Green Day - Kerplunk! (1992) [Original Lookout Records' press]

Kerplunk is the second studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. This album was their last release on an independent label and was also the first album to feature their current band lineup, with Tré Cool on drums. The album has gone on to be among the best selling independently released albums of all time. As of August, 2010, Kerplunk had sold 753,000 units in the United States and 1,000,000 units worldwide.

Green Day's second full album was the perfect dry run for the band's later assault on the mainstream, containing both more variety and more flat-out smashes than previous releases had shown. With Tre Cool now firmly in place as the drummer, the lineup was at last settled, and it turned out Cool and Mike Dirnt were a perfect rhythm section, with the former showing a bit more flash and ability than John Kiftmeyer did. Together the two throw in a variety of guitarless breaks that would later help to define the band's sound for many – warm and never letting the beat go. As for Billie Joe Armstrong, his puppy-dog delivery and eternal switching between snotty humor and sudden sorrrow was better than ever, as were his instantly memorable riffs. The metal-strength chug that always informed the band's best work isn't absent either – check out Armstrong's opening riffing on "Christie Road". The whole thing starts with a note-perfect bang – "2000 Light Years Away" is the absolute highlight of the group's premajor-label days, with a great chorus and classic yearning lyrics. It got buried in the wave of Dookie's success a bit, but one other number didn't – "Welcome to Paradise", also a standout on that album, appears here in its original form. Rob Cavallo punched up the radio-friendly sound on the latter take, but even here it's a treat and a half – quick, rampaging, and once again with a great stop-start chorus to spare. Other straight-up pop winners include "One of My Lies" and "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?". Elsewhere, Green Day slow down tempos, try acoustic numbers, and in one hilarious moment, pull off a ridiculous yet worthy country pisstake with the Cool-written "Dominated Love Slave". [CD versions included the Sweet Children EP as a slightly surprising bonus].

~ Ned Raggett, all media guide

Tracklist:

01. 2,000 Light Years Away
02. One For The Razorbacks
03. Welcome To Paradise
04. Christie Road
05. Private Ale
06. Dominated Love Slave
07. One Of My Lies
08. 80
09. Android
10. No One Knows
11. Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?
12. Words I Might Have Ate
13. Sweet Children [CD Bonus track] #
14. Best Thing In Town [CD Bonus track] #
15. Strangeland [CD Bonus track] #
16. My Generation [CD Bonus track] #

all songs written by Green Day,
except "My Generation" by The Who


# - Tracks 13-16 from "Sweet Children" (7" - 1990)
Produced by Andy Ernst and Green Day
Recorded at Art of Ears Studio, San Francisco in May + September 1991
("Sweet Children" EP was recorded in 1990, in Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Engineered and Mixed by Andy Ernst. Mastered by John Golden at K-Disc, Hollywood.

– It was my first Green Day's CD that I'd purchased on the deep Autumn of 1992 :)


• Billie Joe Armstrong — vocals, guitar
• Mike Dirnt — bass, backing vocals
• Tré Cool – drums, lead vocals and guitar on track "6"
• Al Sobrante – drums on tracks "13-16"

Release Date: January 17, 1992
Format: Original Recording.
Label: Lookout Records
Catalog No.: LK 46 CD