has his own line of Les Paul Junior guitars from Gibson.
Awards
- Esquire awarded him an "Esky" for Best Frontman in the Esky Music Awards in the April 2006 issue.
- Kerrang! magazine awarded him the Best Dressed Star and Hero of the Year in 2005
- The California Music Awards awarded him Outstanding Male Vocalist in 2001 and 2004
- Nickelodeon's Kid's Choice Awards Blimp for Favorite Band/Group - April 2005 and 2006
- Nickelodeon's Kid's Choice Awards Blimp for Favorite Song for "Wake Me Up When September Ends" - April 2006
- Grammy for Best Rock Album for American Idiot - February 2005
- Grammy for Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - February 2006
- Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance for Dookie - February 1995
- Won 6 MTV VMA Moonmen for Boulevard of Broken Dreams and 1 for American Idiot - August 2005
- Won 2 American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Album (American Idiot) and Favorite Alternative Artist - November 2005
- Won 2 ASCAP Honor Awards for Creative Voice and Song of the Year ("Boulevard of Broken Dreams") - May 2006
- Won 2 MTV Europe Awards for Best Album and Best Rock Group - November 2005
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