Green Day Vs. Wal-Mart

NEW YORK — Green Day has the most popular CD in the country, but you won't be able to find it at your local Wal-Mart.

The band says the giant superstore chain refused to stock its latest CD, "21st Century Breakdown," because Wal-Mart wanted the album edited for language and content, and they refused.

"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," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said in a recent interview.

While Wal-Mart sells CDs from acts known for raunchy content, including Eminem's latest, they offer customers the "clean" version of those CDs, which are edited for content that may be objectionable. But in Armstrong's view, "There's nothing dirty about our record."

"They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there," he said. "We just said no. We've never done it before. You feel like you're in 1953 or something."

"21st Century Breakdown" contains curses and some references considered adult.

Wal-Mart said that it's the company's long-standing policy not to stock any CD with a parental advisory sticker.

"As with all music, it is up to the artist or label to decide if they want to market different variations of an album to sell, including a version that would remove a PA rating," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien said. "The label and artist in this case have decided not to do so, so we unfortunately can not offer the CD."

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But bassist Mike Dirnt said: "As the biggest record store in the America, they should probably have an obligation to sell people the correct art."

Not being sold at Wal-Mart didn't stop the band _ which kicks off a U.S. tour summer tour in Seattle on July 3 _ from landing at the top of the album charts this week. "21st Century Breakdown" sold about 215,000 copies since it's debut on Friday.

The album is the follow-up to their multiplatinum, Grammy-winning CD "American Idiot," and like that album, deals with weighty topics. While "American Idiot" spoke to the frustration over the presidency of George W. Bush and the Iraq War, this CD speaks to the loss of innocence and confusion in today's society.

While Armstrong, Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool are still top-sellers without Wal-Mart, Armstrong said the store's policy is disappointing, considering it has become the dominant seller of CDs with the decline of traditional music stores.

"If you think about bands that are struggling or smaller than Green Day ... to think that to get your record 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."

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On the Net:

http://www.greenday.com

Comments

[RevBookburn]

Thank you Green Day and fk wal-mart. Wal-mart should be boycotted anyway. There's also a great documentary about them called The High Cost of Low Prices. Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta

[CubFanHere]

Good for Green Day and F*-* Wal-Mart! I stopped buying CDs from there the first time I received an edited album in 1991 and I refuse to shop at the corporate machine.

[WYHKTai-Tai]

I love GreenDay and can't wait to get my hands on this album. i-tunes for my i-pod, a CD fro the car.
Good for them in standing up to Wal-Mart.

[CubFanHere]

You'll love it. It is every bit as good as American Idiot.

[jordan3189]

Are you talking about the cd or yourself.

[kittyarmy]

Screw Wal-Mart anyway.

[jordan3189]

Yeah, why have principles.

[CaScientist]

Walmart is just helping to put another nail in the coffin of solid-storage media. Apple, Microsoft and Rhapsody already have the digital music distribution market in hand, theres little chance that Walmart can get their tentacles into that. By actions like this, they are pushing CDs into extinction and cutting their own revenue stream...talk about short-sighted.

[jordan3189]

You do know how much wal mart is worth............right. Music is probably.03% of inventory.

[CubFanHere]

You're nothing but a corporate kiss a__ ! So tell me, what does it taste like when you're licking the Walton family boots?

[Boringat]

Considering the things Ole Sam used to do to Ole Roy on those hunting trips ,it's no surprise they don't carry 3-Dog Night CDs.

[UsofA]

Walmart's never gotten a dime from me, and never will.

[MalMNN]

kudos to the band for not comprimising, and for having the #1 album without the biggest retailer in the world ! this should hopefully give courage to other artists and wisdom to those who decide to give "certain" key retailers exclusive album releases.

http://www.musicnewsnet.com/

[spiderbucket]

No true artist should even offer their music through Wal Mart. I won't be buying the new Aerosmith album when it comes out if they sell exclusively through Wal Mart and I have purchased everything they have put out since 1979 on the day it showed up in stores. I did not buy the last AC/DC album for that reason. I WILL buy the new Green Day to support them for doing this.

