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Green Day Throws Big Stones at Wal-Mart
 May 26, 2009 – It’s getting ugly between Green Day and Wal-Mart. The huge department chain refused to carry their new album, "21st Century Breakdown," after the group refused to edit out the naughty language. Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong says, "Wal-Mart's become the biggest retail outlet in the country, but they won't carry our record because they wanted us to censor it.”
You might not know this but albums bought at Wal-Mart are usually given special edits. Remember the Blockbuster video fiasco where movies rented at that chain were cleaner? Many boycotted Blockbuster over the practice though I doubt this will make a difference to either Wal-Mart or Green Day in this case. The band still has the No. 1 album in the U.S. and Wal-Mart is still selling cheap prescription drugs – everyone’s happy!
Armstrong said, "They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there, We just said no. We've never done it before. You feel like you're in 1953 or something." Wal-Mart said they do this with any album containing curse words. They do not stock “Parental Advisory” CD’s.
The Green Day singer continues, "If you think about bands that are struggling or smaller than Green Day ... to think that to get record your out in places like that, but they won't carry it because of the content and you have to censor yourself," he said. "I mean, what does that say to a young kid who’s trying to speak his mind making a record for the first time? It's like a game that you have to play. You have to refuse to play it." – by John Beaudin |
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Green Day Gears up for Big “21st Century Breakdown” Release
 May 13, 2009 – It’s the album that Green Day detractors will love. That seems to be the buzz on the “21st Century Breakdown,” the new Green Day CD being released this week. Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool are keeping busy with stops at Best Buy on 5th Avenue in New York City on Friday and look for them as musical guests on Saturday Night Live this weekend.
Armstrong told MTV news that the new project features new destinations for the band that came about quite unconsciously, "We just wanted to evolve naturally. There was no decision like, 'This is how we're gonna sound.' But for this it was like, 'Let's keep moving forward and see where the music takes us.' I love a lot of, like, British invasion. I love The Who and Cheap Trick and the Ramones. And it's like trying to take that power-pop or that pop-punk or whatever you want to call it, and stretching it into places that are further than we've ever gone."
"After we came back from tour, we started fooling around with ideas, coming into the studio with a blank page sometimes. You don't know what to do," Tre Cool said. "So we got some drum heads and we put a nail in the wall, and we wrote sort of a pie graph thing, of different eras and genres on there, and we'd spin it, and it would say like, 'Death Metal, '60s Garage Psychedelic' or whatever, and then we'd be forced to go in and write something with that... that's how it all started."
Green Day’s North American tour kicks off in Seattle on July 3rd. – by John Beaudin |
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Green Day's upcoming North American tour dates are as follows:
July 3 Seattle, WA @ Key Arena
July 4 Vancouver, BC @ GM Place
July 6 Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
July 7 Saskatoon, SK @ Credit Union Centre
July 9 Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Centre
July 10 Fargo, ND @ Fargo Dome
July 11 Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
July 13 Chicago, IL @ United Center
July 14 Detroit, MI @ Palace Of Auburn Hils
July 16 Hamilton, ON @ Copps Coliseum
July 17 Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Place
July 18 Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
July 20 Boston, MA @ TD Banknorth Garden
July 21 Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Spectrum
July 22 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mellon Arena
July 24 Hartford, CT @ XL Center
July 25 Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
July 27 New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
July 29 Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
July 31 Nashville, TN @ Somet Center
Aug. 1 Atlanta, GA @ Gwinnett Center
Aug. 3 Tampa, FL @ St. Pete Times Forum
