The multi-million-selling songwriter Linda Perry has accused Billie Joe Armstrong of being a “pussy” after getting cold feet over collaborating with her.
It seems that Perry was lined up to produce Green Day’s follow-up album to their huge-selling 2004 American Idiot album – the record that eventually became 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown. Perry’s track record as a songwriter is second to none: she’s penned mega-selling hits for Pink, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera, though of course she comes from a rock background – 4 Non Blondes were briefly one of the biggest alt rock bands of the immediate post-grunge period.
But then Courtney Love broke the news of the Green Day - Perry link-up and things quickly unravelled…
In a new interview with NME, Perry remembers, “I had a full calendar and cancelled six months of work to do it. I met with Billie Joe and we talked for three hours... Like every artist, I think he had got to a point where you feel like I have nothing to say and need help – there’s a therapy aspect to producing too.”
![Green Day - Know Your Enemy [Official Music Video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9IclmVdWNbI/maxresdefault.jpg)
“Then Courtney blabbed her mouth that I was producing. Suddenly they started getting backlash from their fans, upset they were ‘bringing in Linda Perry, who produced Pink and Christina Aguilera.’”
“And then those guys just stopped calling me,” Perry continued. “I would reach out to figure out what was going on. Nobody called. I lost six months of scheduled work. That was fucked-up – all because Billie Joe’s a little pussy and got all this backlash from his fans and didn’t like it.”
At the time, Green Day issued a statement denying Perry had ever been in the mix for the production gig, saying they were sticking with Rob Cavallo. In the end, they chose Butch Vig for 21st Century Breakdown.
The decision clearly hurt Perry. “It was harsh and rude to do that,” she says. “Just call me and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to go a different way. I’m not digging this backlash we’re getting’. Just balls-up, man. Not returning my calls was such a pussy move, and I lost a lot of respect for Billie Joe.”
“It happened because I was a woman and I’d written pop songs. I was disappointed in those guys, and then I was mad at Courtney because if she would have just shut up, we would have made the record and it would have come out and it would have spoken for itself. I had a vision and knew I was going to kill that record.”
