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Posted: 3/31/06
Wild, Scandalous Rumors
The very murky, dirty depths of the rumor mill had to be plundered this month in order to come up with a few tidbits of interest. Lucky for you duckies, there's always something gossip-worthy buzzing through the lips and ears of the world-wide Green Day network.
One particular item that keeps coming up - no matter how aggressively those apparently in the know try to suppress it - is the word that Green Day might be playing a show at Slane Castle in Ireland this August or September.
No reputable source would ever confirm this rumor. There is absolutely no official word that so much as suggests that Green Day has any touring or even single shows coming up in the future. However, for some strange reason, it keeps popping up that plans are in the works for this show.
A show in Ireland would be a major score for European fans, many of whom felt ripped off by the cancellation of the last Paris show. Only time will tell if these wild whisperings are true.
On a more personal note, there's the regularly scheduled, long-running gossip goldmine in the Green Day world revolving around the issue of the guys' HOTNESS. Especially since "American Idiot" exploded, many fans who seem dead set on worshiping the sexiness of Green Day, and especially of Billie Joe, have been at odds with the fans who believe that the focus has got to stay on the music.
An interesting aspect of this debate continues to pop up throughout the UK media. It seems like whenever a news source wants to either talk down to Green Day, or hold up their "butterfly-like" transformation into rock and roll superstars, they always refer to the "old Green Day," Billie Joe in particular, as having always been on the chubby side before this current burst of fame.
We just saw Rotten do it, calling them "Silly fat kids." And in Kerrang's recent article, they called Billie a "spotty-faced, pied-out oik." Also, several concert reviewers insisted that it was nice to see a "slimmed-down" Billie Joe performing on the AI tour.
Huh. Okay.
A lot of fans are surprised that Billie Joe, and Mike, and Tre could ever be said to have been fat. And if they were, who really gives a fuck? Defining musicians as sex symbols is a shitty thing to do, and it sounds to many hardcores like just another effort on the part of the media to turn Green Day into a boy band.
Juicy Bits
Okay, okay. Despite our best efforts, there hasn't been that much Green Day news this month. However, times like these are good for sitting back and reflecting on what has come to pass.
One of the major highlights of this month was the release of a New York Times interview with Billie Joe. The one-hour interview was recorded in January of 2005, but was just now released online as a free podcast that can be downloaded from iTunes.
Unfortunately, the interview is kind of hard to track down, so below, you'll find some of the most interesting, revealing items that were discussed:
- Billie Joe reads Green Day message boards! He said that when "American Idiot" was coming out, he read the forums to see if people thought a punk opera was a good idea.
- When the guys were working on "Warning," they were making this big effort to be positive, but when they were working on "American Idiot," they were just like "fuck this," and let all their pent up aggression and anger that had been building over the years just spill out. This is where the concept of "rage and love" came from.
- The "American Idiot" album started with the "American Idiot" song. When the war in Iraq began, the guys in Green Day were struck by how you could watch footage of the war on TV, and how the reporters seemed to be trying to make it like a reality show, and you're watching all this crazy shit happening, then suddenly they're breaking for commercials advertising Viagra and shit. Billie Joe said he found it to be a surreal and terrifying reflection of our society, and that's where the "American Idiot" concept was born.
- Billie Joe has been singing for audiences since he was nine years old, but he kept it a secret from his friends. When he and Mike first started a band, he just wanted to play guitar, and they tried to find a singer, but it was impossible, so Billie finally caved in and agreed to be the singer for Green Day.
- Mike wrote the bassline for "Longview" when he was on acid.
- Billie says that John Kriftmeyer a.k.a. Al Sobrante, was just made the drummer for the band because he had lots of hook-ups and could get them shows. Billie Joe and Mike never intended for him to be a permanent member of Green Day.
- When Green Day went from playing small venues to playing for big crowd, Billie realized that he was going to have to change his stage performance in order to project to people in the back. He said that he knew he was going to have to become a bigger ass than he already was (his words). This is interesting when you consider some fans who love criticizing Billie's over the top antics. Maybe they are too intense for those in the front row, but he's just trying to make sure that the people at the back get a good show, too!
- The first time Billie Joe got naked in front of a crowd was at Madison Square Garden. It was a radio cavalcade festival thingy, and Green Day played with bands like Hole and Weezer.
Also Bon Jovi.
When the other bands found out that Bon Jovi was playing, they wanted to back out of the show, but Green Day agreed to play just so long as Pansy Division - a queercore punk band they were touring with at the time - could play, too. The people putting on the show agreed, and Pansy Division, a very underground indie band, got to play the show of their careers.
- Green Day wrote "Time of Your Life" during the "Dookie" days, but never put it out until "Nimrod." Billie Joe admits that the guys are really a bunch of softies, and have never pretended to be as hardcore as some bands claim to be.
- Billie Joe thinks that a lot of the rock music coming out today sucks ass, and that all the really cool, innovation shit is being done by hip hop artists.
- Green Day just did a tour that was very geared towards "American Idiot" because they knew that was what people wanted, but they don't
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