[Joethepauper]

Good for Greenday! I'll buy their album just for solidarity purposes. We don't allow the government to censor speech, so why should we allow corporations? If they don't want the money from selling CDs with explicit material, they are just losing money. A lot of it. The only music that is worth listening to has lyrics some might find offensive, and that's why it's good. I don't want to listen to the same music that the sheep like. An added benefit of the music I listen to is that it provokes thought. Since when did Walmart care about morality, anyway? The last time I checked, they were anti-union, didn't want to pay women as much as men, had people work off the clock, let an employee get trampled last Christmas season, killed almost every mom and pop store in America, and went from selling nothing but American made to an all Chinese inventory. They decided to become moral a little late in the game, huh?

[PsyGuy]

The real bottom line is simply that Wal-Mart has the corporate rules in place. As a company, they can decide what they are/are not going to sell. They really do not have to have a reason.

There are plenty of other places to buy music from, so what is the big deal?
I don't buy music from wally world anyways. At best they MAY save you a few bucks at best.

Imagine if you owned a company and someone was trying to force you to sell something which you found objectionable. You wouldn't like it either.

Green Day is just exercising their right to control their music and NOT compromise and sell through Wal-mart.

[navibc31]

I could buy that argument if Wal-Mart was like a Christian Book Store, or something like that.

However...

- I can buy unrated DVD's with as many curses, nudity, violence if not more than the Green Day album

- I can buy "M" rated games with (see unrated DVD's)

- I can buy guns and ammo (both the magazine and the actual items)

Plus with any of these items, you have to have your ID checked in order to buy them at any Wal-Mart store.

I guess in the case of "inappropriate" music, Wal-Mart doth protest too much.

[PsyGuy]

If their excuse is "inappropriate" then they are being inconsistent with their policies. You are correct in that you can buy the things you pointed out. So, people could challenge them on that.

The bottom line is that they sell whatever they want. They can make requests as they see fit. We can't force them to sell ANYTHING. They don't have to give a reason. We don't have to buy from them!

GreenDay has done what they feel is right by not changing their album.
What would happen if more artists did the same? How long before they caved on that? That would be a lot of money they lose. Money talks.

We show our choice in what and where we buy things. If their CD sales plummet enough, they'll either change their policy or not carry CDs.

Trust me - I am not a wally world fan ;-)

Google: "Wal-Mart Flip-Flops Cause Chemical Burns"
I could go on and on about it but there are many other more important reasons I don't care for them.

Oh and just for something interesting - I once looked through some key chains at Target.
There were peace signs, crosses, all sorts of symbols but ONE stood out (and that was the ONLY ONE they had). A Triskelion (of the BDSM variety). I bought it for the irony in the whole thing. I am sure they had no idea what that meant :-) Or they just missed ONE. ;-)

[KJLSanDiego]

I was really hoping this would be less self-serving, like maybe the boys in the band didn't like how workers are treated, or how they get so many goods so cheap from so many third world nations.

[Joethepauper]

I agree. That would have been much better (even if they just added that to the free speech part for kicks) If I was their PR person, I would have advised them to include a long list of gripes about Walmart (knowing they are probably not going to cave on the censorship anyway, it would show true punk attitude. Green Day is punk lite, anyway, but that tactic might sell more albums to people who wish Green Day were real punks). The title of their last album and the title track were a great start, but they failed to maintain that momentum IMHO. But they're selling albums, despite the Walmart fascists.

[simplysimon2]

Me too.

[OttoMann]

The REAL issue is, why does Wal-Mart have that policy? They have no problem selling R-rated DVDs....

[onnyang]

ditto...

[kamandi]

I'm glad to see that someone is standing up to Walmart. If only more artists did so then maybe Walmart would feel inclined to change their policies.

If someone likes Green Day I think they know what they are getting when they buy their CD and are not going to be shocked or offended by naughty words.

[Joethepauper]

What pisses me off is when I buy a CD and it turns out to be the clean version. I'm not a child, and I expect the CDs I buy to be the artists interpretation, not some censor's. If I want clean, I'll watch Lawrence Welk. Not!

[Adartist777]

Now I know why they don't carry Frank Zappa CDs. Jesus would only listen to the clean versions anyway. Right? Go to Best Buy for your CDs. They are cheaper and have a better selection there anyway.

[spiderbucket]

Frank Zappa ? Can you imagine the NASCAR crowd trying to figure THAT out ? LOL

[thebirdstheword]

no, go to a LOCALLY OWNED store if there is one anywhere near you. best buy is contributing to the separation of the classes just as much as walmart.