SXSW 2013: Green Day Launch 'Broadway Idiot' and 'Cuatro!' Documentaries

Green Day speak on stage before the World Premiere of "Broadway Idiot" at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013.Michael Buckner/Getty Images for SXSW)

"Welcome to our nightmare."

That sardonic introduction by Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt made for the only notable words from the band to the audience during Friday's SXSW premieres of Broadway Idiot and Cuatro!, a pair of new documentaries focusing on the punk trio's creative process behind the Broadway adaptation of American Idiot and their recent album trilogy. 

Broadway Idiot chronicles theater director Michael Mayer’s conceptual rehearsals for the Green Day musical, and follows through the show’s run on Broadway in 2010 and 2011. The movie shows Armstrong becoming close friends with the cast and crew during rehearsals, and bringing them into the recording studio for a cast version of "21 Guns." As the singer became more involved with the show, he even developed some acting chops after Mayer asked him to do a stint playing St. Jimmy, the show’s rock & roll villain. Packed with revealing and sentimental moments – including the trio’s stunned reaction upon visiting a rehearsal to get a look at the show before giving it their blessing – the movie brings even more depth and meaning to the music from one of Green Day’s most successful albums.

The audience also got an early look at the film’s archival footage from 1983 of a pre-teen Armstrong singing show tunes and standards by Frank Sinatra and Al Jolson that his mother taught him. That early appreciation and familiarity with musicals is discussed in the film as a likely reason why Armstrong and Mayer clicked so well while working on the show, despite coming from different backgrounds.

SXSW 2013: Green Day Blast Back With a Supercharged Billie Joe Armstrong

The counterpart film, Cuatro! is a combination making-of album documentary, concert film and band historical project that’s centered around the writing and recording of ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré! As the band, which officially becomes a quartet with the addition of longtime touring guitarist Jason White, reconvenes following a break, it deals with sorting through more than 60 songs, eventually deciding to release three albums in quick succession.

Much more of a visual feast in the way director Tim Wheeler uses quick cuts and a host of other showy filmmaker techniques, the movie offers lots of footage from club shows in Austin, Oakland and New York City, where it worked out much of the new material. In the studio footage, new songs like "Stop When The Red Lights Flash" and "Oh Love" seem to round into shape easily, but the band struggles with how to sequence three album’s worth of material.

"We think of it as Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi," Armstrong says at one point. "Only we’ll make Jedi not suck."

In between live shots and footage from recording sessions, Wheeler incorporates funny glimpses into the band, including drummer Cool joking on camera and shots of Armstrong coming to the studio dressed up as a moss monster to surprise studio employees and passersby.

Addressing the audience during a brief post-film conversation, Broadway Idiot director Doug Hamilton praised the band, and Armstrong in particular, for opening themselves up to the filming and taking an active role in an entirely new creative endeavor. "This was a chance to do something more than just a making-of film," he said. "Billie Joe really engaged every step of the way. I mean, here you have one of the most famous artists willing to take on something new and out of his control."

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SXSW 2013: Green Day Blast Back With a Supercharged Billie Joe Armstrong

Green Day perform at ACL Live in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.comIn his recent Rolling Stone interview about addiction, meltdown and hard-won recovery, Green Day singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong recalled a show in Austin, Texas in the late Nineties when he decided to stop worrying about his punk credibility and finally act like a rock & roll star onstage: to give his band and songs the showmanship they deserved in concert. It took liquid courage, he admitted – a step with distant, ultimately disastrous consequences. On March 15th, a newly sober, supercharged Armstrong was back in Austin with bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool for a special SXSW appearance at the Moody Theater – a show that started with Armstrong bolting across the stage as if shot from a cannon, into the incendiary challenge of "99 Revolutions," then demanding that his audience respond in kind. "This is not a fucking party, this is not a first date, it's not a bar mitzvah – it's a celebration!" Armstrong yelled soon after, during an extended instrumental breakdown in "Letterbomb," accenting his impatience with rock-god action and comic relief: punctuating Cool's explosive downbeats with Pete Townshend-style leaps from a riser; playing part of his guitar solo in "Know Your Enemy" perched on one leg as if he'd suddenly become a member of Jethro Tull.

