In a classic example of a dog-bites-man non-story, the Associated Press is dutifully furthering the "censorship" whine of a rock band that laments that Wal-Mart won't stock its new album, "21st Century Breakdown."
Today, Associated Press music writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody hacked out 13 paragraphs to relay how "Green Day lashes out at Wal-Mart policy."
Of course the discount retailer's standards for music fit for its shelves are hardly new nor are they being applied out of the blue to the rockers. Nonetheless, Moody stacked the deck by quoting two of the band's three members against one Wal-Mart executive.
What's more, that a band like Green Day thrives off the publicity from Wal-Mart "censoring" their music -- there's no doubt the band hopes this development spurs interest in their album and hence more sales -- was not considered by Moody, nor the fact that the band's music is readily available online and in numerous other brick-and-mortar outlets like Target.
Instead Moody closed her article with lead singer Billie Armstrong lecturing, no doubt selflessly, about would-be rockers in basements and garages all over the fruited plain who would have to "censor" themselves:
While Armstrong, Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool are still top-sellers without Wal-Mart, Armstrong said the store's policy is disappointing, considering it has become the dominant seller of CDs with the decline of traditional music stores.
"If you think about bands that are struggling or smaller than Green Day ... to think that to get your record out in places like that, but they won't carry it because of the content and you have to censor yourself," he said. "I mean, what does that say to a young kid who's trying to speak his mind making a record for the first time? It's like a game that you have to play. You have to refuse to play it."
