It was the winter of 1994, and yours truly was a far stretch from the handsome beast that I am today. It was not uncommon to see me with overgrown, curly brown hair, thick funny glasses, extremely tight jeans and those ridiculous velcro strap sneakers that, lets be honest, none of us really liked to begin with. I was awkward, shy, obese, depressed, constantly teased by girls and boys alike and above all, angry that I seemingly had no control over anything in my life, angry that nothing would change, that I would never be “cool” or have any friends or be of any worth to society. Being ignored, left out and feeling like I was insane was something of a daily occurrence at that time in my life.

Quite often I would ride the bus and hear other boys talk about their favorite bands and songs. Names like Bush, Pearl Jam and Nirvana got tossed around frequently, but I really didn’t relate to anything that they were saying because I didn’t listen to music. The only thing music related I owned was a New Kids On The Block cassette tape my cousin Nancy bought for me because I might or might have not liked one of their songs. I decided during this time that I was going to tune into that MTV channel on TV the other kids talked about and find a band that I liked.

I must have sat in front of that damn television for weeks and to be honest, there wasn’t really anything that intrigued me. And then one day, a video with three really crazy looking guys rocking out in a mental institution caught my immediate attention.

That music video was Basket Case by Green Day.

Up until that point, there was literally no music that had resonated with me. I would listen to whatever was on the radio, only to fill the empty silence of my bedroom with what I considered at the time, incessant noise. But for some reason at the time, the lyrics and words from Basket Case went directly into my heart, mind and soul. For some strange reason I didn’t feel like the only loser in America anymore. To a certain degree, I felt as if this song had been written for me specifically to get over what I was going through and figure out a way to cope with life in general. Whether or not that immediately worked out is a different story, but at the time it helped tremendously.

Shortly thereafter, I started to pay attention to music a bit more closely. I was soon introduced to Longview and Welcome to Paradise, both on MTV and my local radio station, also songs that shook the foundations of my life and reality. That was when I decided that, although I felt really embarassed about it for some strange reason, I was going to actually go buy music. I scrounged up the only $4 that I had and snuck into my cousin Nancy’s room and spilled her gigantic water cooler bottle of change onto the floor, stealing as many quarters as I could (sorry Nan lol) to pay for the first album I would ever buy in my life, Dookie.

I rode my bike back home as fast as I possibly could and spent the next few days doing nothing but listening to and memorizing every single song on that album.

The years that follwed were rocky, troublesome and full of horrible mistakes and harsh learning experiences. Green Day’s Insomniac came out during a point where I was still trying to come to grips with who I was as a teenager, where I wanted to go and what I wanted to be in life. Many of the things I strove for falled flat in my face, which only contributed to my already growing frustration being a human being and playing the cards that were dealt to me. Songs like Stuck With Me, Geek Stink Breath, No Pride, Brain Stew, Panic Song, Jaded and especially Walking Contradiction were all songs I would listen to and wonder what the hell I was doing to myself, my family and my friends.

Fast forward to 1999. I was living in a group home on Long Island, learning to become a man, to forgive myself and learn from my past mistakes. Green Day’s Nimrod finally got into my hands and at the time, many of my friends whom were Green Day fans before, did not appreciate the new album. I, on the other hand, fell in love all over again. I was a teenager that had no luck with women, I felt stuck in my current situation and even more powerless than ever before, my mind was always constantly racing and worrying about the future. I felt alone. I felt like, people would be better off if they didn’t have to deal with me or my bullsh*t. My favorite songs from this era of my life was Nice Guys Finish Last, Redundant, Prosthetic Head, Worry Rock, Jinx, Haushinka, Walking Alone, Reject, Take Back and Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). Between Dookie, Insomniac and especially Nimrod, I managed to keep it together and keep my head afloat long enough to learn and mature as I went on. I got through and was well on my way to adulthood.

Although I completely skipped over Warning, aside from the only singles to make it to the radio, I didn’t give up on my favorite band of all time.

Now a man, college student, aspiring graphic artist and web designer, things in life were starting to come together. Almost all of my previous issues and transgressions I had in life personally with myself had either disappeared or evolved into typical adult whines, groans and moans. American Idiot dropped in 2004 and at first, I was not really impressed with the album except for Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Wake Me Up When September Ends. I eventually got my hands on the entire album and started to do what I had with all of my previous Green Day albums, and that was sit down and listen to it all the way through, over and over again. To this day, Jesus of Surburbia is without a doubt one of my favorite songs of all time and the one Green Day song I had always hoped would show up in either of my beloved plastic instrument franchises. Are We The Waiting, Holiday, American Idiot, Give Me Novacaine, St. Jimmi and Whatshername quickly entered into my Green Day playlists.

This brings us to 21st Century Breakdown, another Green Day album that took some time to grow on me. I will say this to you, with Harmonix releasing the 6 current songs as DLC for Rock Band 2, that process got sped up very quickly. Viva La Gloria!, 21 Guns, Before the Lobotomy, East Jesus Nowhere, Know Your Enemy, Last of the American Girls, Peacemaker, Song of the Century and Viva La Gloria (Little Girl) have joined the ranks as my favorite Green Day songs of all time.

While Green Day isn’t the only band that has contributed in shaping me into the Wall of Awesome that I am today, they have without a doubt been the pioneers of the change that is me.

Between Guitar Hero and Rock Band, my life has been a whirlwind of greatness. The things that has happened to me as a result of these games, the people I have met, the places I have been, the lessons I have learned, have all taken me down a path that I look back upon and smile at.

Today is one of the happiest days of my life.

I really don’t know how else to express how much gratitude, love, admiration and respect I have for Green Day and Harmonix at this moment, along with whomever else was involved in making them who THEY are, whomever else was involved in making this game come to light and actually exist in my hands. I have never, EVER, in my life been emotional over a video game and I have cried more today than I have in a very long time. I don’t feel any shame, and I sure as hell won’t apologize.

So with that, I say to all of you, fans, friends and family, developers and designers, and especially Green Day, thank you. For everything.

And if you already haven’t, GO F***ING BUY GREEN DAY: ROCK BAND. NOW.

-FrankieB

Editor’s Note: Be sure to follow @FrankieBSH on Twitter, and give a listen to his amazing StarpowerPodcast.

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