Billie Joe Armstrong Opens Up About Substance Abuse

But there was no missing the gratitude in that agitation, in those antics. "Ah, welcome back," Armstrong said in a deep, exhaling voice, at one point during the Big Country-style bagpipe-guitar charge of "Stay the Night." He was addressing the loving, frenzied crowd, mostly comprised of local fans and ticket-lottery winners. He could have just as easily been talking to himself.

Green Day were at SXSW – with guitarist Jason White, in sextet formation – to promote two documentaries that premiered at the festival earlier that day: Cuatro!, about the making of the group's recent trilogy of LPs, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré!; and Broadway Idiot, which follows the musical-theater production of the 2004 album, American Idiot. The band also had a point to prove at this media-saturated festival, after Armstrong's physical and emotional collapse onstage last fall at the I Heart Radio festival in Las Vegas: that Green Day still have a career and their frontman is healthy and energized.

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day performs at ACL Live in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com They did that by opening and closing with a focus on songs from those three albums, which suffered from the loss of touring and promo during Armstrong's rehab. "Brutal Love," from ¡Tré!, was a surprising, effective final encore, minus the strings on the record but with a compensating pathos in the guitars and Armstrong's wrenched vocal.  "Stop When the Red Lights Flash," from ¡Dos!, was great hard-fuzz candy, played at avenging speed with a sweetly nagging chorus ("I'll make you surrender" – and you do).

The center of the show was loaded with hits that now double as allusions to peril and Armstrong's passage out of crisis, such as "Burnout" and "Basket Case" from 1994's Dookie. It was hard not to miss the fiction made real in "St. Jimmy" from American Idiot – and the extra irony in Armstrong's spell on Broadway playing the goth-imp dealer. And it was surely no accident that one of the cover fragments in the wind-out from "Coming Clean" was AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."

Q&A: Green Day's Mike Dirnt on Billie Joe Armstrong's Recovery

Another new song, "X-Kid," came next to last in the set. As Armstrong noted in the Rolling Stone interview, it is about someone who was very close to the band: an old punk comrade who never figured out how to grow old with the ideals forged in outlaw youth and died of the same bad habits that triggered Armstrong's crisis. But Green Day closed with a reliable, affirming antidote, "Minority," from 2000's Warning. The song has been a featured climax of the band's shows for years. There was something new, though – invigorating and determined – in the band's crisp strut and the way Armstrong sang the pride and refusal in the title lyric.

His healing and vigilance have just begun. But just seven months after he fell, spectacularly, into classic rock-star darkness, Armstrong is back onstage with the band that has been his life since he was a teenager – eager to prove that he still belongs there and will never take it for granted again.

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SXSW 2013: Green Day Blast Back With a Supercharged Billie Joe Armstrong

Green Day perform at ACL Live in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.comIn his recent Rolling Stone interview about addiction, meltdown and hard-won recovery, Green Day singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong recalled a show in Austin, Texas in the late Nineties when he decided to stop worrying about his punk credibility and finally act like a rock & roll star onstage: to give his band and songs the showmanship they deserved in concert. It took liquid courage, he admitted – a step with distant, ultimately disastrous consequences. On March 15th, a newly sober, supercharged Armstrong was back in Austin with bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool for a special SXSW appearance at the Moody Theater – a show that started with Armstrong bolting across the stage as if shot from a cannon, into the incendiary challenge of "99 Revolutions," then demanding that his audience respond in kind. "This is not a fucking party, this is not a first date, it's not a bar mitzvah – it's a celebration!" Armstrong yelled soon after, during an extended instrumental breakdown in "Letterbomb," accenting his impatience with rock-god action and comic relief: punctuating Cool's explosive downbeats with Pete Townshend-style leaps from a riser; playing part of his guitar solo in "Know Your Enemy" perched on one leg as if he'd suddenly become a member of Jethro Tull.

Billie Joe Armstrong Opens Up About Substance Abuse

But there was no missing the gratitude in that agitation, in those antics. "Ah, welcome back," Armstrong said in a deep, exhaling voice, at one point during the Big Country-style bagpipe-guitar charge of "Stay the Night." He was addressing the loving, frenzied crowd, mostly comprised of local fans and ticket-lottery winners. He could have just as easily been talking to himself.

