Green Day
Dookie

THE REVIEW

It's important to clarify what "Dookie" actually is: it's "poop," but not only that; it's the boredom, anger, fun, and "meanness" of three guys. "Dookie" isn't smart but clever from the cover, featuring the fantastic "Bad Year" blimp and a dog-piloted plane dropping poop-missiles on the city. "Dookie" is four chords played across all tracks, but in a different order.

It's the pop that appeals to 3/4 of the world fused with the punk that the remaining 1/4 enjoys; it's the boredom in "Burnout": "Apathy has rained on me, now I feel like a wet dream, so close to drowning, but I don't care"; it's the anger in "Having A Blast : "I'm losing all my happiness, the happiness you stitched onto me, loneliness still comforts me, the anger grows inside me"; it's when you "just can't stand" someone ("Chump"), and it's the monotony of someone who just doesn't know how to fill the boring days and is so apathetic that not even the "five against one" saves him from lethargy ("Longview"). "Dookie" is the guy who leaves home and regrets it after three weeks but rejects it after six months; or it's the violent girl who forces you to say a fake "I love you" otherwise she'll go for the hands. Without a doubt, "Dookie" is the paranoia of someone who just can't understand themselves to the point of goosebumps thinking about themselves ("Basket Case"); "Dookie" is "She," the one who "screams in silence"; it's the one who doesn't give up and keeps hoping she'll give him another chance ("Sassafras Roots"). "Dookie" is that girl who goes around looking for her boy who's having fun with friends and doesn't realize his girl is worried about him, like "When I Come Around." It's that seventeen-year-old who says: "I've figured out what it takes to be a man, mom and dad will never understand what's happening to me", who no longer recognizes what his old friend has become and can't stand that the girl he likes is seeing a "all muscles and no brain" ("Coming Clean", "Enemus Sleepus" and "In The End"). And finally, "Dookie" is the story of someone proud to be able to tell someone to "f*ck off or die" ("F.O.D.").

Practically... what is "Dookie"??? Can we call it a concept album? Oh well, let's dare because in the end it kind of is: all these episodes are life stories of a guy, everyone can recognize themselves at 17 in at least a couple of tracks. You have to admit it... there's a bit of "Dookie" in all of us!


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