The Weird Reason Why Perry Farrell Didn’t Want to Book Green Day for Lollapalooza ’94

Perry Farrell apparently had reservations about booking Green Day for the 1994 Lollapalooza tour. The festival founder's reason why is not what you'd expect.

In the new book LOLLAPALOOZA: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival, stage manager John Rubeli said (as transcribed by Consequence), "I can’t think of a single time that Perry pushed back or vetoed a band — except for Green Day. … He was like, ‘They’re a boy band. I don’t want to book a boy band.'”

Sure, Green Day was and still is a band with men in it, but most people wouldn't classify them as a "boy band."

Billie Joe Armstrong is featured in this new Lollapalooza book, and he called Farrell "a f---ing a--hole, straight up." (Yikes!) Armstrong noted that Green Day were asked to join the festival tour, and then, " ... All of a sudden, [Farrell] comes back in and he’s like, ‘I don’t want them on the bill.’ Apparently, he thought that we were a band that was put together by [record executive] Mo Ostin at Warner Bros.”

Armstrong added, "For us, it was really disappointing because Perry was someone that we really respected. I think that made us want to play [Lollapalooza] even more, actually, because we wanted to prove that he had his head very far up his own ass.”

Green Day would go on to dedicate a performance of "Chump" to Farrell on the Lolla tour, which the Jane's Addiction frontman didn't appreciate. Armstrong said he eventually met Farrell later on the tour, but the meeting was brief and involved a quick handshake. It seems as though neither party has buried the hatchet in the years since the 1994 tour.

In lighter festival news: Green Day is one of the headliners of this year's Coachella. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band is headlining night two of the festival, while Lady Gaga headlines night one and Post Malone headlines night three. Other rock acts confirmed for Coachella include The Original Misfits, Jimmy Eat World, Circle Jerks, Amyl and the Sniffers, The Prodigy, and Speed.

Coachella kicks off this weekend April 11-13 and the following weekend April 18-20.