Green Day were at SXSW – with guitarist Jason White, in sextet formation – to promote two documentaries that premiered at the festival earlier that day: Cuatro!, about the making of the group's recent trilogy of LPs, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré!; and Broadway Idiot, which follows the musical-theater production of the 2004 album, American Idiot. The band also had a point to prove at this media-saturated festival, after Armstrong's physical and emotional collapse onstage last fall at the I Heart Radio festival in Las Vegas: that Green Day still have a career and their frontman is healthy and energized.

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day performs at ACL Live in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com They did that by opening and closing with a focus on songs from those three albums, which suffered from the loss of touring and promo during Armstrong's rehab. "Brutal Love," from ¡Tré!, was a surprising, effective final encore, minus the strings on the record but with a compensating pathos in the guitars and Armstrong's wrenched vocal.  "Stop When the Red Lights Flash," from ¡Dos!, was great hard-fuzz candy, played at avenging speed with a sweetly nagging chorus ("I'll make you surrender" – and you do).

The center of the show was loaded with hits that now double as allusions to peril and Armstrong's passage out of crisis, such as "Burnout" and "Basket Case" from 1994's Dookie. It was hard not to miss the fiction made real in "St. Jimmy" from American Idiot – and the extra irony in Armstrong's spell on Broadway playing the goth-imp dealer. And it was surely no accident that one of the cover fragments in the wind-out from "Coming Clean" was AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."

Q&A: Green Day's Mike Dirnt on Billie Joe Armstrong's Recovery

Another new song, "X-Kid," came next to last in the set. As Armstrong noted in the Rolling Stone interview, it is about someone who was very close to the band: an old punk comrade who never figured out how to grow old with the ideals forged in outlaw youth and died of the same bad habits that triggered Armstrong's crisis. But Green Day closed with a reliable, affirming antidote, "Minority," from 2000's Warning. The song has been a featured climax of the band's shows for years. There was something new, though – invigorating and determined – in the band's crisp strut and the way Armstrong sang the pride and refusal in the title lyric.

His healing and vigilance have just begun. But just seven months after he fell, spectacularly, into classic rock-star darkness, Armstrong is back onstage with the band that has been his life since he was a teenager – eager to prove that he still belongs there and will never take it for granted again.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Green Day Return to the Road After Billie Joe's Rehab

Green Day performs at the Fox Theater in Pomona, California.

"How many vintage Green Day fans are out there tonight?" asked singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong last night at the Fox Theater in Pomona, California, midway through the opening show of the band's U.S tour – the band's return from Armstrong's recent rehab. As if to get a closer look, he asked, "Who wants to join us onstage? Come on, let's go!"

The two-hour concert in the 2,000-capacity theater just outside Los Angeles was the first of four intimate warm-up shows (including a stop at SXSW) before heading out to arenas later this month. Just before their entrance, the Fox PA blasted both Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop," indicating the band's twin aspirations: classic rock scope with a DIY mentality.

Billie Joe Armstrong Opens Up About Substance Abuse

Many fans were certainly old enough to remember the band's sudden rise from oblivion with 1994's multi-platinum Dookie, but most of the 16 excited audience members who made it up to the stage were far younger, though one guy was big enough to carry Armstrong on his shoulders as the bandleader slashed at his guitar.

Green Day performs at The Fox Theater in Pomona, California on March 10th, 2013.

Drummer Tré Cool was the first to bound onto the stage, slamming a hard beat to begin the forceful pop of "99 Revolutions," the first song in an opening half-hour heavy with material from the band's trio of 2012 albums: ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tre!  Armstrong repeatedly shouted, "Let's go fucking crazy!"

There was a thunderous "Stop When the Red Lights Flash" (from ¡Dos!) and a tough, forlorn "Oh Love," set off with dueling guitar solos. Green Day also ripped through "Stay the Night" (from ¡Uno!), though the band stopped long enough to leave Armstrong one of the night's many moments of a cappella. They paused again for "Let Yourself Go," as the crowd bounced and sang the chorus without him: "Shut your mouth 'cause you're talking too much/ And I don't give a fuck anyway."

From 2009's 21st Century Breakdown was "Know Your Enemy, during which Armstrong pulled a young boy up from the front rows to sing a couple of lines from the song before being sent (maybe for the first time) airborne into the crowd. The breakdown between artist and fan is something Green Day has perfected over the years; on past tours, Green Day has even pulled young musicians up to riff along with the band.

Green Day performs at The Fox Theater in Pomona, California on March 10th, 2013.

