Billie Joe on the cover of Rolling Stone "The Road Back From Hell"

[Bastard of 1967]

St. Jimmy isn't the same as The Reverend.

One's a drug addict, the other's an alcoholic. Your point is?

[WhiteTim]

One's a drug addict, the other's an alcoholic. Your point is?

Exactly I'd say St Jimmy is worse than The Rev...

[HolyHandGrenade]

One's a drug addict, the other's an alcoholic. Your point is?

I feel like The Rev IS alcohol, while there is so much more to St. Jimmy than what he appeared to be - just like how Billie Joe is so much more than his problems. When I said St. Jimmy isn't dead, I guess I meant that Billie doesn't have to "blow his brains out into the bay" - he can be the St. Jimmy that recovered from his issues and kept that fighting spirit.

[jacknovella]

I can't exactly explain it. You see, I've always gathered Tre as being a shy guy, whose really quite sensitive and a little lost. I feel that to him, Green Day is the world by a thousand. It's his everything. I think sometimes, I feel a little sorry for Tre. I have no idea why though! Sometimes, when I think of Green Day and their friendship with each other, the phrase "Two is company, three's a crowd" comes to mind.

How exactly did it make you feel?

I actually completely get you there, I have wondered before if he's ever felt a bit like a third wheel considering Mike and Billie seem to be such a tight knit unit. Don't get me wrong I'm sure they're ALL really close, but obviously Billie and Mike were close friends before they even met Tre, so he was kind of an outsider to that relationship.

For this specific thing though, I kinda thought he might be scared because it's horrible to see someone you care about fall to pieces like that and perhaps he almost wanted to distance himself from it. Have you ever had a friend break down in front of you and you know you should say something, anything, but you don't know what to say? Maybe it was something like that. I don't like to speculate too much though because there's only so much we know as fans and I'm sure there's a lot more to the story that we don't know about, and we shouldn't really know about

[Heather.]

And that, my friend, is the problem, the challenge, and the solution rolled up into the same bundle. You have anxiety, depression, an addiction, whoever your St. Jimmy happens to be -- he's never curable, never fixable. You learn how to manage him, to how keep him dormant in the background, how to keep him contained so he doesn't ruin your life. But he never goes away.

And not only is St. Jimmy never fixable, he's seductive and enticing and also something that Billie has in many ways idealized over the years. He loves the character, and even though he's aware of its dangers, he's very much attracted to it. I don't know how much Billie has necessarily romanticized addiction over the last few years, but I don't know if St. Jimmy killing himself off on Broadway every night was necessarily a therapeutic way of convincing Billie how bad St. Jimmy really is.

Of course that sounds ridiculous, I'm speaking as if Billie is some dumb child easily swayed by a video game or something. In interviews he always said St. Jimmy isn't just addiction, it's all bad things.

Exactly I'd say St Jimmy is worse than The Rev...

Because St. Jimmy was realer to Billie's spirit whereas the Rev is basically an alter ego/excuse to drink. St. Jimmy was the manifestation of his problems, the Rev was an excuse to temporarily fuck shit up. The former is more serious.

[stories and songs]

At the same time, even though Billie loves the character of St. Jimmy, he did always speak about how AI was semi-autobiographical and St. Jimmy represented the self-destructive side of him. St. Jimmy is a a dark, ugly piece of writing. I say that in the best way - to be able to write about the dark side of oneself in that way takes so much talent. But its scary. Its beautiful and frightening to possess such self-awareness in one's writing.

I remember Billie saying in an interview once that he never wanted to hit the self-destruct button in public; that he did that in private. My hope is that now he won't hit the self-destruct button at all. He said in Rolling Stone that he never wants his fans to seem him the way he was at iHeart ever again, and I love him for saying that, as I don't want to see that again, either. That said, I hope that he will never have to see that side of himself come out, either.

