Dookie is the third studio album and major label debut by the American rock band Green Day, released on February 1, 1994, by Reprise Records. The band's first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo, it was recorded in late summer 1993 at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. Written mostly by frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, the album is heavily based around his personal experiences, with themes such as boredom, anxiety, relationships, and sexuality. The album was promoted with five singles: "Longview", "Basket Case", a version of "Welcome to Paradise" (which originally appeared on the band's second studio album, 1991's Kerplunk), "When I Come Around", and "She".
After several years of grunge's dominance in popular music, Dookie brought a livelier, more melodic rock sound to the mainstream, with relatable lyrics that reached a universal audience and propelled Green Day to worldwide fame. Considered one of the defining albums of the 1990s and punk rock in general, it was also pivotal in solidifying the genre's mainstream popularity. The album influenced a new wave of pop-punk bands, such as Blink-182, Sum 41, and Fall Out Boy.
Dookie received critical acclaim upon its release and won the band a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album in 1995. It was also a worldwide success, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and reaching top five positions in several other countries. It was later certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. It has been labeled by critics and journalists as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s and one of the greatest punk rock and pop-punk albums of all time; Rolling Stone placed Dookie on three iterations of their "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list, and at number 1 on their "50 Greatest Pop-Punk Albums" list.
In August 2023, it was announced that a 30th anniversary deluxe edition of the album would be released on September 29, 2023, featuring outtakes, demos, and two live concert recordings. For the vinyl edition, additional content included a "Welcome to Paradise" postcard, a sticker, set of 5 button pins, a companion book, and a DIY cardboard plane. The CD release included the same set of button pins and the companion book, along with a refrigerator magnet.
Background
With the success in the independent world of their first two albums 39/Smooth (1990) and Kerplunk (1991), which sold 30,000 units each, a number of major record labels became interested in Green Day. Among those labels were Sony, Warner Bros., Geffen and Interscope. Representatives of these labels attempted to entice the band to sign by inviting them for meals to discuss a deal, with one manager even inviting the group to Disneyland. The band declined these advances; Armstrong believed that the labels were more than likely looking for something that resembled a grunge band, namely "second- and third-rate Nirvanas and Soundgardens", and they did not want to conform to a label's vision, until they met producer and A&R representative Rob Cavallo of Reprise, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. After showcasing him 40 minutes of Beatles covers, Cavallo picked up his own guitar, and the band jammed together with Cavallo. They were further impressed by his work with fellow Californian band The Muffs, and later remarked that Cavallo "was the only person we could really talk to and connect with".
Eventually, the band left their independent record label, Lookout! Records, on friendly terms by signing a five-album deal with Reprise in April 1993. The deal secured Cavallo as the producer of the first record and allowed the band to retain the rights to its albums on Lookout!. Signing to a major label caused many of Green Day's original fans to label them sell-outs, including the influential punk fanzine Maximumrocknroll and the independent music club 924 Gilman Street. Sometime between Green Day's September 24 gig at 924 Gilman Street and the release of their major-label debut, the venue banned the group from entering or playing. Reflecting back on the period, lead vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong told Spin magazine in 1999, "I couldn't go back to the punk scene, whether we were the biggest success in the world or the biggest failure [...] The only thing I could do was get on my bike and go forward." The group later returned in 2015 to play a benefit concert.