Dookie

Background and recording

Following the underground success of the band's second studio album Kerplunk (1992), a number of major record labels became interested in Green Day. Representatives of these labels attempted to entice the band to sign by inviting them for meals to discuss a deal, with one manager even inviting the group to Disneyland. The band declined these advances until meeting producer and Reprise representative Rob Cavallo. They were impressed by his work with fellow Californian band The Muffs, and later remarked that Cavallo "was the only person we could really talk to and connect with".

Eventually, the band left their independent record label Lookout! Records on friendly terms, and signed to Reprise. Signing to a major label caused many of the band's original fans from the independent music club 924 Gilman Street to regard Green Day as sell-outs. The club has banned Green Day from entering since the major label signing. Reflecting back on the period, lead vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong told Spin magazine in 1999, "I couldn't go back to the punk scene, whether we were the biggest success in the world or the biggest failure [...] The only thing I could do was get on my bike and go forward."

Cavallo was chosen as the main producer of the album, with Jerry Finn as the mixer. Green Day originally gave the first demo tape to Cavallo, and after listening to it during the car ride home he sensed that "[he] had stumbled on something big." The band's recording session lasted three weeks and the album was remixed twice. Armstrong claimed that the band wanted to create a dry sound, "similar to the Sex Pistols' album or first Black Sabbath albums." The band felt the original mix to be unsatisfactory. Cavallo agreed, and it was remixed at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. Armstrong later said of their studio experience, "Everything was already written, all we had to do was play it."

Writing and composition

Much of the album's content was written by Armstrong, except "Emenius Sleepus" written by bassist Mike Dirnt, and the hidden track, "All by Myself", which was composed and written by drummer Tré Cool. The album touched upon various experiences of the band members and included subjects like anxiety and panic attacks, masturbation, sexual orientation, boredom, mass murder, divorce, and ex-girlfriends.

The single "Longview" had a signature bass line that bassist Dirnt wrote while under the influence of LSD. He originally forgot much of it, but the remembered portions were included in the song. Armstrong stated that the song was mainly about boredom, masturbation, and smoking cannabis, as evident in some of the lyrics ("When masturbation's lost its fun/You're fucking lonely", inaccurately quoted as "You're fucking breaking" in the liner notes).

"Welcome to Paradise", the second single from Dookie, was originally on the band's second studio album, Kerplunk. The song was re-recorded with a less grainy sound for Dookie. The song never had an official music video; however, a certain live performance of the song is often associated as a music video. The video is located on Green Day's official website.

The hit single "Basket Case", which appeared on many singles charts worldwide, was also inspired by Armstrong's personal experiences. The song deals with Armstrong's anxiety attacks and feelings of "going crazy" prior to being diagnosed with a panic disorder. In the third verse, "Basket Case" references soliciting a male prostitute; Armstrong noted that "I wanted to challenge myself and whoever the listener might be. It's also looking at the world and saying, 'It's not as black and white as you think. This isn't your grandfather's prostitute – or maybe it was.'" The music video was filmed in an abandoned mental institution. This is one of the band's most popular songs.

The radio-only single, "She", was written by Armstrong about a former girlfriend who showed him a feminist poem with an identical title. In return, Armstrong wrote the lyrics of "She" and showed them to her. She later moved to Ecuador, prompting Armstrong to put "She" on the album. The same ex-girlfriend is also the topic of the songs "Sassafras Roots" and "Chump".

The final single, "When I Come Around", was again inspired by a woman, though this time being about Armstrong's wife, then former girlfriend, Adrienne. Following a dispute between the couple, Armstrong left Adrienne to spend some time alone. The video featured the three band members walking around Berkeley and San Francisco at night, eventually ending up back at the original location. Future member of Green Day, Jason White, made a cameo in the video with his then-girlfriend. Although not as popular as "Basket Case", the song was actually more successful in the U.S. being the band's first top ten single at number 6 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and staying number 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart for 7 weeks or 2 weeks longer than "Basket Case", it also hit number 2 on both the Mainstream Rock Tracks and the Mainstream Top 40 charts.

The song "Coming Clean" deals with Armstrong's coming to terms with his bisexuality when he was 16 and 17 years old. In his interview with The Advocate magazine, he states that although he has never had a relationship with a man, his sexuality has been "something that comes up as a struggle in me".

Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the song "In the End" about his mother and her husband. He is quoted saying: "That song is about my mother's husband, it's not really about a girl, or like anyone directly related to me in a relationship. In the End's about my mother."

Armstrong also wrote the song "Having a Blast" when he was in Cleveland in 1992.

Packaging

The name of the album is a reference to the band members often suffering from diarrhea, which they referred to as "liquid dookie", as a result of eating spoiled food while on tour. Initially the band was to name the album Liquid Dookie; however, this was deemed "too gross", and so they settled on the name Dookie.

The album artwork by fellow East Bay punk Richie Bucher caused controversy, which depicts bombs being dropped on people and buildings. The setting is a replica of Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue. In the center, there is an explosion, with the band's name at the top. Armstrong has since explained the meaning of the artwork:

The back cover on early prints of the CD featured a plush toy of Ernie from Sesame Street, which was airbrushed out of later prints for fear of litigation; however, Canadian and European prints still feature Ernie on the back cover. Some rumors suggest that it was removed because it led parents to think that Dookie was a child's lullaby album or that the creators of Sesame Street had sued Green Day.

Release

Dookie was released on February 1, 1994. Upon its release, the album charted in seven countries. It peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 in the United States, and was a success in several other countries, peaking as high as number one in New Zealand; the lowest peak in any country was in the United Kingdom at number 13. While all the singles from the album charted in a few countries, the hit single "Basket Case" entered the top 10 in the United Kingdom and Sweden. Later in 1995, the album received a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, with "Longview" and "Basket Case" each being nominated for a Grammy. Although the album only sold 9,000 copies in its first week as the album didn't gain commercial success until after its release.

Throughout the 1990s, Dookie continued to sell well, eventually receiving diamond certification in 1999; by 2013, Dookie had sold over 20 million copies worldwide and remains the band's best-selling album.

Reception

Dookie was released to critical acclaim. Bill Lamb at About.com regards it as an album that only gets better with time, calling it "one of the landmark albums of the 1990s". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described Dookie as "a stellar piece of modern punk that many tried to emulate but nobody bettered". In 1994, Time claimed Dookie as the third best album of the year, and the best rock album of 1994. Jon Pareles from The New York Times, in early 1995, described the sound of Dookie as, "Punk turns into pop in fast, funny, catchy, high-powered songs about whining and channel-surfing; apathy has rarely sounded so passionate." Rolling Stone's Paul Evans described Green Day as "convincing mainly because they've got punk's snotty anti-values down cold: blame, self-pity, arrogant self-hatred, humor, narcissism, fun".

Neil Strauss of The New York Times, while complimentary on the album's overall quality, noted that Dookie's pop sound only remotely resembled punk music. The band did not respond initially to these comments, but later claimed that they were "just trying to be themselves" and that "it's our band, we can do whatever we want". Dirnt claimed that the follow-up album, Insomniac, one of the band's hardest albums lyrically and musically, was the band releasing their anger at all the criticism from critics and former fans.

Along with The Offspring's Smash, Dookie has been credited for helping bring punk rock back into mainstream music culture. Thomas Nassiff at Fuse cited it as the most important pop punk album.

In April 2014, Rolling Stone placed the album at No. 1 on its "1994: The 40 Best Records From Mainstream Alternative's Greatest Year" list. A month later, Loudwire placed Dookie at No. 1 on its "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994" list. Guitar World ranked Dookie at number thirteen in their list "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994".

Accolades

Since its release, Dookie has been featured heavily in various "must have" lists compiled by the music media. Some of the more prominent of these lists to feature Dookie are shown below; this information is adapted from Acclaimed Music.

Live performances

Immediately following the release of Dookie, the band embarked on an international tour, beginning in the United States, for which they used a bookmobile belonging to Tré Cool's father to travel between shows. An audience of millions saw Green Day's performance at Woodstock '94 on Pay-per-view, helping the band attract more fans. This event was the location of the infamous mud "fight" between the band and the crowd, which continued beyond the end of Green Day's set. During the fight, Dirnt was mistaken for a fan by a security guard, who tackled him and then threw him against a monitor, causing him to injure his arm and break two of his teeth.

The band also appeared at Lollapalooza and the Z100 Acoustic Christmas at Madison Square Garden, where Armstrong performed the song "She" naked. Having toured throughout the United States and Canada, the band played a few shows in Europe before beginning the recording sessions for the subsequent album, Insomniac. During the tour, Armstrong was quite homesick. His wife, Adrienne Armstrong, whom he had married shortly after the release of Dookie, was pregnant during most of the tour, and Armstrong was upset about being unable to help and care for her.

In August 2013, Dookie was played in its entirety at the Brixton Academy in London and at Reading and Leeds Festivals as a celebration of the album's upcoming 20th anniversary.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Billie Joe Armstrong, except where noted. All music composed by Green Day.

Personnel

Green Day

Technical personnel