Cigarettes and Valentines

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Cigarettes and Valentines
Studio album (unreleased) by
Green Day
ReleasedCancelled; intended for 2003
RecordedJuly–October 2002
StudioStudio 880 in Oakland, California
GenrePunk rock[1]
LabelReprise
ProducerRob Cavallo
Green Day chronology
Shenanigans
(2002) 		Cigarettes and Valentines
(2003) 		American Idiot
(2004)

Cigarettes and Valentines is an unreleased studio album by American rock band Green Day. The album would have been the follow-up to Warning (2000).[2] In 2003, the album was nearly finished when the master tapes were mysteriously stolen from the band's studio.[3] Instead of re-recording the album, the band decided to start from scratch, leading to the creation of American Idiot (2004).

In an interview with NME on November 18, 2016,[4] Armstrong and Dirnt stated that the master tapes are being used for new songs.

History[]

Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong said the album's material was "good stuff".[5] Musically, the material on Cigarettes and Valentines was hard, "quick-tempoed punk" songs in the vein of Green Day's Kerplunk and Insomniac.[1] This sound would have contrasted the group's previous two studio albums, Nimrod and Warning, which displayed more rock and folk punk genres respectively. Bassist Mike Dirnt described the band's decision of returning to the sound found on their older albums, stating, "We've had a nice break from making hard and fast music and it's made us want to do it again."[1] However, despite the album being nearly complete, in 2003 the album's master tapes were stolen from the studio. However, Green Day would later call the theft a "blessing in disguise",[6] believing the album wasn't "maximum Green Day".[5] Dirnt admitted that backups of the tapes were made but claims that "it just wasn't the same as the originals". Cigarettes and Valentines was never even roughly mixed, according to various interviews with the band. Ultimately the band decided against rerecording the album and instead started from scratch, which eventually lead to the creation of their 2004 album American Idiot. Some songs were later re-recorded or reworked into new songs, but despite the band eventually recovering the stolen tapes, the original versions of the songs have never been officially released.

The Network's album Money Money 2020, released on September 30, 2003, through Billie Joe Armstrong's Adeline Records, was speculated by some fans as being a re-recording of the album, or to contain aspects of it. Armstrong has denied any connection between the two projects in various interviews.[1]

Live performances and other appearances[]

The title song, "Cigarettes and Valentines", was first played live at the concert in Greenwood Village, Colorado, on August 28, 2010, during the band's concert at the Comfort Dental Amphitheatre while on their 21st Century Breakdown World Tour.[7] This show was being filmed to eventually contribute to a forthcoming live album, leading to speculation that some of the songs from the Cigarettes and Valentines sessions would eventually be released.[7][8]

"Cigarettes and Valentines" saw an official release on Awesome as Fuck. "Too Much Too Soon", a B-side on the "American Idiot" single, was a track originally from Cigarettes and Valentines. On February 14, 2011, the official lyric video for the song was released on Green Day's official YouTube channel. Four days later, the official video for the song was released there as well. A live promo single was released on February 21, 2011, containing 2:43 of the performance in Phoenix, Arizona (the shots of the crowd are from the concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina).

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Spitz, Marc (2006). Nobody Likes You: Inside the Turbulent Life, Times, and Music of Green Day. New York: Hyperion. pp. 152–156. ISBN 1-4013-0274-2.
  2. ^ "Lost Music: Green Day's Stolen Album, Kurt's Demos and Other Mythical Masterpieces". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
  3. ^ Hlavaty, Craig (June 14, 2007). "Lost Albums: CDs that deserve another listen". Houston Press. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  4. ^ Trendell, Andrew (November 18, 2016). "Green Day reveal the fate of 'lost' pre-'American Idiot' album 'Cigarettes And Valentines'". NME. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Wanna Hear The Lost VU Record?". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  6. ^ "Top 10 Albums You've Never Heard". Yes But No But Yes. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Paul, Aubin (August 30, 2010). "Videos: Green Day: "Cigarettes and Valentines"". Punknews.org. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  8. ^ Reilly, Dan (August 31, 2010). "Green Day Recording Live Album, Perform New Song". Spinner. AOL Music. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
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