Green Day’s Dookie was released on February 1, 1994. The album remains both timeless and a snapshot of the rock world as grunge’s popularity started to wane.
Simply put, Dookie helped turn Green Day into a household name. The album was the band’s major label debut and third album overall. It went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide. In the United States, Dookie has been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling 10 million copies. That certification was awarded in February 1999. (It would be interesting to see how many more copies have sold since.)
To paraphrase “The Iceberg That Sank the Titanic” from Saturday Night Live, Dookie is 14 tracks, “no skips, swear to God.” (Well, it’s technically 15 tracks when you count the hidden track “All By Myself,”, but you get the idea.) The album yielded four singles: “Longview,” “Basket Case,” “Welcome to Paradise” and “When I Come Around.” Each of those songs is a stone-cold classic. In fact, Setlist.fm notes that “Longview” and “Basket Case” are the two most-performed Green Day songs in the band’s history. Overall, “Longview” has been featured on 1,008 setlists, while “Basket Case” has been featured on 965. Not to be outdone, popular album track “She” is third with 829.
While the album is a timeless piece of rock magic, the same can be said about the album cover of Dookie. Drawn by local East Bay artist Richie Bucher, the cover alone deserves special recognition. It’s full of all sorts of references to Berkeley’s punk scene at that time, but there are also a number of musical references even fans outside of the East Bay would know.
How many? Seven in total. Think you know what they are? Scroll through the gallery below to find out!
