Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong turned to an unusual source of inspiration when mapping out his band's plan for world domination - rapper Tupac Shakur.

The AMERICAN IDIOT singer admired tragic Shakur - who hailed from Green Day's California hometown - because he was never constrained by rules or expectations.

As a result, Green Day set out to break all the rules of rock 'n' roll - in the same way Shakur did in the hip-hop industry.

Armstrong says, "Tupac Shakur grew up in Oakland, too. Whatever you think of him, you don't feel he was contained by rules.

"With rock, you feel there are codes of conduct and codes of cool but with Tupac he just came right out with it.

"I admire that. Music needs that. And that's what I wanted for Green Day."

07/04/2005 14:13