Why is Dookie such a huge success?

[Dookiefied]

I am wondering though, which was the more successful period for Green Day, out if the Dookie and American Idiot eras? I obviously wasn't around during the Dookie era, but I can clearly remember that Green Day were getting a huge amount of exposure around 2005. They were probably the biggest band in the world at that time. We all know that Dookie was a massive success, but did the band have the same exposure to the general public in 1994-95 that they did in 2004-05?

I would answer no to your last question. I think Green Day is more mainstream today than they were then. Remember tho that back then bands actually sold physical copies of their albums. That's not the case in 2004. Green Day will probably never be able to outsell Dookie. Same goes for other bands today. But at the same time, the internet plays a major roll today. Back then there were no such thing as the internet. We didn't sit around on forums discussing the bands so word spreads faster today and reach more people. Don't know if all of that makes any sense.

[Lauren]

Yeah, I can't believe how Green Day was just born at the most perfect time. I can't wrap my head around how songs like that are popular in the mainstream. I guess because I was just a baby back then.

[Vic_Rattlehead]

but did it really?

What do you mean? Regardless of whether you like it, it sold 16 million copies and was number one in several countries, going multi-platinum and even diamond. The singles received heavy rotation on the radio and MTV, and are still played to this day, plus the album is timeless, and doesn't sound dated.

[inthehallwaynow]

What do you mean? Regardless of whether you like it, it sold 16 million copies and was number one in several countries, going multi-platinum and even diamond. The singles received heavy rotation on the radio and MTV, and are still played to this day, plus the album is timeless, and doesn't sound dated.

it was a joke sorry

[Vic_Rattlehead]

it was a joke sorry

Um... ok?

[Guest lauraGDlover]

Dookie is jusy plain AWESOME and i will love it forever and ever

[San Miguel]

in response to the thread title - there are 3 things in life which are certain;

tax, death and dookie

[Strayheart1219]

I agree that Kurt dying did help Green Day get big but very, very small help. Nobody can deny that Dookie is an awesome album and the fact that it is still selling just shows you. To be honest, I don't even know why this is even a topic??? Why wouldn't dookie be a huge success? I was born in 94 and didn't get into green day till the AI era and when I got into their old stuff Dookie was the one album I was able to relate to. Tbh AI was my least favorite album at that time because I couldn't relate. Dookie is a album I can relate to and if it's something the people can relate to it works.

[disappearing_boy_39]

Because half of the songs are about boredom, wasting your time and trying to go through life even though you know you're just a lazy fuck. I was born one year after this album was made, but I'm sure back in 1994 this is exactly how all teenagers felt but nobody really sang about it. Imagine, there was no internet and only shit on TV, so all you were able to do was sit around in your room bored as hell, and if you met with friends, all you would do was also just hang out and waste time. Green Day was the first band to really sing about how teenagers felt.

I mean, I'm pretty sure Longview was the first song about sitting alone in your bedroom, being bored as hell and masturbating. It's like the most honest song ever This is was pretty much all teenagers did back then - now that we have the internet, we have basically infinite free entertainment, but boredom was one of the big things teenagers had in the 90s.

Also what others already said, grunge was dead together with Kurt Cobain, so there was literally a void in rock music. Green Day was just the flagship band of the second punk rock wave which was the next big thing. Pop punk was such a new thing - it was fun, fast, didn't take itself very seriously but still kicked ass. A compelete 180° to grunge, which was angry, dirty, grey and melancholy. (I have nothing against grunge, that's just what it is )

And Dookie is still considered one of the best albums of the last 20 years because it's just a damn good album. It's universal. The songs are about not wanting to grow up, but still standing in line to walk amongst the dead. Wanting to go on a killing spree just because people annoy you. Hating someone with no reason. Sitting alone in your room masturbating out of boredom. Moving out of your parents' house and feeling real freedom for the first time. Being in love. Having anxiety attacks because everything is too much. Wanting to break free out of a world that seems to be planned out for you. Acknowledging you're a just a waste, but still looking for someone who you can be a waste together with. Leaving people. Coming back and seeing that your friends have changed. Questioning your sexuality. Hating your ex. Telling people to fuck off and die. Breaking in your crush's room and masturbating there all by yourself..... Wait scratch the last part.

Seriously, Dookie is basically "Teenage Years - The Album". Every teenager in the world can relate to the songs on that album, so it's a classic.

Also Basket Case.

