Billie Joe Armstrong does bill himself as a punk-rocker. So swearing, ranting, cussing out Justin Bieber, cussing out the audience and organizers, and smashing guitars are pretty much par for the course. Right?

Still, there was something about Armstrong's tantrum on Friday night—which was either a meltdown or classic piece of rock & roll theatricality, depending on your viewpoint—that went above and beyond the call of punk duty and should go down in Green Day history. It'll certainly be long remembered by anyone who was attending the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, as well as plenty of the millions who were watching Yahoo!'s live webcast.

The Friday night bill was full of superstars allotted 25-to-30 minute sets, including No Doubt, Usher, Jason Aldean, and Bon Jovi. The exception was Rihanna, whose post-midnight closing set, full of elaborate, Egyptian-themed production values, was slotted for 45 minutes. But at 11:55, 21 minutes into their half-hour, Armstrong, looking at the Teleprompter that counted down Green Day's remaining time, started in on his nuclear-level freakout. ""They say we got nine minutes left! I say boo to that f---ing s---!"

It's not as if Armstrong had been particularly circumspect or chaste up to this point. He'd repeatedly berated the few people in the otherwise excitable MGM Grand who deigned to sit down during the band's set. Green Day had already premiered a self-proclaimedly "dirty" new song called "It's F--- Time." He'd already pulled his pants down to revealing but not-quite-obscene levels, letting everyone in the live audience know about his personal grooming habits. And for the webcast editors and home viewing audience, this was pretty much the reason close-ups were invented.

But during the last 10 minutes of their set, his ire seemed to appear less like rouse-the-masses schtick and more like actual pique. The band launched into a revered oldie, then Armstrong interrupted it to say they'd rather end on a new song—and then they just stopped playing altogether as the clock ran out. "I've been around since 19-f--ing-88!" he bellowed near the end. "And you're gonna give me one minute? I'm not f---ing Justin Bieber, you mother---ers. This is a f---ing joke!" There could only be one proper climax at this point, and it was to say goodnight and God bless. Just kidding. No, it was for the band to smash their guitars before angrily storming off.

Is it possible no one in management bothered to tell Green Day ahead of time they had a half-hour slot, just like (almost) every other headliner on the bill? Not likely. (Although it was being spun within hours on Gawker, Perez Hilton, and other websites that the band's set had been "cut short by 20 minutes" because Usher went over—not true.) Is it possible Armstrong knew this was good theater and bound to get them into the news cycle three days before the release of their long-awaited new album? Who could be so cynical! Is it possible there were libations backstage, and. when you combine that with a general attitude of raging against the machine... snit happens? Stranger perfect storms have happened!

The reactions in our Twitter feed couldn't have been more polarized. Green Day's volatile set was the best thing ever! Worst thing ever! No, best! No. worst! This much is clear: Whatever Armstrong may have he'd been robbed of when it came to respect or time, he won big-time when it came to getting everyone's attention.