Aug. 4 Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena
Aug. 5 Orlando, FL @ Amway Arena
Aug. 7 New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Arena
Aug. 8 Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
Aug. 9 San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
Aug. 11 St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
Aug. 12 Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
Aug. 13 Omaha, NE @ Qwest Center
Aug. 15 Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
Aug. 16 Salt Lake City, UT @ Energy Sol Arena
Aug. 18 San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion
Aug. 20 San Diego, CA @ Cox Arena
Aug. 21 Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay Bay Events Centre
Aug. 22 Phoenix, AZ @ US Air Arena
Aug. 24 Sacramento, CA @ Arco Arena
Aug. 25 Los Angeles, CA @ Forum
Sept. 28 Lisbon, Portugal @ Atlantico Pavilion
Sept. 29 Madrid, Spain @ Palacio De Deportes De La Comunidad
Oct. 1 Barcelona, Spain @ Palau San Jordi
Oct. 2 Toulouse, France @ Zenith
Oct. 4 Paris, France @ Bercy
Oct. 5 Cologne, Germany @ Cologne Arena
Oct. 7 Berlin, Germany @ O2 World Arena
Oct. 8 Hamburg, Germany @ Color Line Arena
Oct. 9 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Forum
Oct. 11 Stockholm, Sweden @ The Globe
Oct. 12 Oslo, Norway @ Spectrum
Oct. 16 Rotterdam, Netherlands @ Ahoy
Oct. 17 Antwerp, Belgium @ Sportpalais
Oct. 19 Glasgow, Scotland @ Scottish Exhibition And Conference Centre
Oct. 20 Belfast, Northern Ireland @ Odyssey Arena
Oct. 21 Dublin, Ireland @ The O2
Oct. 23-24 London, England @ The O2
Oct. 26 Sheffield, England @ Sheffield Arena
Oct. 27-28 Birmingham, England @ LG Arena
Oct. 30-31 Manchester, England @ Manchester Evening News Arena
Nov. 1 London, England @ Wembley Arena
Nov. 3 Munich, Germany @ Olympiahalle
Nov. 6 Vienna, Austria @ Stadhalle
Nov. 8 Zurich, Switzerland @ Hallenstadion
Nov. 10 Milan, Italy @ Datchforum
Nov. 11 Bologna, Italy @ Futur Show
Nov. 12 Turin, Italy @ Palaolimpico
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More Green Day Tour Dates
 April 28, 2009 - '21st Century Breakdown,' Green Day’s new album is set for worldwide release on Friday, May 15th and as anticipation is building for their fans so is the stretch of the tour. The group has just released more dates, this time in the UK, including Glasgow and Birmingham.
The album has been a long time coming. Work first started in early 2006 with much of the early project being scrapped for newer inspirations. Legendary producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins) is at the helm of the project.
Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong says he wants to bend the formula on their next album, "I really like fucking with arrangements, and I always try to look at the possibilities of how you write power-pop music," says Armstrong. "I'm pushing myself to be progressive in songwriting." – Chas Dordie
The UK dates
10/19 – Glasgow, SECC
10/23 – London, O2
10/24 – London, O2
10/26 – Sheffield, Arena
10/27 – Birmingham, LG Arena
10/28 – Birmingham, LG Arena
10/30 – Manchester, MEN Arena
10/31 – Manchester, MEN Arena |
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Green Day Ready to Cause a Ruckus on Tour but not on Idol
 April 21, 2009 – Green Day have been known for making a little noise and with their eighth studio album, ‘21st Century Breakdown’ set for release May 15th and a North American tour it could be a fun summer.
The band has just announced dates beginning in Seattle, WA on July 3rd and finishing with two shows in Los Angeles on August 26th.
Singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool started working on ‘Breakdown’ in 2006. The set is produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins). The first single, "Know Your Enemy" was released to radio last week.
Armstrong notices some rockers mellowing out in old age while Green Day is trying hard to maintain-the-cool. A few years ago when the band performed on American Idol some fans cried foul. Even though they performed their great interpretation of John Lennon’s ‘Working Class Hero,’ Armstrong told Spinner.com their grit almost got them kicked off the show, "We almost got thrown off the show before it even started because they didn't trust us," he said. "It's like, 'Man, we've done this so many times. We can do this.' And finally they're like, 'OK, you guys have to record it before.' So we played to a completely empty room."
