Green Day Covers Colbert
East Bay punk rockers go head to head with funnyman
By SAJID FAROOQ
Updated 8:24 AM PST, Fri, May 29, 2009
If you were to take Stephen Colbert seriously for just one moment, like some people do, you would be hard pressed to find a group more his political opposite than Green Day, the iconic East Bay band.
The Bay Area punk rockers sat down this week with the self-absorbed comedian turned Bill O'Reily impersonator to push their new politically charged album "21st Century Breakdown."
And they actually did something few are able to. They made Colbert laugh, admit he likes their music and actually silence him, albeit it only for a few seconds.
The interview started off harmlessly enough with the comedian declaring he wanted "to keep this interview quick and under three minutes."
Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong shot back, "just like our songs," which seemed to catch Colbert off guard as he scrambled for a transition. But he redeemed himself by asking the East Bay rockers why they were so mad and why couldn't they put out a dance number instead of songs such as "American Idiot."
"I think it kind of captures the different crisis we come across...the different things happening in America right now and around the world," Armstrong said about their new album and adding "I think American Idiot is a toe tapper."
Colbert asked, "You see that being choreographed with a big dance scene?"
Well, maybe not but they did explain why they decided to boycott Wal-Mart, after the megastore chain asked them to censor curse words from the album. Colbert told them to think of it as "censor-improvement" instead. Armstrong asked why the albums weren't simply placed next to the gun racks in the store instead.
But it was when the conversation turned to the band's apparent dislike for religion that Colbert seemed to have met his snide comment match.
"I love Jesus," drummer Tre Cool said. "I hate sandals."
Which prompted an amussed Colbert to ask, "Really? It was the sandals that put you off? How do you feel about robes?"
Maybe Colbert is not too familiar with the zanny antics of Mr. Frank Edwin Wright III, aka Tre Cool, and that's why he walked into it or maybe, like a brilliant comic, he knew exactly what he was going to get.
"I like to disrobe," Cool said and walked off the set in true rock and roll style.
But to make sure everything was copacetic, Green Day reconvened and covered Colbert's tribute to God and himself.
First Published: May 28, 2009 2:13 PM PST
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