At the Fox, there were no special effects and big production values, just a punk band with a mountain of amps and a pocketful of pop hooks. As in the past, Green Day's core trio were joined by three more players on guitar, keyboards and vocals. The 2005 hit "Holiday" rode a liquid bassline from Mike Dirnt, and the lights went down as Armstrong scanned the crowd with a searchlight. He grabbed the mike again, shouting, 'The representative from California has the floor!'"

Later, the band roared through a large chunk of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" (not for the first time), and fans shouted along like it was just another Green Day hit. Armstrong teased them that more metal was coming and began plucking a sloppy "Stairway to Heaven," but quickly shifted into his own "Brain Stew." That tune was stretched out long enough to allow the singer to bring out an arsenal of toys: a big water gun, a toilet paper gun and another that fired T-shirts deep into the crowd.

Near the end came an R&B medley, including the Isley Brothers' "Shout" and Green Day's own "King for a Day," with Armstrong on his knees drifting into a vocal of Ben E. King's standard "Stand By Me." It returned to a final blast of "Shout" and an accelerating beat with bleats of saxophone. The night was nearly done, but the band sounded charged up for the year of touring still ahead of them.

Set list:

"99 Revolutions"
"Know Your Enemy"
"Stay the Night"
"Stop When the Red Lights Flash"
"Let Yourself Go"
"Oh Love"
"Holiday"
"Letter Bomb"
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
"Hitchin' a Ride"
"Brain Stew" (with parts of "Highway to Hell," "Stairway to Heaven")
"St. Jimmy"
"2000 Light Years Away"
"Paper Lanterns"
"When I Come Around"
"Basketcase"
"F.O.D."
"She"
"King for a Day" (medley with parts of "Shout" and "Stand By Me")
"Wake Me Up When September Ends"
"Minority"
"American Idiot"
"Jesus of Suburbia"

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Green Day Return to the Road After Billie Joe's Rehab

Green Day performs at the Fox Theater in Pomona, California.

"How many vintage Green Day fans are out there tonight?" asked singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong last night at the Fox Theater in Pomona, California, midway through the opening show of the band's U.S tour – the band's return from Armstrong's recent rehab. As if to get a closer look, he asked, "Who wants to join us onstage? Come on, let's go!"

The two-hour concert in the 2,000-capacity theater just outside Los Angeles was the first of four intimate warm-up shows (including a stop at SXSW) before heading out to arenas later this month. Just before their entrance, the Fox PA blasted both Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop," indicating the band's twin aspirations: classic rock scope with a DIY mentality.

Billie Joe Armstrong Opens Up About Substance Abuse

Many fans were certainly old enough to remember the band's sudden rise from oblivion with 1994's multi-platinum Dookie, but most of the 16 excited audience members who made it up to the stage were far younger, though one guy was big enough to carry Armstrong on his shoulders as the bandleader slashed at his guitar.

Green Day performs at The Fox Theater in Pomona, California on March 10th, 2013.

Drummer Tré Cool was the first to bound onto the stage, slamming a hard beat to begin the forceful pop of "99 Revolutions," the first song in an opening half-hour heavy with material from the band's trio of 2012 albums: ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tre!  Armstrong repeatedly shouted, "Let's go fucking crazy!"

There was a thunderous "Stop When the Red Lights Flash" (from ¡Dos!) and a tough, forlorn "Oh Love," set off with dueling guitar solos. Green Day also ripped through "Stay the Night" (from ¡Uno!), though the band stopped long enough to leave Armstrong one of the night's many moments of a cappella. They paused again for "Let Yourself Go," as the crowd bounced and sang the chorus without him: "Shut your mouth 'cause you're talking too much/ And I don't give a fuck anyway."

From 2009's 21st Century Breakdown was "Know Your Enemy, during which Armstrong pulled a young boy up from the front rows to sing a couple of lines from the song before being sent (maybe for the first time) airborne into the crowd. The breakdown between artist and fan is something Green Day has perfected over the years; on past tours, Green Day has even pulled young musicians up to riff along with the band.

Green Day performs at The Fox Theater in Pomona, California on March 10th, 2013.

At the Fox, there were no special effects and big production values, just a punk band with a mountain of amps and a pocketful of pop hooks. As in the past, Green Day's core trio were joined by three more players on guitar, keyboards and vocals. The 2005 hit "Holiday" rode a liquid bassline from Mike Dirnt, and the lights went down as Armstrong scanned the crowd with a searchlight. He grabbed the mike again, shouting, 'The representative from California has the floor!'"

