Cracked.com article on Green Day incident

[HeeeyOhhhBillieJoe]

Green Day haven't said they were Punk in years. Billie Joe said they were no longer a Punk band but they're going in a more Alternative rock route. So them so called Punk experts can shut up.

And for one who's saying what they were doing in the first place was a demonstration of Punk? Billie obviously has problems, like an addiction to drugs or alcohol. He took it a little too far and took his problems out on Usher and Bieber lol

I am a Green Day fan and have been for almost 10 years now, it's annoying to see the amount of hate this band gets... people need to know their facts before they stick their long noses into shit they don't understand. Any excuse for haters to get involved.

[Trina]

^ Yeah, another thing that pisses me off is this guy obviously has no understanding of punk so why even write an article about what's so0o0 not?!

I think most of us scratched our heads on why theyd be playing this event with a bunch of poptarts. All I know is BJA ranted on and on like an entitled baby on that stage and I was completely ashamed, because that is not the rockstar BJA i know and loooooooooove. He truly embarassed himself up there. As far as I know the only apology came from the Green Day website/management.

As you point out this article may only be half-true on what went on that night I think it does interpret the rant correctly as just fucking lame.

They've done many other events with similar types throughout the years. With this era they wanted to play big shows, small shows, inbetween shows, punk clubs, theatres and "poptart" festivals alongside arenas and stadium shows. I think they're really going with a "why not" vibe this era and I think they decided to play it for the reasons mentioned above. I don't think he was acting particularly entitled, or at least not non-understandably so. I actually agreed with a lot of what he said but now we know he was under the influence in whatever way and maybe he didn't fully mean all the things he said so can we really judge them as we would if he was sober. Yeah being drunk or high is not an excuse for something but I do think you have to look at the situation differently if that's the case. Well, I think he only embarrassed himself if he personally thinks so which I guess he might. I'm not embarrassed of him anyways. Yeah, that's the apology I was referring to. I'm sure Billie Joe was asked to ok it though and this event seems to be the trigger which made him decide to go to rehab and sort things out a bit.

[Rivada]

"Guyliner dependency hasn't been ruled out yet". *smirk* I'm sorry, but. That was funny. Guyliner is the most unnatural, cosmetic thing you can do and we all have to admit that when he was suddenly wearing it us oldschool fans were taken aback. And his claim that he'd been around since 1988 - they have a point: 1988 wasn't that long ago compared to the legends throughout the history of rock and roll.

[RoosterTeeth]

I usually like Adam Tod Brown's articles. At least he's not Gladstone.

[Vespertine]

Green Day haven't said they were Punk in years. Billie Joe said they were no longer a Punk band but they're going in a more Alternative rock route. So them so called Punk experts can shut up.

And for one who's saying what they were doing in the first place was a demonstration of Punk? Billie obviously has problems, like an addiction to drugs or alcohol. He took it a little too far and took his problems out on Usher and Bieber lol

I am a Green Day fan and have been for almost 10 years now, it's annoying to see the amount of hate this band gets... people need to know their facts before they stick their long noses into shit they don't understand. Any excuse for haters to get involved.

I am so sick of that punk thing. God, I used to care about that when I was like 12. It's sad to see "adults" arguing about that like it should matter. Can't people listen to Green Day without having to point out whether they're punk or not? And can't haters shut the fuck up about it?

[Tommy's Tonsils]

The way this guy's talking about how long Usher's been around is misleading. It says he put out his first album in 1991, and Green Day put out their first LP in 1990. The members of the band, at least Billie and Mike, had been playing music together years before 1987.

But yeah, I don't think this article warrants a serious response, it's Cracked

[Slave To The Network]

Hmmm. I love Cracked.com, but they are unreasonably cruel to Green Day in virtually all the articles that they mention them in. I always just dismiss these as ignorance and disrespect then move on to a different article. It's a shame they had to pick on this incident. Billie Joe is already getting enough attention from the media, he doesn't need a bunch of sites like Cracked bitching him out too. Oh well, they're just a humor site after all and the article is obviously very biased anyway.

