By John Batanchiev

Green Day’s Dookie has lasted the test of time. With its modern punk angst and pop rock hooks, it is a beacon and still remains as an example of what it is to be called a modern rock band.

The musicianship on Dookie caught many listeners off guard from what they thought was a punk rock band with songs like “Long View” with its tight bass line, along with “Pulling Teeth,” a pop rock song that has echoes of Beatles-like pop. Even the last song “F.O.D.,” which starts offacoust and bursts into distorted guitars with full band, shows the great songwriting to be able to play a song in both styles and have it sound just as good either way.

The crowning achievement of Dookie was “When I Come Around,” which became a massive hit and gave them the respect from the music industry. Songs like “Sassafras Roots” and “Coming Clean” leveled the album with a balance of easy to sing to songs that needed the repeat button to really enjoy.

The cover was similar to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper-you can look and look but you’ll always find more things in it. Illustrator Richie Bucher represented the album’s down look on life with a cartoon version of it filled with irony and satire. FOr example, it has a blimp labeled Bad Year and rock icons such as Angus Young, Patti Smith and Elvis.

Looking back, you realize how young they were and how this album defined them for the rest of their career, by being one of the best albums they have released as of yet. They never were able to write a full album with no fillers like Dookie.

What Dookie did for music in 1994 was bring the punk resurrection back full circle, if other bands like Nirvana and the Offspring hadn’t yet confirmed it. This was the new punk for the 1990s, with power chords and catchy hooks, which lead to the musical market known as pop punk of the early 2000s, which still continues today.