Later, the band roared through a large chunk of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" (not for the first time), and fans shouted along like it was just another Green Day hit. Armstrong teased them that more metal was coming and began plucking a sloppy "Stairway to Heaven," but quickly shifted into his own "Brain Stew." That tune was stretched out long enough to allow the singer to bring out an arsenal of toys: a big water gun, a toilet paper gun and another that fired T-shirts deep into the crowd.

Near the end came an R&B medley, including the Isley Brothers' "Shout" and Green Day's own "King for a Day," with Armstrong on his knees drifting into a vocal of Ben E. King's standard "Stand By Me." It returned to a final blast of "Shout" and an accelerating beat with bleats of saxophone. The night was nearly done, but the band sounded charged up for the year of touring still ahead of them.

Set list:

"99 Revolutions"
"Know Your Enemy"
"Stay the Night"
"Stop When the Red Lights Flash"
"Let Yourself Go"
"Oh Love"
"Holiday"
"Letter Bomb"
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
"Hitchin' a Ride"
"Brain Stew" (with parts of "Highway to Hell," "Stairway to Heaven")
"St. Jimmy"
"2000 Light Years Away"
"Paper Lanterns"
"When I Come Around"
"Basketcase"
"F.O.D."
"She"
"King for a Day" (medley with parts of "Shout" and "Stand By Me")
"Wake Me Up When September Ends"
"Minority"
"American Idiot"
"Jesus of Suburbia"

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R.E.M. Celebrate 25th Anniversary of 'Green' with Deluxe Reissue

R.E.M.'s beloved sixth studio album, Green, will receive the 25th anniversary deluxe treatment in a new two-disc edition. The set will feature a remastered version of the original album, as well as a live disc culled from a November 10th, 1989 show in Greensboro, North Carolina, the penultimate concert of the band's massive 130-date Green World Tour.

100 Greatest Artists: R.E.M.

Green: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will be available on Rhino on May 14th digitally and on CD, while the remastered album will also be available with original art and packing on 180-gram vinyl. The live disc includes almost every song from Green, earlier fan favorites like "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," "The One I Love," and "Perfect Circle," and even features "Low" and "Belong" – cuts from the Green follow-up Out of Time that R.E.M. were then testing out live.

Rhino is also set to release a limited-edition, five-track EP, Live in Greensboro, on Record Store Day, April 20th. It comprises five R.E.M. tracks from the same Greensboro show that didn't make it onto the reissue due to space constraints. The EP will include cuts like "I Remember California," "So. Central Rain" and "Feeling Gravitys Pull." Only 2,500 copies of the disc will be available, and each comes with an original R.E.M. patch from the Green Tour recently uncovered in the band's vault.

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R.E.M. Celebrate 25th Anniversary of 'Green' with Deluxe Reissue

R.E.M.'s beloved sixth studio album, Green, will receive the 25th anniversary deluxe treatment in a new two-disc edition. The set will feature a remastered version of the original album, as well as a live disc culled from a November 10th, 1989 show in Greensboro, North Carolina, the penultimate concert of the band's massive 130-date Green World Tour.

100 Greatest Artists: R.E.M.

Green: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will be available on Rhino on May 14th digitally and on CD, while the remastered album will also be available with original art and packing on 180-gram vinyl. The live disc includes almost every song from Green, earlier fan favorites like "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," "The One I Love," and "Perfect Circle," and even features "Low" and "Belong" – cuts from the Green follow-up Out of Time that R.E.M. were then testing out live.

Rhino is also set to release a limited-edition, five-track EP, Live in Greensboro, on Record Store Day, April 20th. It comprises five R.E.M. tracks from the same Greensboro show that didn't make it onto the reissue due to space constraints. The EP will include cuts like "I Remember California," "So. Central Rain" and "Feeling Gravitys Pull." Only 2,500 copies of the disc will be available, and each comes with an original R.E.M. patch from the Green Tour recently uncovered in the band's vault.

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Green Day to Make SXSW Debut

Tre Cool, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Mike Dirnt of Green Day.

