Green Day – Dookie (1994)
[Album 292/1001]
Want to feel old? Dookie turned 20 earlier this year.
How is that even possible?!
I should disclose I was reluctant to fully embrace Dookie at the time. For the same reason I described when I reviewed The Offspring: as a 12-year old, I struggled to conform to ‘socially acceptable’ music preferences.
Two decades on, Dookie holds up surprisingly well. It’s power chord-based, incoherent lyric-driven fun. I was very pleased to finally learn the correct lyric in Basket Case, “I went to a shrink, to analyze my dreams.” Two decades late but I got there, nailed it!
Dookie‘s track-listing reminds me of the Normal Distribution (a Bell Curve). To quote the Postal Service song Nothing Better, I’ll use charts and graphs to explain:
1) A typical ‘Bell Curve’ displaying marks on a test.
2) A similar Bell Curve shape for the (mathematically precise measurement?) sing-along-ability of the songs on Dookie.
3) Though it could be argued that Green Day’s career fits more of a bimodal distribution pattern. Twin peaks in 1994 (Dookie) and 2004 (American Idiot).
Which means, if the pattern continues, look for a significant Green Day recording later this year!
1001albumsin10years 
I was not a fan of Green Day at all. This album was actually given to me by a friend who was moving and didn’t want it. I am still not the biggest fan of theirs, but I do find myself singing along to their Dookie tunes.
I think an Edgefest concert helped me become a fan. It would have been ’98 or so & they put on a show!
I enjoy those concerts where I leave the show liking the group more.
GS!!! You’ve combined two of my favorite things in this post – 1994 Green Day and nerd speak. I particularly like the graphical depiction of “All by myself”. Your stats are sound. I adore this album and believe I always will. 🙂
Laughing out loud as the kids say!
It really is an enjoyable album, that mid-section especially, from Longview to When I come around is one for the books. The rest is fun too of course but that middle is something else!
Nerd speak is the only vernacular I know 😉
HAHAHAHAH! I enjoyed this. Especially the graph for “All By Myself”!
My thanks – it felt like a singalong spike was called for at the secret song!
Pure brilliance!
20 years old?!?!? That’s a load of…well…remember Billy Joe’s network TV onstage meltdown? He even got a jab in on the Bieber lmao. He is punk through and through in spite of the career success which is definitely not considered “punk” and immediately following this tirade he checked into rehab.
THE FOLLOWING IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!! I MEAN IT!!! DON’T PLAY THIS AROUND SENSITIVE EARS!
Thanks for the disclaimer!
I hadn’t seen that – they definitely haven’t had the typical band career trajectory.
I often forget Dookie was album #3, they’d been around, as he put it, aince nineteen eighty ____ eight!
Saying that this is Green Day’s best album ever, is a bit of a cliche by now, but it almost is. I’m still much more of a fan of Nimrod, but that’s just me and my strange taste. Fuck 21st Century Breakdown, though. That shit blows, no matter how hard I try to give it a chance.
When I saw them live, they pulled a kid up from the audience to play Nimrod’s ‘King for a Day’ on guitar – Billie Joe showed him how to play it as the bass/drums started the song and then the audience member took over – would have been neat to be that guy!
I loved this album. I was not into alternative music at the time or whatever this is..but this album was great! Totally high school for me.
I think this is one of those albums that even non-fans at the time would probably enjoy now – providing they enjoyed 1994 in any way! One of those records that should bring back memories & hopefully good ones.
Mrs. LeBrain enjoyed this review too 🙂
My thanks Mrs. LeBrain – and Mr. LeBrain for sharing the feedback!
Love the use of the graphs. I’d like to see more bands ranked on a graph based system. 📈📉
Thanks Martyn – I’ve now started to think of how other bands would look graphically, a future Top 5 may be inevitable!
Not sure if Green Day is releasing a new album shortly or not, but “Foreverly” that Billie Joe released with Norah Jones a few months ago (all covers of Everley Brothers tunes) is a delight, and is selling well… maybe graph #2 holds true!
PS: Dookie was the soundtrack of elementary school, but Nimrod took me through the end of high school. Nimrod for life!!
That’s an intriguing pair, I’ll have to explore – and if I can boost sales to make my graph more accurate, all the better!