Finding New Music “Via Algorithms” Is “Just Lazy”

Green Day’s latest album, Saviors, has arrived, and though you’ll easily find the new tracks on a number of algorithmic playlists, you won’t get any brownie points from the band for getting your music that way. In a new interview, the pop-punk trio shared their opinion: “finding your music via algorithms [is] just lazy.”

The comments come from a new discussion between Green Day and The Sun, in which bassist Mike Dirnt explained that he likes to “organically find” new things. “Social media is great for kids, but if you’re finding your music via algorithms then that’s just lazy,” reads his full quote. “All I can say is just clear your search history to find new [stuff].”

For his part, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong explained that his distaste for algorithms centers on how they can manipulate content. “With all the algorithms that people live on, there’s so much false information, and there’s people diagnosing themselves with Asperger’s off TikTok,” he said. “That’s absurd to me.”

Going further, Armstrong explained that he’d rather keep his important messages in his songs, rather than try to share them directly on social media. “My opinions are always in my songs,” he said. “I don’t like to Tweet or Instagram about politics, because you’re contributing to insane people who are just arguing and taking sides. So, I write about it in my songs.”

Still, the band at least sees a few upsides to social media sites. “I was told that ‘Brain Stew’ was a sudden popular thing on TikTok with a lot of hip-hop kids dancing to it,” Armstrong said. “And that’s cool. But I don’t have the patience to use it. It’s just like, eurgh. It’s cool for other people but we’re old-school, man.”

Get Green Day Tickets Here

Acting as the perfect foil to Armstrong and Drint — or perhaps just as the business-minded anchor to his bandmates’ idealism — Tré Cool chimed in with a quip: “We say this now but as soon as we hang up, we’ll be making a TikTok account.” Read the full interview with The Sun here.

Meanwhile, Green Day is gearing up to hit the road for a sprawling 2024 stadium tour with support from The Smashing Pumpkins, The Hives, Rancid, The Linda Lindas, and more. Check out the full list of dates, and grab your tickets here.