1 Green Day Song Is Inspired by The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’

Green Day songs are some of the most essential classic rock tunes of the 1990s and 2000s. However, the band drew significant influence from The Who, one of the most iconic bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong revealed The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” was the inspiration for one of Green Day’s singles. He feels he made some major missteps on that song’s parent album. 

How The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’ inspired Green Day’s ‘Minority’

During a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone, Armstrong revealed the origin of Green Day’s “Minority.” After ‘Time of Your Life,’ I started getting into playing more acoustic guitar, and I really wanted to have more for [the album] Warning,” he said. “And there was also a lot of kind of bad pop-punk that was starting to happen, and I wanted to go against that genre. 

“This felt like the next step,” he added. “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. ‘Pinball Wizard’ is so percussive.”

What Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong regrets about 1 album

Armstrong revealed that “Minority” had a political theme. “I wrote this right before the election between George Bush and Al Gore,” he recalled. “I started feeling the political wheels starting to turn toward conservatism a little bit. 

“I think that song 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,” he added. “It felt like we were diving into something that was more conceptual for sure.” he thought that the idea behind “Minority” was better than the finished product. 

Looking back, Armstrong wishes he could re-record Warning. He felt that he relied too much on the software Pro Tools to complete the album and not enough on live instrumentation. He also thinks he may have overthought the production of the tune. Regardless, Armstrong named “Minority” one of the defying songs of his life, alongside bigger hits such as “Holiday,” “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” and “21 Guns.”

How ‘Pinball Wizard’ and ‘Minority’ performed on the pop charts

The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” became a modest hit in the United States. It reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 11 weeks. “Pinball Wizard” appeared on The Who’s Tommy. That seminal album reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 126 weeks, making it The Who’s most popular record in the U.S. by a longshot.

While it was released as a single, “Minority” made no impact on the Billboard Hot 100. Warning performed somewhat better, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and remaining on the chart for 25 weeks. Warning was not a juggernaut, but Green Day would redeem their career with the release of their next LP, American Idiot.

Fans might not associate The Who with Green Day but the former definitely inspired the latter.