Billie Joe Armstrong Reveals Green Day Superfan Serena Williams’ Song Request
Green Day have made a lot of fans over the years, but during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Billie Joe Armstrong and host Jimmy Kimmel revealed their interactions with tennis superstar and apparent Green Day superfan Serena Williams.
During the chat, Kimmel revealed that he learned of the tennis superstar’s passion for Green Day music after receiving a tour of Wimbledon from Williams during the 2012 Olympics in London. When Kimmel offered to hold off on the tour during this period where Williams was focused on winning for her country, she responded, “No, no. You introduced me to Green Day so I owe you.”
Williams had in fact met the band during an appearance on Kimmel’s show and apparently her fandom has led her to a fair share of Green Day gigs over the years.
Armstrong shared his own Serena stories, explaining, “We would run into her in different countries in Europe because she was kicking everybody’s ass in that particular country. She would then come to the show and … Well, I think she would literally try to see how fast she could beat her opponent so she could actually come to the gig.”
He then added, “She would end up showing up and would always ask us to play this song ‘Disappearing Boy,’ which is a song we wrote years and years ago. She’s great, one of the sweetest people.”
While Green Day have a wealth of hits over the years, “Disappearing Boy” comes from their pre-fame era. The track appears on their 1990 debut 39/Smooth and is not one of their often-played songs. According to Setlist.fm, the track was last performed in October of 2016 at Rough Trade in Brooklyn, New York. In total, it’s been played 113 times in concert with the last time it appeared for consecutive shows being back in 2013. See a 1994 performance of the song below the Kimmel interview.