Why is Dookie such a huge success?

[Akshat]

Timing.

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

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

I think the timing would be good again in another 2-3 years, when people would be bored of the pop/hip hop music that dominates the music industry today.In the meantime I would love to see them release a greatest hits collection and a live album

[TheJedi]

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

[ThibautDookie]

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 ! It would be a honor !

[Slave To The Network]

Because it's fucking good!

[Batgirl]

Because dogs will take over the world

[dunkryan]

So many of you don't remember when Dookie first made it big- I do. It wasn't about Kurt dying, at least I didn't give a shit, Nirvana was (and especially, is) overrated as hell. Dookie is just a fucking amazing album. I'm astonished that some of you can't understand that and just be like, eh, it was the right time. Every song on that album would be the best song by most other bands. There really isn't a question- as someone posted earlier, why wasn't it a success? There is nothing about it that makes it necessary to qualify its success or determine how it could be a success- it's perfect. Just like American Idiot, a flawless set of tracks; in time, AI will probably reach diamond, too, and we'll see the canon of 1994-2004 Dookie-American Idiot as the two clear pinnacles of Green Day's career.

I played that blue cassette so much. My only regret is I didn't get Insomniac- it took me becoming a much older and more bitter person.

[WhiteTim]

So many of you don't remember when Dookie first made it big- I do. It wasn't about Kurt dying, at least I didn't give a shit, Nirvana was (and especially, is) overrated as hell.

But keyword to you

But for alot it did even their label admits it no one however is saying it's the main or only factor but the post Nirvana factor did play a role

Nirvana may be over rated to you but in 92-94 they were the biggest band around if you say otherwise you were clearly not around for that era or an idiot

[The Grohl]

You have to admit whether or not you like Nirvana now, they did do a lot for music during that era. You don't have to like them to see that.

[sara_gd]

Thank you

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

It's about what made Green Day's albums have one more success than another. For example, why Dookie sold much more than Insomniac or why Nimrod and Warning have little sales. My plan was analizing the music, the lyrics, the band promotion, other bands that were succesfull at the time (like with the Nirvana thing)... I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it all though, because I have a week left

This is two things that I've found out by now:

-In the Behind the music documentary they say that Nirvana "opened the doors" to rock bands being comercially succesfull. That's a big door open to Green Day.

-And the second bit, really, it's what all of you called promotion, but a bit more in-depth Looking through every week on 1994 on Billboard.com, on the Billboard 200 list (a list of the best 200 sales in the US in that week), I've found very interesting that Dookie wasn't on the top 20 (the top 20 is the only part of the list that's available) until two weeks before Woodstock. It was on number 19 then, next week on number 20, right when Woodstock was taking place on number 16, and after that on number 13, 8, 5 and 4, staying between 5 and 4 for a couple of weeks.

Also, after descending to place 20, it went up suddenly 10 places, to number 10, on the week of December 10th. Doing a Google search, I've found out that just a week before, they where featured on Saturday night live and two days after this the famous concert where Billie Joe got naked and sang She only with his guitar took place. Also, Basket Case was released around this time (November 29th).

And finally, up to number 2 on January 28th and February 4th, after a few weeks of ascending (8, 7, 8, 7, 4, 4, 5). It's remarkable that Rolling Stone had this magazine with Green Day on the cover that said "Green Day: best new band" out in January, and When I come around was out on January 31st.

[The Grohl]

Thank you

It's about what made Green Day's albums have one more success than another. For example, why Dookie sold much more than Insomniac or why Nimrod and Warning have little sales. My plan was analizing the music, the lyrics, the band promotion, other bands that were succesfull at the time (like with the Nirvana thing)... I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it all though, because I have a week left

This is two things that I've found out by now:

-In the Behind the music documentary they say that Nirvana "opened the doors" to rock bands being comercially succesfull. That's a big door open to Green Day.

-And the second bit, really, it's what all of you called promotion, but a bit more in-depth Looking through every week on 1994 on Billboard.com, on the Billboard 200 list (a list of the best 200 sales in the US in that week), I've found very interesting that Dookie wasn't on the top 20 (the top 20 is the only part of the list that's available) until two weeks before Woodstock. It was on number 19 then, next week on number 20, right when Woodstock was taking place on number 16, and after that on number 13, 8, 5 and 4, staying between 5 and 4 for a couple of weeks.

Also, after descending to place 20, it went up suddenly 10 places, to number 10, on the week of December 10th. Doing a Google search, I've found out that just a week before, they where featured on Saturday night live and two days after this the famous concert where Billie Joe got naked and sang She only with his guitar took place. Also, Basket Case was released around this time (November 29th).

And finally, up to number 2 on January 28th and February 4th, after a few weeks of ascending (8, 7, 8, 7, 4, 4, 5). It's remarkable that Rolling Stone had this magazine with Green Day on the cover that said "Green Day: best new band" out in January, and When I come around was out on January 31st.

Oh sweet! Sounds really cool. Good luck!

[mikedeerte]

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.

and bands didn't use distorted guitars? Metallica a lot of punk and metal from the 70's and 80's had distortion, probably just as much as punk did in the 90's.

[Yojimbo]

and bands didn't use distorted guitars? Metallica a lot of punk and metal from the 70's and 80's had distortion, probably just as much as punk did in the 90's.

As you said, bands like Metallica had more success in the 70s and 80s. By the 90s it was pop that was dominating the mainstream. That's not to say there weren't popular bands back then, just not as popular as pop artists.