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Posted: 3/31/06
March Green Day Report
Even though they're not on the road doing shows anymore, Green Day is still staying busy shaking hands and kissing babies and all that other crap that's expected from rock and roll royalty.
Political Snaps
On the 9th of March, Green Day got an Icon Award for Band of the Year from Music for America. The celebration was designed to honor those in the music industry who strive to promote political awareness and action. Death Cab for Cutie was also awarded the "Band of the Year" title for their political involvement over the last year.
MFA gave Green Day the award for educating their fan base about current political issues, and not being afraid to speak out against the Man. Green Day actually invited MFA along on several legs of the AI tour so that representatives could encourage their fans to vote and be politically aware.
Generally speaking, music industry awards are a load of shit, but this actually seems like a great award focused on honoring something important. Congrats to Green Day!
Hometown Heroes
At another fairly prestigious award ceremony on the 19th of this month, Green Day were recognized by the San Francisco Recording Academy. The place was full of musical greats, but Green Day were the big stars of the night.
They did a fifteen-minute photo shoot, which their manager quickly rushed them away from, and they sat at the only table in the house watched over by beefy security guards! Up onstage, they thanked both Lookout! and Reprise records, and of the actual award, Billie Joe eloquently said, "It's a honor to be here because it's an honor."
Oh well, even Billie Joe can't be expected to think of something brilliant to say ALL the time.
The night closed with a performance by My Chemical Romance. Green Day specifically requested that they perform, so even though the MCR guys are busy recording their new album, they dropped everything and came to San Francisco to play a tribute set for their old buddies.
My Chemical Romance ripped out a medley of songs from Green Day history, including "American Idiot," "Wake Me Up When September Ends," and "When I Come Around." Concert organizers said that at the beginning of the night, MCR seemed kind of out of place, but by the end, even the crustiest old jazz patrons were won over.
Gerard Way, the lead singer for MCR, was happy to have a chance to pay tribute to his friends. He has said that Billie Joe Armstrong taught him not be afraid of fame, although many punk rockers shy away from it as vampires from holy water. From Billy Joe, Gerard learned that there's nothing wrong with being a rock star as long as you use it to inspire people.
Brits Love an American Idiot
On a less band-oriented level, Kerrang! Magazine this month named Billie Joe as one of the top 25 Rock Star Icons that Changed Your World. This is fairly cool, on one level, because they point Billie out rightly as one of the best stage performers and frontmen in the world.
On another level, any media mavens that make a big show of separating Billie Joe from the rest of the band are totally clued-out morons. Kerrang! actually had the balls to say that Billie Joe was the whole band, and did most of the work! What a bunch of bullshit!
It's almost as though some people would like to see the band divided against itself just because that would make for good news. Luckily, that will never happen. The guys know what the score really is, and although some fans are worried that Billie Joe might be getting kind of full of himself, you only have to read or watch a recent interview to hear him go on and on about what an amazing drummer Tre is, and how Mike is the best bassist out there right now.
So, thanks Kerrang! for the mention, but downplaying Tre and Mike's role in Green Day is seriously lame.
I Hate My Generation, but I Especially, Especially Hate Your Generation
This month, tempers continued to flare amongst the dinosaurs of rock and punk who can't seem to get over the fact that Green Day is all grown up and replacing them as the giants of the music industry.
Ted Nugent, bitter that Green Day wasn't interested in his recent offer of doing some collaborative work, slammed the guys for being politically shallow and thoughtlessly critical of the Bush administration. Of course, old Ted's an ardent republican and kind of a has-been, which removes him a step or two from being the most unbiased opinion on the subject.
Perhaps afraid of alienating himself too harshly and completely, Ted closed his comments by admitting that he likes Green Day, owns all their albums, and would be happy to reconcile. Oh Ted, oh poor dear old Ted, what will we do with you?
Johnny Rotten was also quick to capitalize on the attention drawn by his comments of last month by continuing to trash Green Day, saying they were "silly fat kids" who had stolen all of the original ideas employed by the grandfathers of punk. "Nick things from us," mumbled a nearly senile Rotten, "pinch our ideas…" Settle down, old fella, you don't want to give yourself a heart attack.
2006 marks the 30-year anniversary of the year that punk officially broke, according to the Buzzcocks, who along with the Clash, started playing their first shows during the summer of 1976. Maybe all the old rockers are so bitter because of this auspicious occasion. After all, birthdays are only fun until they start reminding you of how old you are.
Of course, not all rock giants are so angry. Coming up on May 19th, VH1 Classics is going to be taping a performance of Elvis Costello and Friends in Atlantic City. Costello has invited relative "newcomers" Fiona Apple, Death Cab for Cutie, and Billie Joe Armstrong to perform alongside him.
All these artists have been around for a while, but there careers are fairly new when compared to the legendary history of Costello, who is arguably (definitely!) more talented and successful than Ted Nugent and Johnny Rotten combined.
Admittedly, the fact that Billie Joe will be performing without Tre and Mike is a little unsettling. As a rule, that's solo artist shit, but who knows, maybe the rest of the guys were busy. Even so, what punk rocker worth his docs would pass up a chance to jam with Costello? Hmmm
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