Reaching Back To My Youth

[Kerplunk_80]

I've been a Green Day fan over 20 years. My dad bought me my first cassette tape of Dookie when I was 13. That's when I fell in love with Green Day. I played it over and over until the audio quality degraded lol! Their music got me through my teenage years of  depression and bad breakups. The first real punk band that got me started on playing guitar and writing my own songs. Their music took me through my 20's when I was still finding myself and who I wanted to be. Then I found the one and got married.  Sadly, 3 years ago I lost my dad and 4 months later my mother. It was horrible. My husband has been my rock through it all. (My dad had copd and heart failure and my mom's breast cancer came back.  ) Now at 38 years old I am reaching back to my youth, listening to all my old. Green Day albums again. Green Day seems to be the only music that can take me back to a time when everyone was healthy and the only worries I had weren't such a big deal. It is my therapy. No matter what happens in life, I know I will always have their music to listen to to get me through the good times and the bad. So I wanted to say a big thank you to the band that will always have my heart! Thank You Green Day!!! I would love to hear other peoples stories as well on how Green Day made an impact on their lives. 

[Doggins]

Firstly I'm sorry for your loss and losing both parents in the space of 4 months. That must be really tough and I'm glad you've been able to find some relief by listening to GD.

I'm a very similar age to you so my story starts off very similar. I'll try and keep my story short as I've said it here before, but I too was 13 too when I first discovered GD. It was my best friend who introduced me to the band. I loved Dookie but it wasn't until Insomniac was released when I really turned into a die-hard fan. I fuckin loved that album then and it's still my favourite now. 

GD made a profound impact to my life growing up in those formative years, from the friendships I made at school (and remain friends with to this day), to meeting my then girlfriend now wife due to our mutual interest (infact we met on the old Green Day chat room hosted on greenday.net in the late 90s) and even in my early adult years getting into trading bootlegs with people around the world, then GDLO and GDT, some of those members on this very forum.

I don't have time to trade these days, and my music tastes have evolved, I still like punk and go back to it from time-to-time  but these days I'm happier just listening to podcasts or whatevers on the radio - which old Doggins would find quite pathetic to be honest. But, I'll always have a soft-spot for the band, and an overwhelming amount of gratitude for everything they've brought into my life -  no matter how wacky their releases are (ahem, FOAMF)

To think my kids wouldn't exist if it weren't for this band, is kinda crazy.