Monday, September 24, 2012

Being Greenday means never having to say you're sorry.

No Helen, I will not think of the
children. They're on their own.
So Billie Joe Armstrong from Greenday flipped out onstage the other day at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas. Nothing too bad, he just smashed his guitar, flipped off the camera and ranted a bit, it's what rockstars do. It's what makes them more interesting than the rest of us. Anyway, here's what he said, and if you have delicate sensibilities that are harmed by words they don't use on the CW, don't read any further. I had to watch the actual clip to get the whole thing because every website that quoted him kept spelling 'fuck' with dashes or asterisks. F-ck isn't a word, it's just not.

At 40, Billie Joe Armstrong proves
you're never too old to wear eyeliner. 
"Oh, fuck this shit. I'm gonna play a fucking new song...Give me a fucking break. One minute left. One minute fucking left. You're gonna give me one fucking minute? Look at that fucking sign right there: one minute. Let me fucking tell you something, let me tell you something, I've been around since 198-fucking-8, and you're gonna give me one fucking minute? You've gotta be fucking kidding me! You're fucking kidding me. What the fuck! I'm not fucking Justin Bieber, you motherfuckers. You've gotta be fucking joking this is a fucking joke..." 

"...I got one minute, one minute left. Oh, now I got nothing left, now I got nothing left. Let me show you what one fucking minute means. <smashes guitar> One minute. God fucking love you all. We'll be back."
Above: Some jackass telling the band to finish up.
Also, it's a video screen, could they really not loose the 's' on minutes?
Sorry Rihanna fans, I apologize.
it really is a lyrically complex
 song...about rain gear.
So the festival's promoters shortened Greenday's set in order to give Usher and Rihanna more time and Bille Joe was indicating that he was unhappy with this arrangement. Fair enough. That does kind of suck. The band has since issued an apology to Clear Channel and the audience at the iHeartRadio Festival, and Billie Joe Armstrong has checked himself into rehab. Yes, rehab. I know he's had some drug issues before, but he was getting shoved offstage so Rihanna could sing that damn Umbrella song for the 5 millionth time, the fact that this pissed him off doesn't mean he was on drugs (there's a decent chance he was, but the two aren't necessarily related).

Sure, I don't know the whole story and am really not in any position to comment on this guy's rehab, but like anyone with access to a blog, I feel the need to weigh in on things I have no stake in and only the sketchiest information about. It's what the internet is for (apologies to porn and photos of cats who can't spell).

In other news: Canada and the UK to open combined diplomatic missions overseas.
I don't understand it, it doesn't affect my life in any way but by god, I have a strong opinion aboot it.
Never, never apologize
to these people.

Look, I know it's probably like a smart business move to say 'Hey, sorry for the profanity laden rant,' but to have to apologize to Clear Channel? For real? This is the company responsible for broadcasting Fox News Radio. Clear Channel should be apologizing to us. And when you think about it, Greenday has been around since 198-fucking-8 and Billie Joe Armstrong is not fucking Justin Bieber (that we know of) so nothing he said was untrue, yet the band still had to apologize to a company that gives Glenn Beck a platform for his crazy. Bullshit I say.

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