Album of the Week: Dookie

Tomorrow begins the (potential) onslaught of posts for the PoYB Summer Song Challenge. That's a completely separate thing from Record Club, though. RC is going strong through the summer as well. However, it might be nice to listen to an album this week that a lot of us are already familiar with, to soften the transition. Have a great first week of summer, everyone!!

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WEEK 226 — May 28-June 3, 2023

Dookie

by Green Day

LISTEN:

Spotify | YouTube | Bandcamp | Apple

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PICKED BY GARY

GARY'S COMMENTS: "The year is 1994. I'm five. My sister, a teenager just searching for who she is as a person, was listening to a punk rock band called Green Day. Little did she know that this exact moment would be the reason that from that day forward, punk rock would forever be my secret love interest. And I'll thank Melissa forever for that. Nope. Not that one. Billions of women, and somehow I marry a girl who shares the same name as my sister.

Dookie was the first album I've ever listened to. And nothing seemed more appropriate to celebrate my 35th birthday, albeit a week late, then this great record. Does it hold up? Only one way to know. Time to put on my Walkman headphones and take it for a spin."

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ALBUM DETAILS

GENRE: pop punk, punk rock

RELEASED: February 1, 1994

LENGTH: 39:34

TRACKLIST:

1. Burnout
   
2. Having a Blast
3. Chump
4. Longview
5. Welcome to Paradise
6. Pulling Teeth
7. Basket Case
8. She
9. Sassafras Roots
10. When I Come Around
11. Coming Clean
12. Emenius Sleepus
13. In the End
14. F.O.D.
15. All by Myself (previously a hidden track)
    

LYRICS: Genius.com

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ARTIST DETAILS

PRONOUNS: he/him/his for all three members of the band

ABOUT: Green Day formed in 1987 in the East Bay area of California. They consist of frontman/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and (starting with their second album) drummer Tré Cool. Dookie, their third album, was their breakout success, and is credited for helping popularize pop-punk in the U.S. Dookie was also their major label debut, which lost them some "punk credibility," according to some punk fundamentalists (an argument that has mostly faded in the past 30 years). Green Day experienced a resurgence in popularity with 2004's American Idiot, a rock opera that was eventually adapted for Broadway. They are one of the best selling artists of all time, and at this point a rock 'n' roll institution.

DISCOGRAPHY: They have thirteen studio LPs total at this point. Dookie was the third. Prior albums, released on independent labels, were 1990's 39/Smooth, and 1991's Kerplunk. Dookie was followed with Insomniac (1995), Nimrod (1997), and Warning (2000). American Idiot started a new era, and was followed up with 21st Century Breakdown in 2009. Most recently, they released Father of All Motherfuckers in 2020.

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ADDITIONAL INFO

READING SOME SHIT: Loudwire has a 29th Anniversary piece, for some reason

WATCHING SOME SHIT: In 2013, Green Day performed the whole album live in full

PREVIOUSLY ON RECORD CLUB: I could tell you that producer Rob Cavallo also produced The Black Parade, and has worked in some capacity with Paramore, O.A.R., Alanis Morissette, Fleetwood Mac, and so on... but that feels boring to me. How about colors? I'm stretching because I'm bored, and don't feel like listing best-selling artists again or the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famers again. Colors. Green Day. I guess there's The Black Parade again. Oh, there's Purple, and Purple Haze. Red Baraat too! Who could forget PinkPantheress? Or the Black Keys? Or even the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus?!

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Happy listening, RC family!
Have a great week!