Hit the nail on the head man. I was ten years old when Dookie came out and I got into Green Day roughly one year later. I remember watching MTV while the videos for Basket Case and Longview were still new. I lived the first half of my teen years in the 90's and Green Day provided the soundtrack.

[desertrose]

Dying Scene had an editorial on Dookie and it's success and failure

Punk rock has been around long enough to hold within its musical
boundaries a slew of albums considered both classic and essential. We
here at Dying Scene love and appreciate these classic albums, but every
once and a while we have the urge to challenge what the community has
deemed sacred. Every Saturday, two Dying Scene writers will square off
head-to-head and either attack or defend one of these so-called
classics. Up for slaughter today is Green Day‘s
“Dookie.” Does the 1994 classic hold up today? You be the judge. Jason
Stone will be defending and Carson Winter will be attacking.

http://dyingscene.com/news/sacred-cow-saturday-green-day-dookie/

[Eva]

Nirvana was gone, Green Day was available.

Also MTV.

[WhiteTim]

Nirvana was gone, Green Day was available.

Also MTV.

Preach brother drum!

[The Grohl]

Because every song is catchy as fuck.

Also, with Nirvana ending that year, people were ready to cling to another band and Green Day fit those requirements.

[sara_gd]

Dying Scene had an editorial on Dookie and it's success and failure

Punk rock has been around long enough to hold within its musical

boundaries a slew of albums considered both classic and essential. We

here at Dying Scene love and appreciate these classic albums, but every

once and a while we have the urge to challenge what the community has

deemed sacred. Every Saturday, two Dying Scene writers will square off

head-to-head and either attack or defend one of these so-called

classics. Up for slaughter today is Green Day‘s

“Dookie.” Does the 1994 classic hold up today? You be the judge. Jason

Stone will be defending and Carson Winter will be attacking.

http://dyingscene.com/news/sacred-cow-saturday-green-day-dookie/

Thanks very much for that. I'm doing a proyect and that was very usefull. Although I got the impressions that her opinions are lacking of information, because of the "non emocional" part, and saying that it looks like it was written by an adolescent in a Catcher in the Rye type. It was! You have mature records if you go to the part of their catalogue where Billie Joe was mature

Because every song is catchy as fuck.

Also, with Nirvana ending that year, people were ready to cling to another band and Green Day fit those requirements.

Released at the right place and the right time. Kurt Cobain died a few months after Dookie came out so people were looking for music to fill the void left by grunge - green day, the offspring and rancid came along and released breakout albums.

Plus it's awesome.

Yeah, the music scene was getting too dark, grungy and serious, so lighthearted songs about pissing away your youth were a breath of fresh air. It was that whole punk pop scene that did really well, not just Dookie. The fact that it was part of a new movement helped give it a bit more power.

Awesome artwork. How can you go to a record store, see that CD and not buy it?

Something new, good and catchy that teenagers could connect with... and being played a lot on the radio!

it had great and successful singles. dookie is probably their only album where the best songs on the album ended up as singles.

Because half of the songs are about boredom, wasting your time and trying to go through life even though you know you're just a lazy fuck. I was born one year after this album was made, but I'm sure back in 1994 this is exactly how all teenagers felt but nobody really sang about it. Imagine, there was no internet and only shit on TV, so all you were able to do was sit around in your room bored as hell, and if you met with friends, all you would do was also just hang out and waste time. Green Day was the first band to really sing about how teenagers felt.

I mean, I'm pretty sure Longview was the first song about sitting alone in your bedroom, being bored as hell and masturbating. It's like the most honest song ever This is was pretty much all teenagers did back then - now that we have the internet, we have basically infinite free entertainment, but boredom was one of the big things teenagers had in the 90s.

Also what others already said, grunge was dead together with Kurt Cobain, so there was literally a void in rock music. Green Day was just the flagship band of the second punk rock wave which was the next big thing. Pop punk was such a new thing - it was fun, fast, didn't take itself very seriously but still kicked ass. A compelete 180° to grunge, which was angry, dirty, grey and melancholy. (I have nothing against grunge, that's just what it is )

And Dookie is still considered one of the best albums of the last 20 years because it's just a damn good album. It's universal. The songs are about not wanting to grow up, but still standing in line to walk amongst the dead. Wanting to go on a killing spree just because people annoy you. Hating someone with no reason. Sitting alone in your room masturbating out of boredom. Moving out of your parents' house and feeling real freedom for the first time. Being in love. Having anxiety attacks because everything is too much. Wanting to break free out of a world that seems to be planned out for you. Acknowledging you're a just a waste, but still looking for someone who you can be a waste together with. Leaving people. Coming back and seeing that your friends have changed. Questioning your sexuality. Hating your ex. Telling people to fuck off and die. Breaking in your crush's room and masturbating there all by yourself..... Wait scratch the last part.

