Green Day's lead singer loses the plot

[Troy]

Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong is headed to treatment for substance abuse.

Sunday's announcement by the band's rep comes after the 40-year-old frontman had a meltdown onstage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on Friday. As Green Day was wrapping up its performance during the all-star, two-day concert, Armstrong profanely complained that the band's time was being cut short.

"One minute left, one minute (expletive) left. You're gonna give me (expletive) one minute? ... I'm not (expletive) Justin Bieber, you (expletives)!" he yelled (although Bieber was not part of the night's festivities).

Armstrong smashed his guitar before leaving the stage.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Green Day apologized "to those they offended at the iHeartRadio Festival" and said its set was not cut short by Clear Channel, the host of the two-day festival.
The Grammy winning band also is canceling some of its promotional appearances. It is due to release the album "Uno" on Tuesday, the follow-up to "21st Century Breakdown," released three years ago. "Uno" is the first in a trilogy of albums; the second is to be out in November, and the last in January. The band is due to kick off a nationwide tour Nov. 26 in Seattle.

Armstrong was hospitalized in early September in Bologna, Italy, for an undisclosed ailment, but recovered well enough to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 6. Since then, the band has made a series of performances, including a "Good Morning America" performance and a New York City concert for the launch of Nokia Music on Sept. 15. No interviews of the band were allowed that evening, but the band chatted with fans and Nokia and AT&T executives before performing for about two hours.

It's unclear what Armstrong is receiving treatment for; in 2003, he was arrested for DUI, and has acknowledged in the past taking various drugs but has said he now eschews them.

Green Day is one of rock's top acts and had huge success with its 2004 politically charged album "American Idiot," which went on to become a Broadway musical. Armstrong performed for a stretch in the musical.

Most recently, he was a mentor on the NBC talent competition "The Voice."

Seems like he is a bit envious of Bieber's success after that rant at that concert. Might be a way to get publicity before their album release this week but it is a pretty weird way to go about it. Strange that they are releasing three albums in the space of a few months.

Personally I am not a fan of Greenday and think that they should have evolved a bit more over the decades, they are still a punk angst group yet they don't really have anything to be so worked up about.

 

[ThatGuyFromNukemHigh]

About the releases, one of the bands I listen to is releasing 4 albums starting in October, and ending in January, hell The Cure's newest album had 4 singles released once a week until the actual album released, or theres System of a Down and the Hypnotize/Mezmerize that was released seperately, but considered a double disc album. These things happen from time to time, so I dont see that as being odd.

The comments he made, at most Rock concerts I go to the times are decided on tracks(you have enough time to play one track, etc.), so telling them that they only have "one minute" sounds very weird to me, as what difference is it going to make if they play another 3:30 track, losing 2 & 1/2 minutes of tear down/set-up is no big deal really, and just makes the roadies actually work instead of dick around on stage. Whereas the pop scene seems like they are there for this set amount of time(I will be on stage from 9-10, and not 1 second longer) and believe their time is worth everything. This is backed up by never hearing about a pop star performing an encore, where a rock band would want to please their fans and give them something extra. I can understand where he is comming from if this is the case.

Cant believe I can actually defend Green Day.

 

[Rated R Superstar]

Not a big fan of Green Day but damn that was funny.

 

[The Cork]

No basket case joke?

Color me disappointed.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

My Sister called me to complain about this. I started laughing and hung up on her.

 

[Pete]

Very mature for a 40 year old :fp:

The album is good though, a fun return to their punky sound. Considering this had the potential to be an overbloated opera-rock mess, I'm not complaining.

 

[Deezy]

So he didn't have the time to listen to him whine?

 

[Pete]

^No, it was the people at iHeart who didn't have the time to listen to him whine, about nothing and everything all at once.

 

[Mick Donalds]

Green Day is a joke. They're like the now version of Nirvana.

"We're anti-corporate and "punk" in our lyrical aproach, but when Daddy Warbucks in his suit up there in the Record Label tells me to do something, I do exactly as he wishes."

If you read between the lines of the story it's this: "Record label tells Green Day management to throw lead singer in rehab so they can salvage the new album"

 

[Rated R Superstar]

They're the music isn't even that amazing he ain't no damn legend who can run his mouth.