Long before social media, Billie Joe Armstrong recorded a video message and sent the tape to a young fan who had mailed cards to Green Day.
“She still guards this VHS tape with her life,” explained Jessica’s husband James Mann, in an Instagram post where he shared the clip from 1996.
“Almost 25 years ago you turned a 15-year-old girl into a lifetime fan after she hung up on you and your wife when you called her after receiving her fan mail.”
Mann said Jessica has seen Green Day perform live “many times since” and the couple plans to catch the band in August when the Hella Mega Tour stops in Detroit.
On Reddit, Mann said Armstrong, then 24, called Jessica to thank her for the cards and letters she sent the band. “Being a young girl from a small town, she couldn’t believe it was really him so she assumed it was a prank call and hung up on him,” he wrote.
Armstrong’s wife Adrienne called back in hopes of convincing Jessica it was a legit call. “She hung up on her too,” Mann said.