"Why I am Apparently Less of a Fan for skipping Green Day at Dreamforce

[DTH]

its not about the music, i think i made that point clear. there is a lot of music i dislike, but respect it at the same time for how the artists are... but many times assholes are making shitty music as well. theres a correlation.

Well, I for one really like that Green Day get involved in stuff that isn't expected... I like that they're not arrogant people. They appreciate all types of music and don't judge other artists' choices, like many other bands do. If they had the reverse attitude, like it seems you'd like them to have, they wouldn't play at iHeart, this conference, appear on the Voice and even agree to be part of MTV awards etc, because of the "We're better than that" attitude.
I really admire them for their attitude towards the popular culture these days.

[Heather.]

I fail to see how Green Day "had values and lost them." No one was offering 19-year-old Green Day a chance to do any of the things they are doing now. You can bet your ass that if someone did, they would have jumped. They have had one value since the beginning and that's ambition. Billie said so himself I believe in the Dookie documentary (Ultimate Albums). "You can hang me for that." He said that when he was 22. They always wanted to take this as far as they could go.

[green day is]

I fail to see how Green Day "had values and lost them." No one was offering 19-year-old Green Day a chance to do any of the things they are doing now. You can bet your ass that if someone did, they would have jumped. They have had one value since the beginning and that's ambition. Billie said so himself I believe in the Dookie documentary (Ultimate Albums). "You can hang me for that." He said that when he was 22. They always wanted to take this as far as they could go.

Yet he sings about consumerism, "stuffed in a coffin ten percent more free", and the destructive influence of a media driven society, "everybody do the propaganda and sing along to the age of paranoia"/"cater to the class and paranoid, music to my nervous system" (not to mention more objective examples from interviews/stage banter, I'm just quoting songs). Not many people actually care that they signed to a major label or that they go on MTV and talk shows and that they accepts awards and all that junk, it's the beliefs they try to claim that they hold at the same time. You can't say you want Steve Jobs to die one day and release an Angry Birds app the next. It isn't that they had values and lost them, it's that they claim to have values that they don't.

[Heather.]

Yet he sings about consumerism, "stuffed in a coffin ten percent more free", and the destructive influence of a media driven society, "everybody do the propaganda and sing along to the age of paranoia"/"cater to the class and paranoid, music to my nervous system" (not to mention more objective examples from interviews/stage banter, I'm just quoting songs). Not many people actually care that they signed to a major label or that they go on MTV and talk shows and that they accepts awards and all that junk, it's the beliefs they try to claim that they hold at the same time. You can't say you want Steve Jobs to die one day and release an Angry Birds app the next. It isn't that they had values and lost them, it's that they claim to have values that they don't.

Well to be fair I think Billie was high when he said the Steve Jobs thing and regrets it. But anyway, I do think there's a difference between "claiming to have values that you don't" and "striving to have values." I think most Americans have a deep-rooted understanding that Walmart is evil. Will I, and most of those consumer-conscious people, buy something from Walmart again our lifetimes? Most likely. Many values that we strive to uphold are either difficult or circumstantial.

I also honestly (and I mean no disrespect to Billie or the band) believe they're not really smart enough to realize that what they say and what they do don't match up. I really picture them being "Angry Birds!? Haha, cool!" and if someone wanted to sit them down and have a deep intellectual conversation about consumerism they, or Billie, would be kind of a fish out of water. I always think about that article where the interviewer took Billie to task about how Green Day merch was made by little fingers in Bangladesh or whatever, and isn't that hypocritical, and Billie was just kind of like shrinking and quietly responded, "I didn't realize." And you just get the impression he believes in his values but he's part of a machine that's bigger than him, that he doesn't really know how to control (if he can control it at all).

This is also the same guy who said "Apathy rules" so maybe it's OK and always been clear that he doesn't give a shit about his own values

[DTH]

i think you make billie here dumber than he is... he exactly knows what the band is doing. and honestly i think deep down hes still in conflict about how the band developed since american idiot. but obviously the business is more important at the moment.

[DookieLukie]

The only people who call others sellouts are the ones that are jealous of the success they never experienced.

[WhiteTim]

You can be ambitious and still have the values Green Days sings about...

[laurie_black]

Chris Moreno SF ‏@morenochris 20 Nov

Wow, amazing $6.5 Million donation made to UCSF Children's Hospital today, courtesy of Green Day & http://salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff.

Quite impressive, I think.

[Tubbie Head]

Chris Moreno SF ‏@morenochris 20 Nov

Wow, amazing $6.5 Million donation made to UCSF Children's Hospital today, courtesy of Green Day & http://salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff.

Quite impressive, I think.

That's amazing!