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

[exile]

maybe if green day changed their name to china day walmrt would stock it.

[TotoToo]

Everything sold at Walmart has a stink about it. Their treatment of their low-end, mostly part-timers is little more than slavery.

There is nothing moral or ethical about Walmart business practices.

As far as I am concerned artists who sell their product at Walmart are just plain greedy.

[frogluv73]

TARGET, TARGET, TARGET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KJLSanDiego]

yep yep! that's my one-stop-shop!

[JoeGdr]

21st Century Breakdown is actually really good. I wouldn't have bought my copy at Walmart even if they had it in stock.

[benji85]

Just one more thing wrong this country, the notion that we should censor art.

It's art, it's suppose to be controversial, make you feel uncomfortable, and so on.

[LadyAtana]

I can see both sides on this one. I like Wal-mart (they sign my paychecks!), and I love Green Day.

Capitalism means that stores can sell what they want. I would hate to have a store and be told what I had to sell.

On the other hand, Green Day did exactly the right thing. They are standing by their art and refusing the make it more palatable (sp?) to the mediocre public. Hooray for them. I personally believe all artists should do this. It just shows which ones are more for the money (and yes, I know all are for the money to some extent), and which ones are truly dedicated to their creative art. I never purchase music from wal-mart because I want the real thing, not censored, watered down bs.

Also, by not bowing to walmart's demands, they are bolstering the sales of other stores, which is great. I like walmart, but that doesn't mean that I want them to be the only store around. I purchase tons of stuff from other stores (Amazon, Target, etc etc) and will continue. I will be purchasing the Green Day album from Amazon, which is where I purchased American Idiot.

[trex67]

Just a side note: The iTunes Music Store is the #1 music retailer in the US, and has been for a little over a year.

I have to respect Green Day's artistic integrity for refusing to bow down to the morality police at Wally World.

[whatthel]

I applaud Green Day's integrity. Wal-Mart says no controversial music, but we'll sell you all the guns and ammo you can carry.

[Joethepauper]

They also sell R rated DVDs. If they sell guns and movies like SAW and Hostel, yet they won't sell Playboy or other adult magazines, they are more "American" than American airports. They sell porn in the airport newsstands. I'm not kidding. They refused to sell nail clippers for a long time, but porn is perfectly okay. No guns, but Hustler and Penthouse are on display. So, on the dumb America side, we have Walmart selling violence, censoring artists, and selling an all Chinese inventory. On the smart America side, you get to read what you want, but can't buy any sort of weapons, even if they are nail files. One America is free, non-violent and non-censoring. The other America is armed, funds a Communist workforce, and is pro-censorship.

[pakaal]

Agreed, saying Wal-Mart is the #1 CD seller doesn't really give you the big picture. I think stores like Wal-Mart should continue to do this sort of thing. Look what's happened to the Republicans in the past couple of years - if Wal-Mart wants to self-censor themselves out of relevancy, let 'em.

[rwext]

This is America , an entrepreneur has the right to sell what it wants, and the customer can buy where they choose......

[AbstractionAction]

The funny thing is that the only one losing money here is Wal-Mart.

[bugsbonzai]

We can only hope.

[Mattplastik]

Ditto. I never go to Wal-Mart. It's a major symbol of the U.S.'s decline. exploiting their workers, using them as slaves, destroying almost every small towns' small-business economies, and they just sell cheap crap to the ignorant sheep who comsume there.

Wal-Mart, Fox News, the GOP, torture, Bush/Cheney, Rush Limburger, racial hate, religious hate/fear/violence, Mega-Corporation monopolies, mega-rich vs poor = the Y2K TRASH CULTURE that has been forced upon the intelligent, thoughtful, decent people of the U.S. by sub-human, ignorant, brain-washed, violent fools.

[chicago25624]

Welcome to America, where we have the right not to sell that which we find offensive.

I am sure you will sell 30 or 40 copies without Wallyworld

[bugsbonzai]

Who is "we"? Are you a Walmart executive? If you are, and you're so wound up about a couple of swears on a CD you sell, go buy a gun at your store and put yourself out of your misery. I hear you're having a sale on shotguns. Hypocritical fool.

[SoYo]

Never had and never will buy from What-Mart, as I pretend it does not exist. I will however, buy Green Day's new CD from my local store and support the employee's (including my nephew) Union (UFCW) with all my purchases.

[pu55ycat]

Not a fan of Green Day but I'll buy their album at one of the local independent record stores here in my town (we're lucky, we got three left) just because they told Wal-Mart "No!"

[whatthel]

Good for you.

[thebirdstheword]

buy local every chance you get. all big box stores are the same, no matter the hype.

[BlackJAC]

Looks like "Banned In Wal-Mart" is going to be a sales cachet from here on in.

[vandegrasse]

I buy food at Wal-Mart which I'm sure is grown in other countries and has tons of pesticides, but I'm poor. I don't have to buy my music there. Online is better. Thank God for the Internet!

[LadyAtana]

Off topic but,...

As an insider, I can tell you that not all the produce you get at Wal-mart is grown outside the US. Your in-season fruit and vegetables that can be grown in the US, will be obtained from US farms. Right now in my area, the fresh herbs are coming from Iowa, the watermelons are from IL and AR, etc, etc.

When we go into the winter months,there is a shift to produce from the Southern Hemisphere countries, such as Chile, since they are then in their growing season.

In the last year, it has come down from above (don't remember is this state or fed law) that all produce must be marked with their country of origin. So now all you have to look at the labeling on the produce.

I won't comment on pesticides, because I don't know squat about that.

[vandegrasse]

They're just trying to flex their muscle, Walmart, that is, to see if they can get their way! Don't let 'em get away with it.