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

[jdt67]

I'm not much of a Green Day fan, but good for them. More artists should do this. Contrary to popular believe, Wal-Mart isn't the only outlet out there anymore. In fact, they're not always the cheaptest outlet anymore. You can download instantly on any number of sites, including iTunes. If you're one of those people who has to have an actual CD, then Amazon often beats Wal-Mart prices. You may have to pay shipping, but it's not that big of deal. More artists should do this. Stick an "Explicit Lyrics" sticker on it if you must, but there's no reason these days to bow down to Wal-Mart.

[BlackJAC]

The main reason for that is because chain music stores are closing right and left. Sam Goody and Tower Records bit the big one a couple years back, and FYE seems to be barely hanging on. Borders just had a major inventory clearance on its music section, too.

[YankeeFanGurl860]

Wal-Mart is a very hypocritical company. Like Trent Reznor said, they can sell R-rated movies filled with sex, violence and obscene language, but can't sell a CD with just obscene language?

[lesterbud]

Wal-Mart decided not to carry this album because of the message, not the content. Greenday was and is one of only a handful of acts in this country that is solidly anti-Republican, Anti-Bush/Cheney and Anti-Big Religion. All the things Wal-Mart publicly endorses, war, torture, church-controlled government, censorship, Greenday artfully blasts to pieces.

As was pointed out, they carry other music with "bad language", so what is the deciding factor - politics.

[CEDobson]

Bingo!

[CR46]

You got it!!

[kapalabhati]

Excellent point. American Idiot and 21st C. BD are no bones about it indictments of the past 8 years and the interests that supported them and continue to do so.

[CEDobson]

Music, just like any other art form, is self-expression, and just like any other art, begs discussion. My 15 year old daughter "gets" this music, especially the political sarcasm in many of the songs. She gleans the same from Bob Dylan's "poetry," which caused so much controversy years ago. This music makes her think! Isn't that what we want from our kids? We have had so many wonderful conversations about music - just as we have about the Sistine Chapel and films like Passion Of The Christ.

Wally World is certainly entitled to put parental advisories on CD's; I actually applaud this. However, refusing to sell a person's art based on their own opinion/judgment, or demanding that lyrics be changed is crossing a dangerous line. What' s next - Mark Twain's Huck Finn?

You do not need to protect me from myself - I do just fine on my own. Boycott!

[isleptwithjoeyramone]

All the more reason to support your locally owned, independent music store. There are still a few around, and these family owned businesses would be more than happy to sell you the new Green Day CD, uncensored as it is meant to be.

[bokiluis]

What a sad day it is that Walmart is the biggest brick and mortar retailer that carries CDs.

I admire Green Day for holding on to their principles eventhough this probably costs them 10s of thousands of scans for the moment.

The album's great and they will continue to triumph!

[dengal]

that company is pure evil - trying to tell artists what to create?
way to go green day!
I wont step foot into a walmart - they have screwed small town america

[susou]

walmart isn't telling them what to create... they are saying that if it isn't censored they won't sell it.

i love Green Day, so I'll just go to best buy or target to buy it.

the biggest loser here is Walmart, but they've had this policy for a while now... it's no surprise.

[Paw1]

Can't imagine the majority of Green Day fans spend a lot of time in Walmart anyway. And for those that don't have an alternate brick and mortar store in the vicinity, there's alway Amazon, iTunes and many other web stores to get it from. Clearly, it didn't hurt week 1 sales very much. Green Day 1, Walmart 0.