Cigarettes and Valentines

Cigarettes and Valentines
Studio album by Green Day
Released	Unreleased
Recorded	2003
Label	Reprise
Producer	Rob Cavallo
Green Day chronology
Warning (2000) Cigarettes and Valentines (Unreleased) American Idiot (2004)

Cigarettes and Valentines was an unreleased studio album from punk rock band Green Day that would have been the proper follow-up to 2000's Warning.^[1] In the summer of 2003, the album was nearly finished when the master recordings of 20 tracks were stolen from the studio.^[2] Instead of re-recording the album, the band decided to start from scratch, leading to the creation of American Idiot.

Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong said the album's material was "good stuff."^[3] Musically, the material on Cigarettes and Valentines was hard, "quick-tempoed punk" songs in the vein of Green Day's Kerplunk and Insomniac.^[4] This sound would have contrasted the group's previous two studio albums, Nimrod and Warning, which displayed more rock/ska 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."^[4] However, Green Day would later call the theft a "blessing in disguise,"^[5] believing the album wasn't "maximum Green Day".^[3] Dirnt admitted that backups of the tapes were made but claims that "it just wasn't the same as the originals."^{[citation needed]} Cigarettes and Valentines was never even roughly mixed, according to various interviews with the band, hence no "legitimate" versions of songs, track lists, artwork etc exist.

The Network's album Money Money 2020 was speculated by some fans as being a re-recording of the album, or to contain aspects of it. But in various interviews, Armstrong has denied any connection between the two projects.^[4]

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.^[6] This show was being filmed to eventually contribute to the forthcoming live album, leading to speculation that some of the songs from the Cigarettes and Valentines sessions would eventually be released.^[6][7] During the same performance Green Day also performed the song "Olivia", which also originates from these unreleased sessions.^[8] These songs were also performed during other dates on the same tour. "Cigarettes and Valentines" saw an official release on Awesome as Fuck. On February 14, 2011, the official lyric video for the song was released on Green Day's official YouTube channel. On February 18, 2011 the official video for the song was released on their YouTube channel. 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.) ^[9]

References

1. ^ "Lost Music: Green Day’s Stolen Album, Kurt’s Demos and Other Mythical Masterpieces". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/14473/78517. Retrieved 2010-10-03. 
2. ^ Hlavaty, Craig (June 14, 2007). "Lost Albums: CDs that deserve another listen". Houston Press. http://www.houstonpress.com/2007-06-14/music/lost-albums/. Retrieved August 31, 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Wanna Hear The Lost VU Record?". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/01/05/wanna-hear-the-lost-vu-record/. Retrieved 2008-02-01. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Spitz, Marc (2006). Nobody Likes You: Inside the Turbulent Life, Times, and Music of Green Day. New York: Hyperion. pp. 152–156. ISBN 1401302742. 
5. ^ "Top 10 Albums You've Never Heard". Yes But No But Yes. http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2007/01/top_10_albums_y.html. Retrieved 2008-02-01. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Paul, Aubin (August 30, 2010). "Videos: Green Day: "Cigarettes and Valentines"". Punknews.org. http://www.punknews.org/article/39619. Retrieved August 30, 2010. 
7. ^ Reilly, Dan (August 31, 2010). "Green Day Recording Live Album, Perform New Song". Spinner. AOL Music. http://www.spinner.com/2010/08/31/green-day-live-album-cigarettes-and-valentines/. Retrieved August 31, 2010. 
8. ^ Coplan, Chris (August 31, 2010). "Watch: Green Day debut 'Cigarettes and Valentines' and 'Olivia'". Consequence of Sound. http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/08/31/watch-green-day-debut-cigarettes-and-valentines-and-olivia/. Retrieved August 31, 2010. 
9. ^ Medien, Hung (February 21, 2011). "Watch: Green Day - Cigarettes and Valentines - swisscharts.com". Swiss Charts. http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Green+Day&titel=Cigarettes+And+Valentines&cat=s. Retrieved February 27, 2011.