Green Day

Coming Clean
Woodstock ’94 star Billie Joe of Green Day goes triple platinum and lines up with the pansies
By Judy Wieder

......While punk thrives on thumbing its nose at convention, the surprisingly serious Armstrong insists that bringing Pansy Division on the road with Green Day was not just a gimmick to shock fans. Before their switch to a mainstream label (Reprise), Green Day did two albums for Lookout Records, the same label Pansy Division is on. They also share with Pansy Division a commitment to what they call personal politics.

“I think Pansy Division is the kind of band that saves people’s lives,” Armstrong says matter-of-factly. “They’re catchy, and they’re really educational. They’re honest about their sexuality, and that saves lives.”

“Sometimes it gets kind of ugly because there are a lot of ignorant dorks out in the audience, and they start throwing s*** at Pansy Division,” he continues, discussing the tour. “I was kind of discouraged watching the audience flip them off. I kept thinking, s***, these are the people who are here to see us?”

Armstrong’s response was to stop his band’s show in the middle of a set and address the audience. “You’re all f***ing pathetic,” he told them. “There you were, three songs into their set, really enjoying them. And then you figured out from their lyrical content that they’re gay, and now you’re afraid of them. And that’s what it is, you know. You’re afraid of them. Well, I hope you all know that Pansy Division is the future of rock ’n’ roll.”

For Armstrong, who grew up with band member Dirnt in a suburb of Berkeley called Rodeo, homosexuality is neither a new subject nor one he must defend himself against. “I think I’ve always been bisexual,” Armstrong says simply. “I mean, it’s something that I’ve always been interested in. I think everybody kind of fantasizes about the same sex. I think people are born bisexual, and it’s just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of Oh, I can’t. They say it’s taboo. It’s ingrained in our heads that it’s bad, when it’s not bad at all. It’s a very beautiful thing.”

When asked whether this beautiful thing is something he’s ever actually acted on, the recently married (and about to become a father) Armstrong smiles. “I think mostly it’s been kept in my head,” he says. “I’ve never really had a relationship with another man. But it is something that comes up as a struggle in me. It especially came up when I was about 16 or 17. In high school people think you have to be so macho. People get attacked just because someone insinuates something about their sexuality. I think that’s gruesome.”

Armstrong’s struggle with his sexuality isn’t something that has gone unnoticed by his fans. “I’ve gotten letters because I wrote this song on Dookie called ‘Coming Clean’ about coming out,” he says with the same ease that Kurt Cobain used to show while talking about his song “All Apologies” and the now-famous lyric from it: “What else should I say/ Everyone is gay.”.........

Nemesis a écrit:he says with the same ease that Kurt Cobain used to show while talking about his song “All Apologies” and the now-famous lyric from it: “What else should I say/ Everyone is gay.”.........

"La rumeur de ces derniers mois est à présent confirmée : il y aura bien un Rock Band intégralement consacré au groupe Green Day. A l'image de ce qui s'est fait pour The Beatles : Rock Band, cet opus comprendra donc une grosse tracklist composée de titres du groupe. Différence notable en revanche, les morceaux seront tous exportables vers les versions standards de Rock Band."