QUICK TAKES - May 22, 2009

Green Day has the most popular CD in the country right now, but you won’t be able to find it at your local Wal-Mart. The band says the giant superstore chain refused to stock its latest CD, “21st Century Breakdown,” because the group would not edit the album for language and content as Wal-Mart wanted.

“They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there,” frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said. “We just said no. We’ve never done it before. You feel like you’re in 1953 or something.”

Wal-Mart said that it is the company’s long-standing policy not to stock any CD with a parental advisory sticker.

“As with all music, it is up to the artist or label to decide if they want to market different variations of an album to sell, including a version that would remove a PA rating,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien said. “The label and artist in this case have decided not to do so, so we unfortunately cannot offer the CD.”