[germanfuzaloo]

oh yeah forgot... I'm still hoping he got off weed too

*sigh*

[xLumian]

is this thing out in stores yet, i couldnt find it anywhere

[germanfuzaloo]

Man, that interview was good. I think it takes a lot of courage to recognize you have a problem and get treatment, but then talk to the WORLD about it? That takes some cojones. I didn't suspect he was that far down, but I can't say I was surprised. So glad he's doing better!

[Heather.]

At the same time, even though Billie loves the character of St. Jimmy, he did always speak about how AI was semi-autobiographical and St. Jimmy represented the self-destructive side of him. St. Jimmy is a a dark, ugly piece of writing. I saw that in the best way - to be able to write about the dark side of oneself in that way takes so much talent. But its scary. Its beautiful and frightening to possess such self-awareness in one's writing.

I remember Billie saying in an interview once that he never wanted to hit the self-destruct button in public; that he did that in private. My hope is that now he won't hit the self-destruct button at all. He said in Rolling Stone that he never wants his fans to seem him the way he was at iHeart ever again, and I love him for saying that, as I don't want to see that again, either. That said, I hope that he will never have to see that side of himself come out, either.

And that's also I think where the uneasiness of this article is coming from... you get the vibe Billie knows he has to be strong for his family, friends, band, and fans... he doesn't want to be a fuckup for us, for them. As many have said, he needs to feel that for himself as well.

I'm always of two minds with it... whenever I hear about addicts or drunks, and they become fathers and immediately quit drinking or whatever because they have a child now, and it all sounds so doable and admirable, and I don't question it. With Billie, because he has a history of powering through his troubles while still functioning, you do get the impression he's the type of guy that would really benefit from doing this for himself and not because the world needs him to get better. Not that family and friends aren't incentive enough to stay healthy for, but...

I always think of that interview where he said he never wants to be a burden on anyone. He obviously realizes that "he WAS the joke," and knows that his actions really were burdensome and hurtful, so if that's his motivating force, that's great. I just think it's easy for someone in this situation to feel like he's doing this out of a sense of responsibility to others and not as a responsibility to himself. And that's admirable, and maybe effective, so I'm not sure if it's actually a problem, but there have been so many people who have said the only true way to succeed long term at this is to do it for no one other than yourself. On that front though, we know this man is capable of some mighty honest self-reflection, which gets me even more excited for the music he's writing right now.

Fricke asked him if there was a "rehab" album in the works, and although he skirted around what the music itself is about (rightfully so, we don't want Billie even more overwhelmed, thinking about upcoming tours and also thinking ahead to the next album, which sounds insanely stressful), I'm sure that album will serve as a second tell-all interview in a way. He said RS was the only interview he was going to do about rehab, but whatever album comes out after the trilogy is basically going to be an even more revealing second blast.

[BJA_SA]

Green Day is not selling out by changing their sound over the years. That's how you evolve as a band/artist. If you do the same thing over and over, you will be forgotten and only remembered for doing that one thing. If The Beatles did the same pop routine throughout their whole career and never changed their sound at all then they wouldn't be one of the best bands of all time.

[Heather.]

So, uh, is 80's tweet about never drinking coffee her saying that Rolling Stone got it wrong, she *does* drink alcohol?

Way to blow it Rolling Stone At the same time, where was the transition in Billie's thinking?

[MaraGreenDay]

Omg is true about the tweet!!! this is weird, i don't know what to think

[Heather.]

It doesn't really make sense that he would be talking about coffee at that point in the conversation, unless he was referring to a caffeine addiction

[stories and songs]

WTF. If RS misconstrued the quote about her not drinking alcohol at all when it was really about coffee (an interesting but not essential part of the interview), it makes me wonder what else was inaccurate! Oh my. That's embarrassing. But seriously, what transition are we missing where BIllie started talking about coffee? LOL. Maybe for these last 45 pages we've been analyzing nothing but lies!

