As this month marks the 30th anniversary of Green Day’s third studio album, Dookie, I finally had an excuse to delve into a retro record review of what was one of the fundamental albums of my adolescence.
Arguably one of the greatest pop-punk records of all time, Dookie’s cultural significance is unparalleled; it didn’t just storm the US charts, but had a global reach, it propelled punk back into the mainstream after a period dominated by grunge and was among the biggest selling rock albums of the 90’s. From the iconic cover art (an apparent nod to Black Sabbath, AC/DC and Sesame Street) to the eminent bratty lyrics, it is the definitive pop-punk album, and, to me, it is close to perfection.
The Album
Dookie opens with ‘Burnout’, an apathetic anthem for outcasts and loners filled with hooks and buzzsaw guitar. The track boasts the most iconic opening Green Day lyric in history: “I declare I don’t care no more / I’m burning up and out and growing bored”, a mission statement that sets the tone for the rest of the album. The iconic chorus “I’m not growing up, I’m just burning out” describes how it feels to be a twenty-something-year-old struggling with isolation and boredom, killing misery with intoxication.
Next the choppy guitars of ‘Having a Blast’ kick in. Don’t let the title misdirect you, this track is lyrically one of the darkest moments of the album. They reference a suicide bomber as Billy sings with almost unintelligible vocal delivery: “Takin’ all you down with me/ explosives duct-taped to my spine / nothing’s gonna change my mind”. The song is a metaphor for anger, suicide, and hurting the people around you but not really caring.
One of my favourite moments of the album comes from ‘Chump’. “I don’t know you, but I think I hate you” is one of the best opening lines of all time. The lyrics are about hating someone you don’t know for having what you can’t, fans have speculated it might be about falling in love with someone you can’t have or being cheated on. My favourite part is the closing guitars and drum grooves that pave the way for a seamless transition into one of the best songs on the album; lead single ‘Longview’. Tre Cool’s loud-and-fast drumming really comes through at this point, a real strength of the album.
The iconic walking bassline pulls the listener immediately into ‘Longview’, a fan favourite and for a good reason. The instrumentation is Green Day at their best, starting out smooth and calm and quiet before the chorus punches you in the face. The lyrics reflect how one might feel in a period of unemployment; unwashed, lacking motivation, smoking your days away in isolation. But it’s mostly a banger about masturbation for stoners. Not very radio friendly, but that’s why we love them.
The album progresses full throttle with ‘Welcome to Paradise’. Another hard-and-fast favourite that fans scream full volume during live sets, it’s one of their most recognisable songs. Green Day had a fun tradition where they swap instruments, so Billy Joe Armstrong actually wrote the drums on this track and Tre Cool wrote the guitar riffs. It’s about moving away from home and adjusting to living in a new place, a slum in Oakland where Billy and Mark lived together as teenagers.
The run of great songs continues with ‘Pulling Teeth’. Whilst the melody is quite soothing, the lyrics reveal a story about an abusive relationship, but he’s scared of the violence, so he never quite leaves her. The song is very tongue-in-cheek, but what’s interesting is the subversion of the typical ‘men as domestic abusers’ trope.
‘Basket Case’ is one of Dookie’s all-time hits. Billy looks at the frustrations brought about by his mental torment as he looks for solutions to his panic attacks. Another interesting subversion comes in the third verse as Billy changes the expected gender of the word “whore”, a way of challenging societal conventions but also perhaps a reference to his bisexuality, foreshadowing ‘Coming Clean’.
‘She’ is my personal favourite from Dookie. “She / She screams in silence / A sullen riot penetrating through her mind / Waiting for a sign to smash the silence with the brick of self-control” are some of the best lyrics on the whole album because they’re so meaningful in spite of their simplicity. Billy wrote the song in response to a poem written by an ex-girlfriend. Undervalued for many reasons; it’s smooth and simple but filled with infectious hooks and the band’s signature rapid-fire riffs, and the scream in the middle always gives me chills.
Who’d expect a Green Day track about wasting time? ‘Sassafras Roots’ offers an inner monologue about just that. The lyrics carry an undertone of loneliness and desire set to an intoxicating melody, it’s just blissful pop punk at its best.
‘When I Come Around’ is a rolling classic rock filled with subtle sarcasm to soften the blow of the story the lyrics tell. Armstrong plays a guy who is unwilling to commit to his partner, he’s “out on the prowl” while she’s “thinking about ditching” him. The track demonstrates Green Day can do more than just pop punk, and Mike Dirnt’s bassline is grossly underrated here. It’s unsurprisingly the band’s second best-selling single of the 1990s, after ‘Good Riddance (time of your life)’.
Next ‘Coming Clean’ is a one-and-a-half-minute bisexual anthem that is slightly overshadowed by its predecessor. One of the band’s most overlooked tracks, Armstrong’s lyrics delve into a conversation about his sexuality as his “I’ve found out what it takes to be a man / now mom and dad will never understand what’s happening to me”.
As the album draws to a close, quick and nippy ‘Emenius Sleepus’ blasts you in the face with sound, the fast-paced drums and vocals wasting no time. Armstrong delivers an internal monologue, written by Dirnt, exploring themes of nostalgia and regret as the individual reflects on their life and the changes that have taken place over time.
‘In the End’ should come with a warning for headphone users, hook laden with a classic pop structure but parts really hit you with a punk sound. Armstrong wrote the lyrics from his point of view about his mother and her return to dating after the death of his dad.
‘F.O.D.’ (standing for fuck off and die) starts off with an acoustic moment to close the album. Who’d have thought, a Green Day song where you can actually hear the lyrics! The electric guitars and drums just can’t resist and kick in after a-minute-and-a-half in an explosive culmination of the whole record.
The final track on Dookie is ‘All by Myself’, the “hidden track” which Tre Cool wrote, sang, and played guitar on. His last big vocal contribution to Green Day, the song gets a lot of hate but it’s not actually bad. It’s another novelty track on the topic of masturbation, a very Green Day end to the album, and it feels like it completes the circle.
Afterthoughts
Dookie came when the world needed it most; an injection of lively pop punk (self-deprecating but not taking itself too seriously) at a time where rock was dominated by somber grunge following the demise of 80’s hair bands. Post Woodstock and the death of Kurt Cobain, at the same time Weezer debuted, Green Day paved the way for pop-punk to break into the mainstream and solidified their legacy for years to come. Three decades later, and its reputation still stands.