There's A Theory That Green Day's New Album Is A Big "Fuck You" To Their Label And I'm Here For It

Earlier this week, Green Day announced their first record in three years, entitled: “Father of All Motherfuckers”, as well as a brand new headlining tour along with Fall Out Boy and Weezer. This was huuuuge news for me, as Green Day is one of my favorite bands of all time, and I really enjoyed their last return-to-form outing – “Revolution Radio” – and felt like that properly laid the foundation for a classic rock n’ roll record to follow. Much to my surprise, however, the title track and lead single for the new album was…different.

I don’t hate it! In fact, I like it quite a bit! I’ve listened to it a ton over the last 48 hours. It just doesn’t sound like Green Day.

Billie Joe’s got a ton of vocal effects on, Tre’s drums sound super electronic-y and programmed, and Mike Dirnt definitely feels like he’s holding back a bit, not to mention the track only clocks in at 2:31. Actually, the entire album clocks in around 26 minutes long, and it’s shit like that which is making Green Day fans question whether or not this album for real…or if this is all just a big “FUCK YOU” to their label, Warner Music Group.

Let’s dive into this a bit more, shall we?

When this Green Day album was first rumored on Reddit about four months ago, its original title was ‘Songs for Assholes’. I think that’s how this speculation all started. Who could the assholes be? Maybe their label? It seems artists butting heads with their label happens endlessly in the music industry, and Green Day has been unhappy not being independent for a little while now! Seems like a point in favor of the theory to me.

Now, if this is truly the cover art…

…YIKES. That’s horrible. I love Green Day, I love their “FUCK YOU” attitude towards everything, but that’s just dreadful. From the scribbly ketchup font to the re-use of the American Idiot cover to the rainbow-puking unicorn, it’s just agonizing to look at. There is an explicit cover, and it’s admittedly a bit better, but it still reeks of laziness.

Billie’s note attached to the single also read:

Our motto??
“Nothing says fuck you like a unicorn”

For my money, this makes a pretty strong case for the “Fuck you, Warner!” theory, but at the same time, we’re talking about three dudes that’re all almost fifty years old, and they might’ve just lost touch a little. Sometimes that happens.

(I’ve heard the full Blink album is WAAAAAAY better than the singles have made it out to be, so fingers crossed and apologies for the ricochet shot, Mark, Travis, and the other guy!)

Now, looking at the interview they recently gave Kerrang, where BJA stated that he “hates” long songs, doesn’t have the attention span for anything over three minutes anymore, only wrote one song over three minutes for the new record, and believes ‘Father Of All Motherfuckers’ to be the best lead single he’s ever written. There’s a lot to unpack there, starting with the fact that Green Day is sort’ve known for their longer epics such as ‘Jesus of Suburbia’, ‘Homecoming’, and even recently ‘Forever Now’, but to his credit, he also jokes about that. Maybe he’s changed! Moving on, he said ‘Father Of All Motherfuckers’ was the best lead single he’s ever written. that’s, uhhhh…insane.

Green Day’s lead singles are as follows:

Dookie – ‘Longview’
Insomniac – ‘Geek Stink Breath’
Nimrod – ‘Hitchin A Ride’
Warning – ‘Minority’
American Idiot – ‘American Idiot’
21st Century Breakdown – ‘Know Your Enemy’
¡Uno! – ‘Oh, Love’
¡Dos! – ‘Stray Heart’
¡Tre! – ‘The Forgotten’
Revolution Radio – ‘Bang, Bang’

I know they’ve got a job to do, and pushing this album could mean big money signs in all of their eyes, but Billie Joe Armstrong has GOTTA know that the weird (but cool!) indie-rock explosion jam he put out yesterday isn’t better than, really, any of those songs. Maybe the later trilogy ones. I don’t know em. Regardless, I’d say another point to the label theory, unless Billie Joe is off his rocker and/or fucking with the interviewer when he said that.

Finally, and I don’t really know if this means anything, but I guess they teased the possibility of more music to follow this before the Hella Mega Tour kicks off, and with ‘Father Of All Motherfuckers’ due out in February, that’d be a VERY tight release window to squeeze themselves into. Which means hypothetically, that “new music” is already recorded, and they really are pulling a Drake with this one, and making this record their ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’.

I love this theory, even though I enjoyed the new single, and can’t wait to see how it plays out. Let me know what you think on Twitter.