Regarding an earlier post from Heather. - he definitely discussed holding it together more for the fans and the band more than for himself. Though, strangely enough, he didn't discuss even holding it together for his family much, either (other than that first mention that he has his family to take care of, but I found that entire first page to be somewhat vague and filled with what seemed like strung together quotes - anyone else get that? The first page read weird, no matter how many times I looked over it). But, as I said before - just because he didn't talk about it doesn't mean he isn't thinking it or feeling it, or even that he didn't discuss it and it was simply left out of what made it to print. I think (or at least, I very much so hope) that even though he didn't do it for his sake to begin with, he's doing it for himself now. At the same time, I realize that must be difficult for a person who managed to hold together a long, successful career and a long, successful marriage while facing addiction for years. When you add on to that with the fact that he can no longer take the pills that were supposedly helping him sleep and relax (although, being that he took so many of them, perhaps they weren't working anyway), that is a whole lot of reason NOT to stay sober. And I understand that. But, he knows now that he was sick, and that the excuses and rationalizations made to continue living the way he was were not logical. And that is a REALLY good thing.

From my view, Billie has always been frighteningly self-aware. I'm sure he has a lot of reflection going on regarding why he wants to stay sober for him and what addiction did to him in the past.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

But I've read the interview again and still am so proud of him for being so open about his addiction I didn't really expect him to since it's really not any of our business. I mean I wouldn't if were in his position and if some reporter asked about my rehab I would be like one of those no comments people. i really hope he's ready for this tour since he mentions he didn't know if he was complety ready, but billie isn't someone who can sit around for a long time. So hopefully all will be well.

Ah, you "no comment" people...

Just kidding. That's, like, my biggest peeve ever though. That's why I'm so glad he was willing to open up like this. It was a very professional, informative interview. I'm sure it helped him talking through it. Who knows, maybe it can help inspire/motivate people with similar problems too.

Thanks you Alissa for uploading this. A very good read

You're welcome.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

So, uh, is 80's tweet about never drinking coffee her saying that Rolling Stone got it wrong, she *does* drink alcohol?

Way to blow it Rolling Stone At the same time, where was the transition in Billie's thinking?

Guess that's what dangerous about having someone speak for you in an interview... but then again... you can usually trust your husband to get it right, right? I usually give the reporter the benefit of the doubt, but I thought that part about her not drinking seemed a bit odd.

[spark in the night]

I saw that tweet too. The plot thickens.

[pasalaska]

I sure hope that was a genuine misunderstanding and not a twisting of meaning on RS's behalf. There's the story Billie's told of their wedding day where they were nervous and drank a whole load of beers, is there not? Hm.

[WhiteTim]

I think it may have been a honest mistake Frickle is a very respectful writer (I mean from his past articles)

[VisionsofGreenDay115]

There really isnt a problem with what he mistook in the article. Oh no, he accidentally told the world that Billie's wife hates alcohol. Shit is going down.. no, that just makes Adrienne look like more of a responsible woman.

I did realize that the song Sweet 16 has the line, "Brown eyed girl, thats throwing down a bottle of Old English." Which is obviously a reference to Adrienne (Billie mentioned that the song was about her) drinking as a teenager. That made me wonder why the article had that written.

[Mar]

HAH that's my Tumblr! I also posted that on page 27 in this thread

But excuse me while I have a moment over the fact that people actually look at my Tumblr.

And then there's this

[Guest]

And then there's this

OH MY FUCKING GOD WHAAAAAT. That's fucking awesome I'm so happy right now!

[Mar]

OH MY FUCKING GOD WHAAAAAT. That's fucking awesome I'm so happy right now!

ikr? I'm an ONTD addict and that poster is wonderful about posting GD news and there's a core group of us that post in those posts (as you can see by the comments). It made me so happy to see your Tumblr as the source for the text!

[Guest]

ikr? I'm an ONTD addict and that poster is wonderful about posting GD news and there's a core group of us that post in those posts (as you can see by the comments). It made me so happy to see your Tumblr as the source for the text!

Ehehehe oh Lordy. This is so sad to be this excited but meh, I find it awesome!

I was looking through them & someone commented about my spelling errors and its like YOU TRY TYPING A GIANT ASS INTERVIEW UP IN LIMITED TIME WITHOUT MESSING UP. Now to go to my blog and fix said errors