Quite the positive take.
It was a rare moment – a moment where the whole world witnessed an unravelling rock star in real time. The moment was the 2012 iHeart Music Festival, and Green Day were on the line-up.
Due to a scheduling issue, Green Day had their set cut short by 20 minutes, which resulted in a rage-fuelled outburst from Billie Joe Armstrong, where he famously shouted, “I’m not fucking Justin Bieber, you motherfuckers! You gotta be fucking joking, this is a fucking joke. I got one minute, one minute left. Oh now I got nothing left, now I got nothing left. Let me show you what one fucking minute fucking means!”
This moment has often been referenced as a mental breakdown, which saw the frontman enter rehab two days later for treatment for substance abuse – but Billie Joe remembers it a little differently (and more positively).
Speaking to Q about their new album ‘Father Of All…’, Billie Joe addressed the 2012 outburst, calling it “a piece of theatre”.
“I thought it was more negative than it was,” he shared. “Now, I think it was one of the most punk rock moments of the last 10 years. I should have taken it as that instead of a nervous breakdown. I know it gets pretty dark for other people that were involved, like my wife and my kids, but as a piece of theatre, it was pretty amazing.”
Quite a positive way of looking at it, all things considered.
Green Day’s new album ‘Father Of All…’ is available now – check it out below: