The text on why this album was featured contributed by J-Cool
#193 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Green Day, originally named Sweet Children, formed in the late eighties as a musical outlet for Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, who eventually moved into Billie's family's house. They eventuall put out two albums,
1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hour and
Kerplunk. Following the release of
Kerplunk, Green Day had become very popular in the underground music scene, eventually playing across the United States, and even Europe. During the tour, though, their original drummer had quit, and they soon acquired Tre Cool as their drummer, who has been their drummer ever since. Once some major-labels had heard Green Day, a bidding war began. Eventually, they signed with Reprise Records, and went in the studio to record their major-label debut,
Dookie.
Dookie spawned major hits such as "Longview," "Basket Case," et cetera. and has sold in excess of 10 million records to this day, though they lost credibility with the elitist punks.
Dookie is considered alongside albums like
Nevermind and
Weezer (The Blue Album) as being a huge influence on modern rock after its release. Ironically,
Dookie was released the year of Kurt Cobain's apparent suicide. The album rarely lets up on the gas pedal, driving through each song with the band banging the crap out of their instruments. One thing that is apparent as soon as the first song, "Burnout" begins, is that the album is one huge wall of sound, similar to Weezer's first album. Billie Joe's songwriting has also grown by leaps in bounds, although they are mainly about the same topics as previous Green Day albums. He crafts huge melodies and hooks that will (usually) keep you listening to the album. Another thing that is very easy to tell is that Mike Dirnt's bass playing is almost always audible. He crafts melodic and catchy bass lines, but they also have a groove to them, as in "Longview," which contains one of my favorite bass lines of all time. Tre Cool's drumming is also top notch. He constantly keeps the pace, but at times will throw in fills to spice things up, and the near-drum solos in "Burnout" are great, as is the tom-pounding in "Longview".
The songs themselves are almost all straight forward and catchy, but also self-depricating and sarcastic, as anyone would expect from a punk record. "Basket Case" is a perfect example of this. The song dictates a story in which the character puts himself down, and goes to a shrink and a whore to consult him with his problems, and accounts for a very humurous song. "She" also sports a deceptively simple bass line, with a perfectly fitting drum beat accompanying it. The song eventually becomes a huge wall of sound, as the others, and contains one of the best choruses on the album. "Pulling Teeth" is probably the most out-right melodic song, with arpeggiated chords, and one of the best vocal melodys on the album. It even contains what you could call a solo, at least for Green Day. It is apparently about Mike Dirnt's girlfriend accidently pushing him down the stairs, resulting in an injuring. Definate highlight of the album.
Dookie, though, is nowhere near perfect, as most punk albums tend to be, sadly. Songs like "Sassafras Roots" are extremely annoying and repetitive and really put the rest of the album. Indeed, "Sassafra Roots" repeats the same line after each other line, and seems more like filler than anything else. "Coming Clean" is also a rather boring song, and the whole sound of the song seems to be fairly weak compared to the rest of the album. Not exactly a bad song, but nowhere near as good as the rest of the album. The "mom and dad" references definately ruined it for me. "In the End," although a fast, upbeat song, is a little boring also. The rhythm of the words are very pleasing, and the chorus is very well written, but really doesn't redeem the song from the verses. They do throw in a little variety near the end, which helps it out a little more. "F.O.D" is the best song of the last six. It is a half acoustic, half electric song, about a rather "explosive" relationshio (har har..). The song is very well written, and show's Billie's ability to add some variety into music, which he has shown more and more since the release. The guitar tone is to drool for, and is the hugest in the album. There is a hidden track called "All By Myself" that is very funny. Ace.
Dookie is a milestone of pop-punk, ranking near the top of the best pop-punk albums ever. Although there are some duds, the rest of the album seems to redeem it, and is a very rewarding listen. For this reason, the album is definatealy not a 5/5, but more of a 4/5. I definately think that fans of almost all music should at least
try and listen to this album, but I'm sure that people who do not like pop-punk will really enjoy
Dookie too much.
Overall Rating : 4/5
Musical and Cultural Significance : 5/5
