Reprise RecordsPeople have been officially listening to Billie Joe Armstrong whine for a quarter of a century now: Green Day‘s landmark album Dookie turns 25 today.
Released February 1, 1994, Dookie was Green Day’s third album, and their first on a major label.
Arriving towards the end of the grunge era, Dookie helped bring punk music to the mainstream. Green Day was dubbed a “pop-punk” band, thanks to their combination of hooky melodies with snotty lyrics and fast power chords.
Dookie produced hit singles in the anxiety-riddled “Basket Case” — which opens with the iconic line “Do you have the time/to listen to me whine” — and the slacker anthem “Longview,” as well as “She” and a re-worked version of the track “Welcome to Paradise,” originally from their 1991 indie album Kerplunk.
Dookie is Green Day’s most successful album, having been certified diamond by the RIAA for 10 million copies sold. Worldwide, it’s sold over 20 million copies. Critically, Dookie‘s considered one of the landmark albums of the ’90s and among the best of all time. It also won the 1995 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.
Last summer, drummer Tre Cool revealed that Green Day had been rehearsing Dookie in full. That led to speculation that the band might be planning a 25th anniversary tour, though noting has been officially announced.
While Dookie was a huge hit with listeners and critics, some members of the Berkeley, California punk scene where Green Day got their start felt betrayed by the band, labeling them “sell-outs.”
The legendary punk venue 924 Gilman Street banned the trio from playing the club after they signed to a major label. In 2015, Green Day returned to Gilman to play a show for the first time since being banned.
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