"We had to put the life of our friend in front of everything."

--Mike Dirnt

Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt is speaking about the rant and rehab of Green Day front-man Billie Joe Armstrong.  Dirnt, who joined Armstrong in smashing his instrument at the iHeartRadio Music Festival (total wingman move), told BBC Radio (via NME) that everything is on pause for the sake of Billie Joe Armstrong.  He also believes that the band bit off more than they could chew leading up to the meltdown:

"Hindsight is 20/20… it was a tremendous undertaking… It catches up with you a little bit. We definitely jumped off a moving train...All that inertia. There were signs of things hitting the fan, we hadn't slept in forever."

Green Day released ¡Uno! in September and will release ¡Dos! on November 13.  Billie Joe appeared on The Voice Monday night in a segment filmed before his trip to rehab.

Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, and Neil Young headlined the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York in September and the show raised $1.3 billion pledges.

Various organizations plan to contribute hefty sums of money over the next several years to the cause.  The Global Poverty Project has the breakdown.  Here are highlights:

• The Half the Sky Movement commits to raise $167.5 Million for women's empowerment through a coalition of 15 NGO partners.
• The U.S. Fund for UNICEF will raise $500 million by 2015 to fight for the survival and development of children.
• charity: water commits to raise $100 million by 2015 for clean drinking water, 100% of which will directly fund water project costs in the field.
• Pencils of Promise will generate a movement of 500,000 actions toward education for all.
• World Vision commits to raise $14.5 million for advocacy to reduce child and maternal mortality rates.
• World Food Program USA commits $15 million towards reducing childhood malnutrition in Central America.
• Global Partnership for Education will raise $500 million to help 5 million children in crisis and conflict areas get in school and learn
• Malaria No More will raise up to $1.5 million to expand life-saving health education programs in central Africa.
• The Earth Institute commits $6.2 million for food security throughout the Horn of Africa.
• Earth Day Network commits $10 million to plant 10 million trees over 5 years around the world.

The Black Keys released an EP called Tour Rehearsal Tapes which was recorded in December of 2011 leading up to their 2012 tour.  It features four songs from 2011's El Camino and two form 2010's Brothers.  The EP was recorded live in a studio.

The duo is planning on releasing a new album at some point of 2013.

Nine Inch Nails front-man Trent Reznor is releasing a song from his other project, How to Destroy Angels.  The band is an experimental industrial rock band with a bit of electronica (not unlike Nine Inch Nails).  Reznor is joined by his wife Marirqueen Maandig and his partner in scoring films like The Social Network, Atticus Ross.

How to Destroy Angels released an EP in 2010 and plans to release another one in November.  On Monday, the band debuts a new single Keep it Together on the band's Facebook page.  They plan on releasing a full album in 2013.

Coldplay plans on releasing a series of comic books based on their last album Mylo Xyloto starting in February 2013.  But, the British band seems to want to give us some comics now.

In their new video for Hurts Like Heaven, we get a prequel to the upcoming comic book series.