After loading up fans with three new albums over the past few months, Green Day will be taking all that new music to SXSW. The rockers will make their debut at the Austin festival on March 15th at a double screening of ¡Cuatro! and Broadway Idiot at the Paramount Theatre, and they'll play as part of the ACL Live series later that night at the Moody Theater.

50 Best Albums of 2012: Green Day, '¡Uno!'

It'll mark the world premiere of Broadway Idiot, a documentary following Billie Joe Armstrong as the band adapted American Idiot as a Broadway musical. ¡Cuatro!, which debuted at the X Games last month, chronicles Green Day as they recorded their recent ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré! trilogy. Though the band was forced to cancel and postpone shows due to Armstrong recovery in rehab, they'll resume their tour on March 28th in Chicago.

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Green Day to Make SXSW Debut

Tre Cool, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Mike Dirnt of Green Day.

After loading up fans with three new albums over the past few months, Green Day will be taking all that new music to SXSW. The rockers will make their debut at the Austin festival on March 15th at a double screening of ¡Cuatro! and Broadway Idiot at the Paramount Theatre, and they'll play as part of the ACL Live series later that night at the Moody Theater.

50 Best Albums of 2012: Green Day, '¡Uno!'

It'll mark the world premiere of Broadway Idiot, a documentary following Billie Joe Armstrong as the band adapted American Idiot as a Broadway musical. ¡Cuatro!, which debuted at the X Games last month, chronicles Green Day as they recorded their recent ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré! trilogy. Though the band was forced to cancel and postpone shows due to Armstrong recovery in rehab, they'll resume their tour on March 28th in Chicago.

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Cee Lo Green Professes Love to Lauriana Mae in 'Only You' – Song Premiere

Cee Lo Green, 'Only You' featuring Lauriana Mae

Click to listen to Cee Lo Green featuring Lauriana Mae – 'Only You'

Cee Lo Green is a man of love. On his new track "Only You," the crooner swoons as he tells upstart singer Lauriana Mae that she's the only one who can "stop the bleeding." In the process, he floats over the track's unfussy bass groove, curling the end of each line with potential heartbreak, then unleashes the catchy chorus as he professes his feelings for Mae. "It's about two people on different paths, hoping for the best, hoping that those paths lead to each other," Green says. "It’s like love lost or the acknowledgment of a love lost, but it’s still optimistic."

"Only You" is from Cee Lo's forthcoming, still-untitled album. No release date has been set.

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Cee Lo Green Professes Love to Lauriana Mae in 'Only You' – Song Premiere

Cee Lo Green, 'Only You' featuring Lauriana Mae

Click to listen to Cee Lo Green featuring Lauriana Mae – 'Only You'

Cee Lo Green is a man of love. On his new track "Only You," the crooner swoons as he tells upstart singer Lauriana Mae that she's the only one who can "stop the bleeding." In the process, he floats over the track's unfussy bass groove, curling the end of each line with potential heartbreak, then unleashes the catchy chorus as he professes his feelings for Mae. "It's about two people on different paths, hoping for the best, hoping that those paths lead to each other," Green says. "It’s like love lost or the acknowledgment of a love lost, but it’s still optimistic."

"Only You" is from Cee Lo's forthcoming, still-untitled album. No release date has been set.

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Green Day Bassist: Billie Joe Armstrong's Rehab Stint 'Killing Everyone'

Mike Dirnt and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day perform during the 2012 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.

After Billie Joe Armstrong's onstage tirade and subsequent decision to enter rehab last month, Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt has opened up about how difficult the situation has been for the band, according to MTV via Kerrang!. "Billie doesn't take things lightly and he wouldn't take rehab lightly, either," said Dirnt. "He's in the middle of some really big things, but we're going to pull through. It's killing everyone. Green Day has never been a band that sits still, but sometimes you have to step back and let life go on rather than try to control everything."

The band has pulled out of their October 27th headlining slot at the Voodoo Music and Arts Experience festival in New Orleans, but still plans to release the next album in their trilogy, ¡Dos!, on November 13th.

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Green Day Bassist: Billie Joe Armstrong's Rehab Stint 'Killing Everyone'

Mike Dirnt and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day perform during the 2012 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.

After Billie Joe Armstrong's onstage tirade and subsequent decision to enter rehab last month, Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt has opened up about how difficult the situation has been for the band, according to MTV via Kerrang!. "Billie doesn't take things lightly and he wouldn't take rehab lightly, either," said Dirnt. "He's in the middle of some really big things, but we're going to pull through. It's killing everyone. Green Day has never been a band that sits still, but sometimes you have to step back and let life go on rather than try to control everything."

