Music / Dookie

Do you have the time / to listen to me whine /
about nothing and everything all aaaaat once?

"Punk turns into pop in fast, funny, catchy, high-powered songs about whining and channel-surfing; apathy has rarely sounded so passionate."

— The New York Times

Dookie is the third studio album by Green Day, released in 1994.

Prior to this album, the band was floating under the radar, with their first two releases (39/Smooth and Kerplunk) receiving shrugs or light praise from the media. Their first album on a major label (Reprise Records), Dookie not only propelled them to stardom, but also allowed similar punk rock bands like them to finally make the big transition to the mainstream.

While various music executives approached the band to make their sound more palatable, Green Day instead sought a more "dry" sound similar to the Sex Pistols and Black Sabbath. Touching on controversial themes such as lust, mass murder and boredom, the record faced numerous attempts in production to sanitize its content. Nevertheless, the lyrics and punk rock influences spoke to a population of youth similar to the manner in which Grunge and Alternative Rock conveyed a sense of dissatisfaction with the world.

The album won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, was certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling 10 million copies, and went on to sell double that, making Dookie the band's highest-selling album. It also spawned hit singles including "Longview", "When I Come Around", "Welcome to Paradise" and "Basket Case", all now seen as Signature Songs for the band.

Despite this, the album unfortunately became a Tough Act to Follow for the band, with their next releases (Insomniac, nimrod., Warning:) failing to achieve the gargantuan success that Dookie did, although American Idiot managed to give them a comeback and artistic reinvention come the 2000s.

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Tracklist:

1. "Burnout" (2:07)
2. "Having a Blast" (2:44)
3. "Chump" (2:54)
4. "Longview" (3:59)
5. "Welcome to Paradise"^note rerecorded version of a song originally featured on Kerplunk (3:44)
6. "Pulling Teeth" (2:31)
7. "Basket Case" (3:01)
8. "She" (2:14)
9. "Sassafras Roots" (2:37)
10. "When I Come Around" (2:58)
11. "Coming Clean" (1:34)
12. "Emenius Sleepus" (1:43)
13. "In the End" (1:46)
14. "F.O.D."^note stands for "fuck off and die" (2:50)
15. "All by Myself"^note hidden track performed by Tré Cool (1:40)

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Principal Members:

• Billie Joe Armstrong - lead vocals, guitar
• Tré Cool - drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals, guitar
• Mike Dirnt - bass, vocals

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I sit around and watch the tropes, but nothing's on...

• Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: "Basket Case":
  I am one of those/me-LO-dramatic fools
• Alliterative Title: "Coming Clean"
• Ambiguously Bi:
  • "Basket Case"
    I went to a whore
    He said my life's a bore
    So quit my whining 'cause it's bringing her down
  • "Coming Clean" was about Billie Joe Armstrong's coming to terms with his bisexuality at age 17.
• Arc Words: "Paradise" shows up in several songs, an ironic contrast to the dull life Billie describes.
• Careful with That Axe: Right after the second chorus of "She", Billie Joe delivers quite a blood-curling Metal Scream.
• Design Student's Orgasm: The album cover artwork is an elaborately detailed illustration designed by Richie Bucher.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: "Coming Clean", based on Billie Joe Armstrong's experiences coming to terms with his sexuality as a teenager.
  I finally figured out myself for the first time
  I found out what it takes to be a man
• Domestic Abuse: "Pulling Teeth," a female-on-male example.
• Epic Rocking: "F.O.D." is a subversion; only 2 minutes of its 6-minute runtime is actually used for the song, and after a chunk of silence "All by Myself" plays at the 4-minute mark.
• Establishing Character Moment: The album's opening line, no less.
  "Burnout": "I declare I don't care no more."
• Fading into the Next Song: "Chump" → "Longview".
• Hidden Track: "F.O.D." is followed by a minute of silence, then a short, jokey song called "All by Myself".
• Intentionally Awkward Title: The album title refers to diarrhea, which the band often suffered from as a result of eating spoiled food on tour and referred to as "liquid dookie". The band actually wanted to name the album Liquid Dookie, but this was deemed too gross, so the band had to settle for Dookie. Most people didn't get this reference, though, especially in non-English speaking countries, so it's partially a subversion of this trope.
• Lyrical Dissonance: A lot of the album's energetic, upbeat sounds mask very grim lyrics.
  • "Basket Case" is an up-tempo, fun song about suffering neurosis.
  • "Having a Blast" is about Murder-Suicide.
  • "Pulling Teeth" is a catchy little tune about a guy getting beaten to a pulp by his girlfriend.
• Miniscule Rocking: "Coming Clean", "Emenius Sleepus", "In the End", and "All by Myself" are all under two minutes long.
• Murder-Suicide: "Having a Blast".
  I'm taking all you down with me
  Explosives duct taped to my spine
  Nothing's gonna change my mind
  I won't listen to anyone's last words
  There's nothing left for you to say
  Soon you'll be dead anyway
  Well no one here is getting out alive
  This time I've really lost my mind and I don't care
  So close your eyes and kiss yourself goodbye
  And think about the times you spent and what they've meant
  To me it's nothing
• Nervous Wreck: "Basket Case" is from the point of view of an extremely neurotic person.
• Non-Appearing Title: Many, though "Longview" is the most unrelated to the lyrics - it's just the city where the song was first played.
• One-Word Title: "Burnout", "Chump", "Longview", "She"
• Real Life Writes the Plot: "Coming Clean" was autobiographical for Billie Joe Armstrong and referred to him telling about his bisexuality to his parents.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: "F.O.D.". It sort of speaks for itself.
• Record Producer: Rob Cavallo and the band themselves.
• The Remake: "Welcome to Paradise" was rerecorded from the previous album Kerplunk in an almost identical, but much more polished recording.
• Sanity Slippage Song:
  • "Having a Blast", about someone who plans a suicide terrorist attack and wants to bring everyone down with him.
  • "Basket Case"
  "Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
  It all keeps adding up
  I think I'm cracking up
  Am I just paranoid?
  Am I just stoned?"
• Self-Deprecation: "Basket Case"
  "Do you have the time to listen to me whine?
  About nothing and everything all at once
  I am one of those melodramatic fools
  Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it"
• Self-Plagiarism: The latter half of "When I Come Around"'s verses have identical melody to the chorus of "80" from the previous album Kerplunk.
• Shout-Out: The robed character on the album cover is the woman on the cover of Black Sabbath's debut album. We can also see the album Easter by Patti Smith in the background. On early prints Ernie from Sesame Street was also seen on the back cover, but he was later airbrushed out in fear of litigation.
• Siamese Twin Songs: "Chump" and "Longview", both of which were recorded back-to-back unlike the band's later examples of this trope.
• Step Up to the Microphone: Tré Cool sings the Hidden Track "All by Myself".
• You Need to Get Laid: The psychologist in "Basket Case" attributes the narrator's problems to a "lack of sex."

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