“I’m not Justin Bieber, you mother f—kers,” Screamed punk-rocker Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day on Sept. 21 at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas. After the band’s statement on the issue, the rocker might have acted as immature as the 18-year-old Bieber.
Armstrong began his on-stage temper tantrum when a generator flashed a sign reading, “1 Minute,” indicating its set was cut short. The Los Angeles Times reported the punk band was cut short to make more time for popular acts Usher and Rihanna, who were also headlining the event.
“I’ve been here since 19-f—cking-88, and you’re going to give me one f—cking minute?” Armstrong said on stage just before smashing his guitar and waving his middle finger in the air.
The act initially made the band look like punk-rock heroes, disparaging popular music and “sticking it to the Man.”
In the ‘70s, punk rock in the U.K. was a counterculture movement that encouraged individuality, loud music and a bad attitude. Iconic punk group Sex Pistols satirically sang “God Save the Queen,” insulting the government and rejecting authorities.
Armstrong spoke like a true punk rocker when he interrupted the band’s song “Basket Case” to tell Clear Channel, the promoters of iHeartRadio Music Festival, “this is a f—cking joke.”
However, what would have been more punk rock is if the band didn’t apologize for its radical outburst.
Instead, Green Day posted an apology on their website stating, “our set was not cut short by Clear Channel” and that it apologizes to anyone it offended at the festival.
Green Day also announced, Armstrong would be checking into rehab for substance abuse, alluding that he was under the influence when his tantrum ensued.
Armstrong could not choose a worse time to have such an outburst as the band is set to release its new album, “Uno!” on Sept. 25 along with a signing at Tilly’s in Burbank, Calif. Since Armstrong’s rehab announcement, the event has been postponed.
The fact that the band would release an album and are signing autographs at the clothing corporation Tilly’s is a not very “punk rock.”
Green Day was going to make appearances on TV shows like “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to promote its three new albums to be releasing within the next few months. This mass promotion is no different than that of Usher or Bieber. The band should not act like they are above other mainstream pop artists.
The group is debatably one of the last real punk-influenced bands still touring and performing with international success. Unfortunately, the band has been selling out since 2004’s “American Idiot” became the anti-American yet tragically American-pop-punk album of the decade.
Green Day has not stayed true to its punk roots in years, and therefore do not have the right to act like divas.
Armstrong’s guitar-smashing, middle-finger-giving cussing spree seemed justified and epic in the moment, but by taking a second to realize how the band has sold-out in the past 10 years makes it look amateurish and embarrassing.
Punk rock should be resurrected and glorified, and Armstrong only pushes the genre back in the ground deeper with his undeserved sense of entitlement.
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