The band has pulled out of their October 27th headlining slot at the Voodoo Music and Arts Experience festival in New Orleans, but still plans to release the next album in their trilogy, ¡Dos!, on November 13th.

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Green Day Getting Musical Episode of 'Angry Birds Friends'

Green Day are getting their own musical episode in Angry Birds Friends. The pop-punk titans have teamed with Rovio Entertainment to appear in 10 new levels and give their likenesses to new pig characters in the Facebook-based video game. The episode will also feature the band's latest single "Oh Love" and the exclusive song "Troublemaker."

"We're all fans of Angry Birds," said Billie Joe Armstrong in a press release. "It's such an addictive game that when we first started playing it we couldn't stop."

More updates and details will come this fall. No release date has been given. Green Day are readying their album trilogy ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Tré!, with ¡Uno! set for release September 25th.

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Michael J. Fox Comedy Gets Green Light From NBC

NBC has picked up 22 episodes of Michael J. Fox's new TV show, a single-camera sitcom inspired by the actor's real life, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The show, which is still untitled, stars Fox as a husband and father of three in New York juggling family, career and various challenges, including Parkinson's disease. Filming begins this year, with a series debut expected for fall 2013.

"I'm extremely pleased to be back at NBC with a great creative team and a great show," Fox said in a statement. NBC Entertainment chairman "Bob Greenblatt and all the folks at the network have given me a warm welcome home, and I'm excited to get to work."

Also on board is writer Sam Laybourne, who's penned scripts for Arrested Development and Cougar Town, while Easy A director Will Gluck will executive produce and direct (including the pilot) from his own Olive Bridge Entertainment.

"To bring Michael J. Fox back to NBC is a supreme honor, and we are thrilled that one of the great comedic television stars is coming home again," said Greenblatt. "From the moment we met with Michael to hear his unique point of view about this new show, we were completely captivated and on board. He is utterly relatable, optimistic and in a class by himself, and I have no doubt that the character he will create – and the vivid family characters surrounding him – will be both instantly recognizable and hilarious. Being in business with him is a pleasure of the highest order."

Fox has had a lengthy television career with memorable turns on NBC's Family Ties, ABC's Spin City and FX's Rescue Me. Most recently he scored Emmy nominations for his roles on Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Good Wife.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Green Day Play New Songs at Surprise Gig

Green Day Play New Songs at Surprise GigBand performs 'Nuclear Family,' two other cuts at Echoplex in L.A. $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); By

Green Day hit the stage at Echoplex in Los Angeles last night for a surprise set filled with cuts from their upcoming album trilogy, ¡UNO! ¡DOS! ¡TRÉ!, Green Day Authority reports. You can check out the pop-punk thrasher – laced with organ, no less – "Nuclear Family" above, along with two other new cuts: "Kill the DJ" and "Wild One." ¡UNO! is set for release September 25th, ¡DOS! will follow November 23rd and ¡TRÉ! is due January 15th, 2013.

"We're changing the guitar sound. We're not going with the big Marshall amp thing," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong recently told Rolling Stone about the trilogy. "We wanted something punchier, more power pop – somewhere between AC/DC and the early Beatles. . . . If you listen to it, it feels grand. But it also feels like a garage band."

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Green Day Play New Songs at Surprise Gig

Green Day Play New Songs at Surprise GigBand performs 'Nuclear Family,' two other cuts at Echoplex in L.A. $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); By

Green Day hit the stage at Echoplex in Los Angeles last night for a surprise set filled with cuts from their upcoming album trilogy, ¡UNO! ¡DOS! ¡TRÉ!, Green Day Authority reports. You can check out the pop-punk thrasher – laced with organ, no less – "Nuclear Family" above, along with two other new cuts: "Kill the DJ" and "Wild One." ¡UNO! is set for release September 25th, ¡DOS! will follow November 23rd and ¡TRÉ! is due January 15th, 2013.

"We're changing the guitar sound. We're not going with the big Marshall amp thing," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong recently told Rolling Stone about the trilogy. "We wanted something punchier, more power pop – somewhere between AC/DC and the early Beatles. . . . If you listen to it, it feels grand. But it also feels like a garage band."

