Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong is better known for power chords and pop punk anthems than he is for shredding, but that doesn’t mean he can’t bust out the occasional guitar solo. He’s done just that at a recent show with the Coverups, tackling Randy Rhoads’ iconic Crazy Train solo complete with tapping.
The guitarist’s side-project includes Green Day bass player Mike Dirnt and touring foil Jason White and sees the collective taking on cover songs from Led Zeppelin and David Bowie to the Ramones and Poison.
The inclusion of the Ozzy Osbourne classic at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown, California will come as a surprise to many. It shows that just because guitar solos are a rare breed in Green Day’s music, doesn’t mean the guitarist is capable of letting fly.
Granted, there are elements of the solo that have been simplified, and he wears a look of pure concentration on his face throughout. Nevertheless, the way he moves through the early tapping passages is very impressive, and it’s made even more so considering he’s doing it on a big-body, semi-hollow Gibson.
“It’s metal hour, isn’t it?” he asks White, with the guitarist responding with “it’s your turn,” before they get the train a’ rollin’, with Armstrong having soloed his way through Whole Lotta Love earlier in the night.
And it wasn’t just during the solo that he showed off his tapping skills, as he channeled Rhoads’ chorus tapping licks too. However, aware of how challenging the solo is, he can be seen readjusting his guitar strap as the spot draws ever closer, switching from his usual low-slung look to a more shred-friendly hip height. All while still singing. Hats off.
Armstrong rekindled his love for guitar solos on Green Day’s latest album, 2024’s Saviorsso the Rhoads love-in feels very much like an extension of that. Speaking to Guitar World about the record, two hotshot shredders are quick off his lips.
“When I was a kid, I loved Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads. And then something happened where it was like you had to be in the guitar Olympics,” he had said. “If you wanted to play, you had to be as good as those guys and be able to play as fast as Yngwie Malmsteen.
“That’s when my tastes started changing and I started getting more into punk music and alternative, where it was more about rhythm playing. I got more into being an anti-solo guitar player, especially for (1994’s) Dookie.”
The Coverups show comes after Armstrong joined the Goo-Goo Dolls at Coachella, proving something of a bucketlist moment for the guitarist, and took Steve Jones’ Sex Pistols Les Paul Custom for a spin in Paris.
A trip to Liverpool earlier this year saw him taking in a show at the Cavern Club, the music venue made famous by the Beatles. There, he watched a guitarist play a Green Day song, who was completely unaware who was looking on from the crowd.
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