The idea of re-recording albums is always a touchy one for fans and a bit of a dice-throw for artists. Still, in an ideal world, Billie Joe Armstrong would love a shot at re-recording Green Day's 2000 album Warning.

Green Day's sixth album was experimental, due to the various outside influences Armstrong pulled into the band's sound at the turn of the millennium. It was also their first to be recorded using the now commonplace Pro Tools digital technology.

Speaking with Rolling Stone in a piece dubbed "My Life in 15 Songs," the pop-punk icon reflected on specific points in his career, commenting on various songs within Green Day's extensive catalog. Singling out "Minority" off Warning, Armstrong expressed, "After [writing the Nimrod hit] 'Time of Your Life,' I started getting into playing more acoustic guitar, and I really wanted to have more for Warning."

The frontman noted that, at the time, "There was also a lot of kind of bad pop-punk that was starting to happen" and it was his aim to go against the grain. "This felt like the next step," he said of those new sounds he was presenting within Green Day, "I had been getting into listening to more of the Kinks and the Who, who found a lot of power in an acoustic song, and used the guitar almost like a drum. [The Who's] 'Pinball Wizard' is so percussive."

Touching on the "Minority" single more directly, he recollected the political climate, which he felt was shifting toward conservatism right before the presidential election and felt that "Minority" is "sort of about declaring that you’re stepping out of the line, you’re not part of the sheep, and trying to find your own individualism."

As for the overall feel of the record, Armstrong isn't confident that it properly captured the feel of the band. "I’d like to go back and rerecord that album," he confessed, explaining, "It was right when Pro Tools started happening. I want to go back and just do everything more live, because I think 'Minority' live is a lot better than it came out on the album. But that’s just one of those things that you think about too much."

Meanwhile, Green Day's 13th studio album, Father of All Motherfuckers, is on deck, slated for a Feb. 7 release. They'll be out on the road this June on the "Hella Mega" stadium tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer. See all those tour dates here.

See Green Day in the 50 Greatest Pop-Punk Albums of All Time

 

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