Billie Joe Armstrong's 40 Tattoos & Their Meanings

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Billie Joe Armstrong is the frontman of the punk rock band Green Day. Unless you’ve been living under a rock in the last 20 years we’re pretty sure you already knew that. Billie Joe is now 47 and he’s been singing in Green Day since 1994. That’s quite a long time! If he can look cool for so many years we must definitely steal his style. He has the typical punk rock look. Green Day love tattoos. Billie Joe has quite a few tattoo designs on his body. He is one of the hottest tattooed celebrities and famous people with tattoos.

1. Vintage Ford Car on his Left side of Chest area

Billie has a vintage car, “1955 Ford Fairlane”, tattooed on his left side of the chest area.

2. Skull with cards on his Left side of Chest area

Billie has a skull with cards above inked on the right of the vintage car tattoo on the left area of his chest.

3. “Be Silently Drawn” writing on his Chest

Tattoo: Be silently drawn

Meaning: Billie has writing be silently drawn inked in fine cursive handwriting on his chest. It is a phrase which means Always follow your heart; it will take you where you need to go. “Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.” “When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”

4. ZEKE on his Chest (Covered)

Tattoo: ZEKE

Meaning: Billie has word ZEKE inked on his chest which is now covered under his new tattoos. But there are two running theories behind the this tat and the most common one is that it was for the band Zeke from Seattle. This was one of his first tats but even then Billie didn’t have a lot of tats for other bands. Then there is the Zeke the girl which has more substance. Sort of an 80s first love for him. He was madly in love with her or something and then she dropped him and actually dug Mike.

5. Male Potency Symbol on his chest (Covered)

Billie had a Male potency symbol on his left chest which is now covered under his new tattoos

6. PUNX on the Left Lower Abdomen

Tattoo: PUNX

Meaning: Inked on Billies left lower abdomen is the word PUNX which refers to a group of punk rockers who are hardcore and about the punk subculture.

7. 80 on his Right Lower Abdomen

Tattoo: 80

Meaning: Billie Joe’s wife is named Adrienne Armstrong, or Adie for short. Noting that “Adie” is pronounced similarly to “80” and it is also the title of a song that he wrote about her.

8. Photobooth Filmstrip of his wife Adrienne on his Right Forearm

Tattoo: Adrienne’s filmstrip

Meaning: On Billie Joe’s right forearm area is a tattooed filmstrip of his wife Adrienne.

9. Adeline Street Logo on the Right Annular (Ring) Finger

Tattoo: Heart with Skull and Crossbones in black and red color

Meaning: On Billie’s right ring finger he has a tattoo of a skull with crossbones and a heart which is the logo of his clothing line Adeline Street. Sadly, the store has decided to shut down. They posted this message on their MySpace which read in part “Adeline Street has decided not to move forward with future designs while Billie Joe and the guys are working hard on their follow up to American Idiot”.

10. Riverdale Logo (Circle 27) on his Right Arm

Tattoo: The 27 with a circle around it

Meaning: Billie Joe has the number “27” inside a circle tattooed on his right arm, which is the logo for the punk band The Riverdales. He helped to manage the band’s debut album.

11. Joseph on his Right Arm

Tattoo: Joseph surrounded by a rose

Meaning: Billie got his right arm inked with the name of his firstborn child, Joseph Armstrong just below the Riverdales logo surrounded by a rose.

12. Jesus Christ Superstar Logo on his Right Arm

Tattoo: Jesus Christ Superstar logo

Meaning: Billie Joe has the Jesus Christ Superstar logo tattooed on his right forearm. Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1970 rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is loosely based on the last week of Jesus’s life, beginning with the preparation for the arrival of Jesus and ending with the crucifixion.

13. Adrienne on his Right Arm

Tattoo: Adrienne with two praying angels and a vine binding underneath it.

Meaning: This tattoo is dedicated to Billie Joe’s wife Adrienne with a rose design is inked above the Jesus Christ superstar angel’s logo.

14. Skull with Crossbones on his Right Upper Arm

Tattoo: Skull with Crossbones

Meaning: Billie has inked his right upper arm with a skull and crossbones design.

15. All Ages on his Right Biceps

Tattoo: ALL AGES written with the stars on each side.

Meaning: The words “All Ages” decorated with stars are inked on his right bicep. The words are a reference to the 924 Gilman street club which is a non-profit, all-ages, collectively organized music club located in the West Berkeley area of Berkeley, California. Gilman is mostly associated with being the springboard for the 90s pop-punk revival led by bands like Green Day, Operation Ivy, Rancid, and The Offspring.

16. Awesome as Fk Bunny on his Right Forearm**

Tattoo: Notorious Pink Bunny

Meaning: Billie has inked his right forearm with Green Day’s Notorious pink bunny. This is from the band’s 2011 live album Awesome as F**k.

17. St. Jimmy Tattoo on the Back of Right Upper Arm

Tattoo: ST. JIMMY

Meaning: Billie inked the tattoo St. Jimmy on the back of his arm whose meaning is drawn from their song “Boulevard of broken dreams.” When Jesus of Suburbia is sick of walking the ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, he becomes the ‘St Jimmy’ in a new city to try and reinvent himself as someone ‘cool’. However things go wrong and he ends up destroying his creation, ‘Jimmy died today, he blew his brains out into the bay’ is symbolic rather than literal. Then Jesus leaves the city and returns home to continue being a no one where ‘all regrets, are useless in my mind’.

18. A cross with a light beaming on it between his Right Thumb and Index finger

Billie has inked a tiny tattoo in between in right thumb and index finger which shows the light cross with the beam of the lights on it.

19. A Red Star on his Right Wrist.

Billie has tattoed a tiny Red Star on his right wrist.

20. Butterfly and Star tattoo on his Right Arm

Billie has inked a Butterfly and Red star on his right arm.

21. 39/Smooth Face Tattoo on his Right Arm

Billie has 30/Smooth face album cover inked on his right arm.

22. A Cartoonish face and a mess with several others on his right shoulder

Billie has a face and a mess tattoo that covers his right shoulder and goes towards his chest.

23. Ivy Band on his Right Arm

Billie has inked Ivy band on his right arm. It was one of his first tattoos.

24. Japanese symbol of the Pot with Pinhead on the Right Arm

Billie has inked Japanese symbol of the pot with pinhead on his right arm

25. Jakob on Left Arm

Tattoo: JAKOB

Meaning: On Billie Joe’s left arm there’s a colorful design that includes his second son’s name Jakob in block letters surrounded by stars and rockets.

26. Colored Stars on Left Upper Arm

Billie Joe’s has colored stars inked in his right upper arm.

27. Smoking Baby on his Left Forearm

Tattoo: Colorful Smoking Baby Herman

Meaning: Billie Joe has a tattoo of a smoking baby on his left forearm, most specifically Baby Herman. Baby Herman is Roger Rabbit’s friend and co-star in Disney/Touchstone’s 1988 feature film Who Framed Roger Rabit.

28. EBPM on his Left Wrist

Tattoo: EBPM with a star on each side

Meaning: Billie has inked his left wrist with EBPM which stands for East Bay Punk Mafia. Green Day has been shaped a lot by the East Bay Punk scene; the band used to go a lot to the 924 Gilman Street club. Billie Joe got this tattoo along with the rest of his bandmates because the East Bay punk scene plays a large role in their music.