Some thoughts on Billie Joe...

Photo by Jim Kopeny

So Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong flipped out at a concert, insulting a major force in the music biz and then subsequently apologized by checking himself into rehab. The timing couldn't be worse since the band just released the first in a trilogy of albums* coming out in the next few months and this certainly throws a LOT of sand in the gears of the promotional machine.

I got into Green Day a little later than my friends--it was somewhere between Kerplunk! and Dookie that I started listening to them--but it was still a hell of a long time ago. It actually flips me out to even think Armstrong is even over 40 since that makes me feel a little self-conscious about acting my age. I don't know they guy. I've never met the guy. But I like the guy. Even as he became a multi-zillionaire there was just something about him that didn't seem to change at all. To me, that was punk rock, even if their music was wholly welcomed by the mainstream. And I didn't find his "fuck you for telling me I only have one minute left to play" outburst weird at all. In fact, why wouldn't he react that way?

So I found the quick announcement he was sorry and had a substance abuse problem a little out of character. Is it true? Or, and sorry if I'm entering into tin foil hat territory here, is it an attempt to save a valuable brand (Green Day) from being pulled from the shelves by the corporation (Clear Channel) it insulted? I obviously don't know.

Either way I'm pulling for Billie Joe to come out on top.

*It's called ¡Uno! and it's not a rock opera. It's just a collection of quick little punky poppy songs. I'm digging it.