Armstrong did say however that he still watches American Idol and loves Adam Lambert but would never return as a mentor. He’s had his fill of participating in that type of TV, "There are two things I would never do: One is I'll never do my own reality TV show, and two is I'll never watch Titanic. I live in Oakland, not Hollywood," Armstrong said. Concert dates above. - by John Beaudin |
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Green Day finds New Sense of Purpose on Each New Album
 Dec. 4, 2008 – Remember when Green Day first came out? How many critics, including me, called them rip-offs of everything that was good in punk? Their Raw Rock, Post Punk sound slowly won me and everybody else over since their debut in the early nineties. I don’t know how they do it but every album sounds fresh, real, and relevant. In fact ‘American Idiot’ from 2004 actually made me watch a video, from start to finish, for the first time in years. I think I freakin’ clapped at the end.
Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong says he wants to bend the formula on their next album, "I really like fucking with arrangements, and I always try to look at the possibilities of how you write power-pop music," says Armstrong. "I'm pushing myself to be progressive in songwriting.
Armstrong told Alternative Press, "I come from a culture where I'm into great albums. I'm not saying I can go for it this hard every time - there might be times when I want to have something that's a little bit more spontaneous and off the cuff - but with this record, the feeling's been that you've got to just go for it."
The singer believes Green Day’s best albums could be ahead of them, helping out this time as producer will be Butch Vig, "He's just got a lot of integrity and a lot of class." Armstrong has a good reputation, let’s not forget Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind.’ He was also the drummer and mastermind behind the band Garbage. He’s “one of the things I really respect about Butch is that he doesn't just go for things that are going to be million-sellers,"
Armstrong says, "He works with a lot of different kinds of bands, and it could be a platinum band, or it could be more of a garage band. I feel like we kind of come from the same place, where he started in Wisconsin in kind of a garage-y atmosphere and working with bands at Smart Studios, and you know, we made our first record for $700." – by John Beaudin |
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Retro Review: Linda Ronstadt - The Very Best of -Sept. 24, 2002 - In high school my best buddy John Scott could never understand how I, a rocker, preferred Barbra Streisand over Linda Ronstadt. |
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Retro Review: Bruce Hornsby - Spirit Trail- Oct. 16, 1998 - No one could ever accuse Hornsby of not paying attention. Every lyric on 'Spirit Trail,' his sixth album, describes his unquenchable thirst to understand what were all doing here. |
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May 28, 2010 – How could a meeting between a make-up artist and Kiss’ Gene Simmons go so wrong? Well according to documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday the guitarist wanted more from her than she was willing to give and it didn’t involve make-up. 
May 28, 2010 – Didn’t Bret Michaels look healthy on American Idol on Wednesday night? There is a chance he wasn’t. 
May 27, 2010 - File this under “You can’t be good at everything.” Elton John was arguably the biggest solo musician in the world in the seventies and he was easily in the top 10 in the eighties but it seems he was too busy conquering the world to learn to cook. 
May 27, 2010 – The good news is the Faces are back together but the not-so-fine print says Rod Stewart will not be in the mix. 
May 28, 2010 – “What-eva” seems to be what many are saying about Wednesday’s American Idol finale. While 24.2 million viewers checked out Simon Cowell’s swan song it was the show’s lowest rated finale since season one which could spell trouble for winner Lee DeWyze. 
May 27, 2010 – It sure sounds like Paul McCartney is a responsible dad. The former Beatle say he never tours when it’s his turn to look after his daughter Beatrice – his child with ex-wife Heather Mills. 
May 27, 2010 – Slash says he’s not holding his breath for the next big thing in Rock. In fact the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist is disappointed in the current Rock scene. 
May 18, 2010 – Norah Jones says she hasn’t done too many festivals in the past because her music was too “intimate and quiet.” 
May 11, 2010 – The name Phil Collins reminds us of countless hits, huge arena tours and complicated drumming. How about the Alamo? 
April 5, 2010 – Sting seems to be fed up with our paradigms around pot! The singer says we, as a society, spend too much time putting marijuana users in jail when legalizing the substance could feed the hungry of the world. 
