100albumsbeforeyoudie:

Recommendation from: Himynameiscade

Green Day- “Dookie”

Alright, this is the Green Day I enjoy. Not that “American Idiot” bullshit. This is their major label debut and third overall studio album. It features the hits “She”, “When I Come Around”, “Longview”, “Welcome to Paradise” and ‘Basket Case”. This album, although considered by fans to be one of their best, has received mixed reviews with some hateful ones coming from their pre-major label fan base. They were called sellouts and that the music was watered down. In fact, a club they used to play in from California has banned the group from ever even entering the club anymore after the signing to the major label. If you’ve ever listened to anything pre-“Dookie”, you’d understand why fans felt this way. They were much more of a raw punk band before their major label debut but I still think this is a great album. Most of the lyrics are about just being bored, drugs, ex-girlfriends and just things going on in their lives. This is not a politically charged album whatsoever, which is nice to get away from. Its quite a real album. You can hear the huge influences from the Sex Pistols, the Clash and a little known band (that I actually got into a bit after seeing “High FIdelity”) called Stiff Little Fingers. Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong also cites the Replacements and Hüsker Dü as big influences to the band also. I may not like a lot of their music after this album but I suggest if you’re going to listen to Green Day, this would be one of the albums to listen to. “Kerplunk!” and their debut studio album, “39/Smooth” or the later released combination of two EPs and their debut, “1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours” would be great to listen to.