Seriously, Dookie is basically "Teenage Years - The Album". Every teenager in the world can relate to the songs on that album, so it's a classic.

Also Basket Case.

the woodstock performance helped them too

because it's a great album and Green Day played pretty many shows.. Woodstock helped ALOT too, and MTV of course

Because :

-1st major label release

-a lot of promotion on MTV

-every song on the record should have been singles and had all music videos.

- the Woodstock performance

- the interviews that they did during this year

- punk attitude was back, just after grunge

It's a thing with many artists that their debut album is always a commercial sucess.Look at Linkin Park.After Hybrid Theory's massive sucess, they backed it up with only two good albums, nowhere close to hybrid theory.There are many artists like that-50 cent, john mayer, weezer, blink 182(considering that enema of the state was their first highly recognised album) to name a few.Albums following dookie may be better, but the public relates an artist with their debut album.

Because it came out at the right time. A time when distorted guitars were the shit. A time when the teens needed another band, now that Nirvana was no longer, that they could relate to. It's all in the timing. Same goes for the success of American Idiot.

I was 17 (and strung out on confusion ) when Dookie came out and everyone was so damn depressed and apathetic. Green Day was fun, silly, and never took themselves too seriously. I think Woodstock ( I was there ) shot them into super stardom because it showed that they were fun, silly, and never took themselves too seriously.

I think Billie summed it up best in this interview from 1995 (which I practically memorized).

Fast forward to 1:00 when he talks about how they "used to be grunge" and how they realized "there's something that's going to be happening soon...it's gonna get a lot faster!"

I love that line.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/44yk5cNL6FA

Could I quote you guys for this proyect I'm doing?

[Tubbie Head]

Could I quote you guys for this proyect I'm doing?

Yeah, sure! Fine by me.

[The Grohl]

Thanks very much for that. I'm doing a proyect and that was very usefull. Although I got the impressions that her opinions are lacking of information, because of the "non emocional" part, and saying that it looks like it was written by an adolescent in a Catcher in the Rye type. It was! You have mature records if you go to the part of their catalogue where Billie Joe was mature

Could I quote you guys for this proyect I'm doing?

Sure! Go ahead Can I ask what the project is? From the quotes you picked it sounds like it's interesting.

[Yojimbo]

Could I quote you guys for this proyect I'm doing?

Sure. Good luck with the project.

[JOE THE X-KID]

It is incredible but In my opinion Insomniac is far superior

[spark in the night]

It was released at the right place, at the right time.

[LazyPhil]

Thanks very much for that. I'm doing a proyect and that was very usefull. Although I got the impressions that her opinions are lacking of information, because of the "non emocional" part, and saying that it looks like it was written by an adolescent in a Catcher in the Rye type. It was! You have mature records if you go to the part of their catalogue where Billie Joe was mature

Could I quote you guys for this proyect I'm doing?

Thanks very much for that. I'm doing a proyect and that was very usefull. Although I got the impressions that her opinions are lacking of information, because of the "non emocional" part, and saying that it looks like it was written by an adolescent in a Catcher in the Rye type. It was! You have mature records if you go to the part of their catalogue where Billie Joe was mature

Could I quote you guys for this proyect I'm doing?

I'd be more than glad to be quoted

[Alf]

Thanks very much for that. I'm doing a proyect and that was very usefull. Although I got the impressions that her opinions are lacking of information, because of the "non emocional" part, and saying that it looks like it was written by an adolescent in a Catcher in the Rye type. It was! You have mature records if you go to the part of their catalogue where Billie Joe was mature

Could I quote you guys for this proyect I'm doing?

sure!

[InvaderPhantom]

Could I quote you guys for this proyect I'm doing?

Sure!

[frunsi]

Could I quote you guys for this proyect I'm doing?

you may

[Akshat]

Thanks very much for that. I'm doing a proyect and that was very usefull. Although I got the impressions that her opinions are lacking of information, because of the "non emocional" part, and saying that it looks like it was written by an adolescent in a Catcher in the Rye type. It was! You have mature records if you go to the part of their catalogue where Billie Joe was mature

Could I quote you guys for this proyect I'm doing?

Yeah sure

[musso_kn]

Timing.

Come to think of it, American Idiot was perfectly timed as well.

That is the magic formula they'll need for another hit I reckon...