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Premiere: Green Day's 'Power-Pop' New Single, 'Oh Love'

Premiere: Green Day's 'Power-Pop' New Single, 'Oh Love''We tapped into our own version of 'Exile on Main Street'' $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); By

Green Day have always been an extremely ambitious band, but this fall they're taking it to the next level by releasing three consecutive studio albums: ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tres! The first disc drops on September 25th, the second on November 13th and the third on January 15th. Here is the exclusive premiere of "Oh Love," the lead single from ¡Uno! (The lyric video works even better if you happen to have 3D glasses handy.)

Each of the three albums has a totally different vibe. "The first one is power pop," says Billie Joe Armstrong. "The second is more garage-y, Nuggets-type rock. And the third is supposed to be epic. With the first album you're getting in the mood to party. On the second one, you're at the party. And the third album you're cleaning up the mess." 

The discs are produced by Rob Cavallo, who co-produced the band's 1994 breakthrough disc, Dookie. "We wanted to get back to the simplicity of Dookie," he says. "We also wanted to go pre-Dookie, back to our love of Fifties and Sixties music, close-to-the-bone rock & roll. You don't hear a gazillion parts. The majority of this is drums, bass, two guitars and vocals."

Bassist Mike Dirnt says the group wanted to move away from the weighty, politically charged content of their previous two albums, 2004's American Idiot and 2009's 21st Century Breakdown. "We were just thinking about making a killer power-pop record – dirtier, back to basics," he says. "We tapped into our version of Exile on Main Street."

Related
• Q&A: Billie Joe Armstrong on Green Day's Album Trilogy
• Photos: Green Day Through the Years
• Video: Green Day Talk ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tres!

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Premiere: Green Day's 'Power-Pop' New Single, 'Oh Love'

Premiere: Green Day's 'Power-Pop' New Single, 'Oh Love''We tapped into our own version of 'Exile on Main Street'' $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); By

Green Day have always been an extremely ambitious band, but this fall they're taking it to the next level by releasing three consecutive studio albums: ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tres! The first disc drops on September 25th, the second on November 13th and the third on January 15th. Here is the exclusive premiere of "Oh Love," the lead single from ¡Uno! (The lyric video works even better if you happen to have 3D glasses handy.)

Each of the three albums has a totally different vibe. "The first one is power pop," says Billie Joe Armstrong. "The second is more garage-y, Nuggets-type rock. And the third is supposed to be epic. With the first album you're getting in the mood to party. On the second one, you're at the party. And the third album you're cleaning up the mess." 

The discs are produced by Rob Cavallo, who co-produced the band's 1994 breakthrough disc, Dookie. "We wanted to get back to the simplicity of Dookie," he says. "We also wanted to go pre-Dookie, back to our love of Fifties and Sixties music, close-to-the-bone rock & roll. You don't hear a gazillion parts. The majority of this is drums, bass, two guitars and vocals."

Bassist Mike Dirnt says the group wanted to move away from the weighty, politically charged content of their previous two albums, 2004's American Idiot and 2009's 21st Century Breakdown. "We were just thinking about making a killer power-pop record – dirtier, back to basics," he says. "We tapped into our version of Exile on Main Street."

Related
• Q&A: Billie Joe Armstrong on Green Day's Album Trilogy
• Photos: Green Day Through the Years
• Video: Green Day Talk ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tres!

Amazon MP3 Download Center

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Green Day Begin Work on New Album

Billie Joe Armstrong performs during the Not So Silent Night concert in Oakland, California.

Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong announced in a tweet today that his band have hit the studio to begin work on their next album. "Happy Valentine's Day! Officially started recording the new record today. It's FUCK TIME!!!!" Armstrong wrote. It is unclear whether or not the album will actually be called FUCK TIME!!!! – but hey, fingers crossed.

Green Day have performed several new songs in recent concerts, most notably at a Halloween-themed gig for hardcore fans at the 300-capacity Studio at Webster Hall in Manhattan back in October. The songs performed at that show, such as "Wow, That's Loud" and "Make Out Party," were described by Rolling Stone's Erica Futterman as a departure from the band's more politically-minded records American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown, with more straightforward lyrics focused on aggression, sex and pleasure.

You can preview a live recording one of Green Day's new songs, "Carpe Diem," in the video below. Don't get too attached, though, as it might not make the final cut of the new record.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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