Kerplunk (album)

Untitled

Kerplunk! is punk rock band Green Day's second full-length album, released in 1992 on the Lookout! Records label. Kerplunk! was their last release on an independent label and was also the first album to feature their final band lineup with Tré Cool on drums. The album went on to become one of the highest-selling indie albums ever. Major labels took notice of Kerplunk!'s phenomenal popularity and many approached the band. Green Day realized that they had outgrown their record distribution capacity with Lookout! and eventually signed with Reprise Records. With Reprise, Green Day would record and released their third album Dookie, which would become a landmark album of the 1990s with over 7 million units sold in the U.S. alone.

As of November 2006, Kerplunk! has sold 699,000 units in the US link, and over 4 million worldwide. CD and Cassette versions of the album include Green Day's earlier Sweet Children EP, recorded in 1990 by Skene! Records.

In August 2005, Green Day pulled its pre-1994 music catalog, including Kerplunk!, from Lookout due to unpaid royalties. The band had overlooked Lookout's transgressions for many years, but finally decided they could not continue providing charity to the indie label. Many bands had left the label for similar reasons, but Green Day was undoubtedly their biggest client. In an open letter on Lookoutrecords.com, label president Chris Appelgren maintained that the band left on friendly terms and the label respected their decision. Kerplunk! will be reissued by Reprise Records in December 2006. However, the album is still in print in Europe, as there it has been distributed by Epitaph Europe.

Track listing

All songs by Billie Joe Armstrong (lyrics) and Green Day (music), except where noted.

1. "2000 Light Years Away" – 2:24
2. "One For The Razorbacks" – 2:30
3. "Welcome to Paradise" – 3:30
4. "Christie Road" – 3:33
5. "Private Ale" – 2:26
6. "Dominated Love Slave" (Tré Cool) – 1:41
7. "One Of My Lies" – 2:19
8. "80" – 3:39
9. "Android" – 3:00
10. "No One Knows" – 3:39
11. "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?" – 2:44
12. "Words I Might Have Ate" – 2:32
13. "Sweet Children" (Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt) – 1:41
14. "Best Thing In Town" – 2:03
15. "Strangeland" – 2:08
16. "My Generation" (Pete Townshend) – 2:19

File:Kerplunk backside.gif

The backside of the album on the european version.

Trivia

Song notes

• Tracks 1-12 are the actual album. Tracks 13-16 are tracks from the Sweet Children EP, and are only on the CD and cassette versions.
• Kerplunk included an earlier version of Green Day's future hit song "Welcome to Paradise", which was later re-recorded for the album Dookie. The two versions of the songs are nearly identical, though the Dookie version is recorded with much superior equipment and is slightly slower paced, at 14 seconds longer than the Kerplunk version.
• The track "2000 Light Years Away" was later remixed by Dookie producer Rob Cavallo and mixer Jerry Finn and released on Jerky Boys: The Movie soundtrack in 1995. Also, a live version of this song appeared on the UK Basket Case single.
• At the end of the song "Private Ale" you can hear someone counting from 1 to 10.
• Holden Caulfield from the title of the song "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?" is the main character from the book The Catcher in the Rye, which is one of Billie Joe's favorite books. Screeching Weasel has a song called "I Wrote Holden Caulfield."
• "My Generation" is a cover of the song by The Who. At the beginning of "My Generation" Billie Joe can be heard saying "I think I can do The Who".

Booklet

• The booklet dedicates the album "In Memory of Gravy." Gravy was the name of bassist Mike Dirnt's pet cat who died.
• The "My Adventure with Green Day" story in the Kerplunk! booklet says it was written by "Laurie L." The story is completely fictional and the name Laurie L is actually a tribute to Laurence Livermoore of Lookout records. The author originally wrote the story for a punk fanzine, Tales from Blarg!
• The album booklet thanks Adrienne Nesser, who Billie Joe eventually married.
• The booklet thanks Jason Andrew Relva, whose death would later inspire Mike Dirnt to write J.A.R..
• On the album's booklet, the band thanks both John Kiffmeyer and Al Sobrante, even though they are actually the same person (Al Sobrante is Kiffmeyer's nickname).

Personnel

• Billie Joe Armstrong - lead vocals and lead guitar
• Mike Dirnt - bass guitar and vocals
• Tré Cool - drums and percussion, and vocals
• John Kiffmeyer, a.k.a. Al Sobrante - drums and percussion on the Sweet Children EP tracks