Maps of Music

Dookie (1994)

Where the lyrics of Dookie take you, and where it was really made.

The title started as a joke about tour stomach trouble: the band first wanted to call the album Liquid Dookie.

Key places

Recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley (1994)

Recording site Zellerbach Auditorium (Berkeley) — The album was recorded in 1993 at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. Recording took place over three weeks at this studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Chump and Longview re-recorded in Hollywood (1994)

Recording site The Music Grinder (Hollywood) — During the remixing process, the band re-recorded the tracks Chump and Longview at Music Grinder Studio in Hollywood. The original recordings had problems with tape hiss. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Back cover crowd photo at Roseland Ballroom (1994)

Album cover Roseland Ballroom — The back cover shows a concert crowd photo taken at Roseland Ballroom in 1993, when the band was opening for Bad Religion. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Dookie: third studio album by the American rock band Green Day
• Released February 1, 1994 by Reprise Records
• First collaboration between the band and producer Rob Cavallo
• Written mostly by Billie Joe Armstrong, largely from his personal experiences
• Themes include boredom, anxiety, relationships, and sexuality
• Four singles: Longview, Basket Case, Welcome to Paradise (re-recorded), When I Come Around
• Brought a livelier, more melodic rock sound to the mainstream after years of grunge

Background

• The band's first two albums each sold 30,000 units on the independent scene
• Several major labels, including Sony, Warner Bros., Geffen, and Interscope, became interested
• The band left Lookout! Records on friendly terms
• Five-album deal with Reprise signed in April 1993
• Many original fans labeled the band sell-outs after the move to a major label

Recording

• Recorded over three weeks at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California
• Music Grinder Studio in Hollywood, California also used for recording
• Mixed twice by Cavallo and Jerry Finn
• Remixed at Devonshire Sound Studios in North Hollywood, Los Angeles
• Chump and Longview re-recorded at Music Grinder Studio
• Armstrong's amplifier: 100-watt Marshall Plexi 1959SLP, nicknamed Pete

Cover

• Cover illustration by Richie Bucher, a cartoon-like work of bombs falling on people and buildings
• Back cover photo of a concert crowd at Roseland Ballroom, taken in 1993 while the band opened for Bad Religion
• Early CD and vinyl prints showed Ernie from Sesame Street on the back cover; later prints removed him

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Green Day is an American rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt.
• Drummer Tré Cool joined in 1990, and the band has mostly been a power trio since.
• Before taking the name Green Day in 1989, the band was called Sweet Children.
• The band emerged from the late 1980s and early 1990s Bay Area punk scene centered on 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley.
• Early releases came through Lookout! Records, including the debut album 39/Smooth (1990).

Career

• Dookie (1994, Reprise Records) became a breakout success and sold over 20 million copies in the United States.
• Green Day is credited with reigniting mainstream interest in punk rock.
• Insomniac (1995) and Nimrod (1997) reached double platinum; Warning (2000) was certified gold.
• American Idiot (2004), a rock opera, found popularity with a younger generation and sold six million copies in the US.
• The trilogy ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré! was released in 2012; it did not match earlier commercial success.
• Later albums include Revolution Radio (2016), Father of All Motherfuckers (2020), and Saviors (2024).
• A stage adaptation of American Idiot opened on Broadway in 2010 and received three Tony nominations.
• The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, its first year of eligibility.
• The band has sold roughly 75 million records worldwide as of 2024 and won five Grammy Awards.

Reception

At release

• NME described the sound as crashing drums, razor-wire guitars, and a double helping of attitude
• Pitchfork's Arielle Gordon wrote that the album made apathy sound apoplectic
• The New York Times' Jon Pareles wrote that apathy has rarely sounded so passionate
• Rolling Stone's Paul Evans praised the band for having punk's snotty anti-values down cold
• Robert Christgau in The Village Voice wrote that punk lives, praising the apathy and insanity themes
• Neil Strauss in The New York Times praised the overall quality but noted the pop sound only remotely resembled punk
• Jesse Raub in Alternative Press praised the polished production that kept the scrappy punk playing

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it a stellar piece of modern punk that many tried to emulate but nobody bettered
• Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot appreciated the loudness and urgency of the sound
• Pitchfork's Marc Hogan, in a 2017 review, said the tracks were gravely serious on a compositional and emotional level

Records

• Won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards in 1995
• Topped the album charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand
• Reached the top five in Austria, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, and the United States
• Peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 in the United States
• Certified double diamond (20 times platinum) by the RIAA, and diamond by Music Canada
• Sold over 20 million copies worldwide, the band's best-selling album
• Placed on all four iterations of Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list
• Selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2024

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The band first wanted to call the album Liquid Dookie, but the name was shortened to Dookie after it was judged too crude.
• The first 9,000 copies sold out quickly after the February 1, 1994 release.
• At Woodstock '94, the band's set opened with Welcome to Paradise after three days of rain, and the crowd threw mud; Dirnt was thrown against a monitor by a security guard, breaking two teeth.
• A free Green Day concert at the Hatch Memorial Shell in Boston in September 1994 ended in a riot, with roughly 100 people injured and 31 arrested.
• Some copies of the album carry a ghost track, "All By Myself", at the end of side B.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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