Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it - Lightning Review, Pt. II

You read that right. It's a line from Green Day's Basket Case, off of 1994's Dookie (Reprise Records):

And that's the album being reviewed here.

To those of you in the back already making disgusted faces, don't worry, it'll be quick.

Imagine a time where the 80's were still the recent past, where Gulf Wars were being dealt with by Bush Sr. and where Green Day actually made stuff that made you smile (in happiness). That stuff is Dookie.

I'll admit I was 3 when this record came out, but that's barely the point. Listening to the almost-40 minutes of California Sun encapsulated on this slab of polycarbonate and aluminum makes you imagine another time, when you thought you didn't give a shit and all you wanted was hang out with your buddies. Listening to Dookie.

Because Dookie is a record where melody works with energy, where bass breaks fit perfectly with power chord riffs, all in a joyful tongue-in-cheek atmosphere. It's nothing hard, nothing complicated, the lyrics probably aren't even that clever. But it's hard to beat the 4/4 head noodling joy these people used to make in this bright summer. Green Day never looked like they really hanged out in the sun (more likely some basement, padded with egg boxes, beer crates piled in the corner and instruments instead of couches), but their records sure were better when they sounded like it.

Welcome To Paradise.

JNCT

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