Kerplunk - Green Day

Oh yes, another Green Day album review! Still a couple more to go, and hopefully this one will push me onto a nice red splodge! Due to the response on the Nimrod review, I won’t be reproducing the lyrics with this review, but I’d still recommend that you look them up on Google or a similar site, as they do make good reading.


1 – 2000 Light Years Away
Written by Billie Joe after his first kiss with now wife Adrienne, ...
...to sing along to. Great lyrics and music, and an all-round classic. More fantastic guitar playing from Billie Joe and the trademark bass sound that only Mike Dirnt can achieve – has to be heard.


2 – One For The Razorbacks
Another great song. Some good vocal contrasts with Billie Joe’s lead vocals in the chorus and Mike’s backing vocals. A really great song, and another good one to sing along to. Musically not the most ... more

Oh yes, another Green Day album review! Still a couple more to go, and hopefully this one will push me onto a nice red splodge! Due to the response on the Nimrod review, I won’t be reproducing the lyrics with this review, but I’d still recommend that you look them up on Google or a similar site, as they do make good reading.

1 – 2000 Light Years Away
Written by Billie Joe after his first kiss with now wife Adrienne, it’s a classic punk love song, and a good one to sing along to. Great lyrics and music, and an all-round classic. More fantastic guitar playing from Billie Joe and the trademark bass sound that only Mike Dirnt can achieve – has to be heard.

2 – One For The Razorbacks
Another great song. Some good vocal contrasts with Billie Joe’s lead vocals in the chorus and Mike’s backing vocals. A really great song, and another good one to sing along to. Musically not the most complex song, but still a classic.

3 – Welcome To Paradise
Any self-respecting Green Day fan will be only too familiar with this song. A later version of the track is on the Dookie album, and this is the first incarnation of the song. It does sound noticeably different to the trained Green Day ear, probably because this album was released in 1990, four years before Dookie. Definitely a Green Day classic.

4 – Christie Road
This one’s a little different to the other songs so far – not very punky, more laid-back and chilled out. A good song, but certainly not the strongest on the album.

5 – Private Ale
Not a Green Day classic, but still worth listening. It’s very reminiscent of early Green Day material, and would be liked by existing Green Day fans, but probably wouldn’t appeal to many other people. Not the strongest song by far.

6 – Dominated Love Slave
Just like the song Blood, Sex And Booze, which was to appear on the Warning album ten years later, this song is about S&M and whips and chains! It’s sung in country and western accents, with country and western guitars and drums. A VERY different song, and very funny! It’s a nice mid-album interval, and a well-written song. More of a comedy track, but still great

7 – One Of My Lies
Back to the good old mellow punk. This doesn’t sound anything like Billie Joe singing, but I think it is – some bits do sound like him, and I certainly don’t think it’s Mike or even Tré. A good song – again, not the best on the album, but a good listen.

8 – 80
This song is about Billie Joe’s wife Adrienne (Adrienne….. Adie…. 80…..makes sense if you say it in an American accent!). An alternative love song, and the chorus sends shivers down my spine every time I listen to it. Very well written, and definitely worth listening to.

9 – Android
This sounds just like a song my band would do – especially the intro and chorus/verse intervals. Tight, but open punk, good use of power chords, and a song worth listening to.

10 – No-One Knows
A nice melodic intro, which does seem to drag on for a bit, but soon enough the palm-muted distortion and drums kick in. A more mellow, chilled out song, and again not the strongest song on the album.

11 – Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?
I know the answer ;-) This song was written about a character in Billie Joe’s favourite book. A very good song – great chorus. Well worth listening to.

12 – Words I Might Have Ate
This song sounds a bit like The Monkees! No distortion on the guitars – it’s punk style, but it’s played on acoustic guitars!! Different, but f*ck me it works! (Ooh, my first Ciao swearword. Two years, not bad – had to come out sooner or later ;-)) A great song – has to be listened to. Classic Green Day, but with acoustic guitars! Genius!

13 – Sweet Children
Sweet Children was Green Day’s band name before it was Green Day. Ironically enough, on the 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours album, they have a song called Green Day, which they wrote when the band was called Sweet Children!!! A good song, but not the strongest.

14 – Best Thing In Town
Written by Billie Joe about a girl he thinks is the best thing in town. Another good song, but not the greatest. One to avoid unless you’re a big Green Day fan.

15 – Strangeland
A good song, but not fantastic – sounds like a few of the others on the album, and isn’t radically different enough from Best Thing In Town. More classic punk.

16 – My Generation
A good song to end the album on. A cover of a song by someone or other who I can’t remember – download it and you’ll know the one I mean!! A good cover, though!

Well, certainly not Green Day’s greatest album, but it still shouldn’t be overlooked. It was recorded on a very small budget in 1990, before Green Day were big. Mind you, they recently re-recorded and released 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, which I believe was from a similar year, so maybe they’ll re-record this next. The sound quality isn’t brilliant, but certainly isn’t bad.

Not many classics on this album, except obviously Welcome To Paradise, and 2000 Light Years Away. Dominated Love Slave, you will never forget – just so funny, it has to be heard. It doesn’t sound a thing like Green Day, but definitely the sort of thing they’d do for a laugh, so it’s them alright! If you’re a Green Day fan, this album must be added to your collection. If you’re not, then buy one of the later albums first, to get into their music, or you may find yourself disappointed. 

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