Hmm, I suppose our definitions of interesting are different then. The thing is, if the article was about the media's reaction and their headlines about Billie's "explosive meltdown" and such and how they were an overreaction then yeah, he'd have a point. I just don't even feel there's any perspective, there's nothing... I don't think you can really analyze someone's "substance" affected words and actions like that. This wasn't a case of Billie Joe trying to be punk rock, it was a case of Billie Joe being wasted, in whatever way and saying and doing things he seemingly regrets to some extent, seeing as he apologised. This thing about Usher is all based on an untruth. Billie Joe never said he was cut short because of usher, he never said he was cut short at all. When you only have three points and one of them is based on a lie...wlll...you've already lost a third of your legitimacy. The point about why they were even playing that festival and that they were shooting for pop stardom is pretty stale and lame imo. I assumed they thought, why the fuck not, some weird festival in vegas, a chance to win over some non-fans, have a good time, bring the family, etc. Billie Joe even asked the fans on instagram who else was on the bill the day before so it's not like they were that clued in.

I don't care if people talk about it (though I don't think there's much to discuss), I just think the article's genuinely crap and irrelevant. Uninteresting.

Well said! I agree with every word. I noticed how they made that big deal about Usher too and thought the same. Billie never mentioned that in his rant at all.

[porksoda]

Cracked.com is supposed to be a comedy site, but this article is clearly not written in that tone. I've read other similar articles from them as well, and it's obvious they're not really intended to be funny, except for maybe shock value.

As for the article...

#3: I don't think Billie was referring to Usher. I think he was referring to the corporate pop acts like Rihanna and Justin Beiber who have been lucky enough to get almost overnight success. I saw it as he was upset Rihanna was headlining (if you can call it that) over them.

#2: This is always the go-to argument for people who don't like Green Day. As others have pointed out, a lot of people think that Green Day still claim to be a punk band, when all they've really claimed is that they do whatever the fuck they want. Secondly, these people seem to forget that Green Day are under contract with a major record label and not every performance or appearance is by their choice. I can't say whether they chose to play the iHeartRadio fest themselves (although I doubt they did), but I'm sure there's some give and take so they can do the things they actually want to do.

#1: I don't really have anything to say about their last point, other then I kind of agree. But I don't think it's right to harshly lump in Billie with the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen, when he's generally a pretty decent guy.

[Sixtrix]

The only problem I have with this article is that it is shaking the leaves that are already on the ground. The punk discussion has been going on since forever and the "been around since 1988" is quite an easy one to pick on.

I know this is how media works but I hope enough people are smart enough to realize that Billie's personal problems are not ours to interfere with and that he's actually a great guy who has slightly fallen astray. But that can happen to the best, so I'm hoping this will blow away fast enough so Billie can take enough time to fully recover.

[Eponine]

The tone of the article does seem to come off as a bit harsher than Cracked's other articles. But I think it does raise an interesting point - what the fuck were Green Day's management thinking, putting them in a performance like that? It's embarrassing to watch them pander to a crowd of Rihanna-loving tweens.

At the end of the day, it's the internet. Shit like this is always going to be posted. And the sooner the music execs stop pushing Green Day into the fairytale land of continuous pop success, the faster this stuff will blow over. They all just need to come to terms with where Green Day's fanbase actually lies.

[WrongWayToSalvation]

But... Green Day are a popular rock act...

Pop meaning popular, which they are.

Remember, they still look like the sterotypical Hot Topic "Punk".

Punk isn't about being weird for the sake of being weird, or doing whatever the fuck you want. Its about DIY, Do It Yourself, do it to help others. Live life not just for the benefit of yourself, but others. That's what Punk is. The "Ill do whatevee the fuck Iwant and I dont care" thing is the mainstream idea of what it is. False "individuality". You don't have to be a hipster to be punk.