Isle of Wight Festival 2024: Whether I like it or not, Green Day’s “Dookie” influenced my love of punk music

With the band currently celebrating the 30th anniversary of “Dookie”, with a headline performance this weekend at the Isle of Wight Festival - a dual celebration for “American Idiot” too - now seems an ideal time to dust off my CD copy of “Dookie”. 

Yes - believe it or not, I still have CDs. Ask any self-respecting person who grew up in a time when watching music videos involved watching the chart countdown before The Box and P-Rock were a thing and “downloading” a new single involved taping something off the radio, and they’ll mostly tell you somewhere deep in their attic they’ve their CD collection still…

… and I would wager for the alternative sect that the collection will no doubt include at least one Green Day album. Be it “Dookie,” “International Superhits” or their “comeback” album, “American Idiot.”

But for all of the heavier elements of the punk scene that I ended up becoming accustomed to, be it the So-Cal scene with No Use For A Name or more local Yorkshire-centric acts like Powerdrill, my true initiation into punk came in the form of one music video I caught on a dark autumn evening in Auckland, New Zealand. 

“I sit around and watch the tube but nothing’s on”

I would be 11 at the time, a student at Dominion Road Primary School in Mt Roskill and contending with my peers around me consumed with hip-hop at the time, be it 2Pac, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony or local acts like 3 the Hard Way. 

I was new to the area, owing to my formative childhood years in Te Atatu South, which gets a wrap for being an area full of “bogans,” but as far as I am concerned, it was just a bunch of people really into metal - a community, that somehow transcended into a social group. These things happen - look at the all-encompassing “goffik” or “greebo” term many of us contended with growing up, even if it was a Pixies shirt being worn. “Noisy guitar? Nah mate, you’re goffik” countless times walking around the UK when I moved back in 1996.

Auckland was fortunate enough to have its own dedicated, almost “pirate” music station called Max TV, which had a cascading “who’s who” of future broadcast talents. I recall first seeing Zane Lowe on Max TV, vividly recalling him talking about who’d make a great cast for X-Men - which was all the rage thanks to the original Saturday morning cartoon series catering for those of us who weren’t familiar with the comic book titles. 

To call my consumption of Max TV influential on my music tastes going forward would be an understatement; I was already at that stage a fully-fledged Nirvana fan mourning the loss of Kurt Cobain, but through Max TV I discovered Frank Black (“Headache”), Sonic Youth (“100%”) and even had them screening a Foo Fighters show in Brixton - that I snuck into - were some of the fondest memories I had of the dearly missed broadcaster. 

So one Friday night, while Messr Lowe introduced this week’s hot new tunes, long before interviewing guests on the brown couch, up comes a new music video by a punk act called Green Day and their first single off their first major label album “Dookie.”

I kicked myself for not having the VCR set up on “record” and “pause” for the video

“I change the channels for an hour or two”

“Longview” happened to be that video in question; a grimy-looking nearly 4-minute track extolling the boredom that these young Americans were dealing with. While lyrically I might have been too young to realise what they were about, sonically this was incredible. 

It had that loud-quiet-loud dynamic that I fell in love with, setting up for my later appreciation of Pixies who “invented” that sound (in some circles anyway), with these three very aggressive-looking people blasting a cacophony that I would later discover was called “punk.”

I made sure not to miss out on recording the video when it was next on the chart show, but as fortune would have it, “Longview” wouldn’t be the only song from “Dookie” that would infiltrate my television set at that time. Oh no - there would be a lot more from Green Day off that album. 

We would be regaled with music videos for “When I Come Around,” a live version of “Welcome To Paradise” taken from an MTV concert special and naturally, “Basket Case.” It would be that last song that would lead me to be an utter hypocrite almost a decade later. 

American Idiot and my personal Green Day renaissance

Full disclosure, and it’s not one I’m proud of; does anyone else get sick to death of people telling you about something to the point that you just end up having apathy towards it? That happened to me at University when I was being harassed to listen to Bloc Party’s album, “Silent Alarm,” and the same could be said when Kerrang! Television added “Basket Case” to their list of voting options. 

It was a constant on the channel, it was a constant at club nights at University and in the ever-growing effort to appear “cool” with my musical interests, I actively dismissed Green Day as “not a real punk band.” “No, you should be listening to Pennywise, Lagwagon, Sick of It All, real punk bands” I would boast, knowing full well that the moment any other Green Day song dropped in my audible range, I’d be nodding along.

Just not “Basket Case.” 

Then, after a period in which Billie Joe Armstrong experimented with a more “folky” approach to his songwriting (“Warning”), the band dropped the single “American Idiot” from the album of the same name. To say it blew up would be an understatement, and admittedly - I felt that same sting of intrigue once again from Green Day that I did when I first watched “Longview.”

I caught them live at Leeds Festival in 2004 as part of their world tour, in a year where The Darkness ruled the radiowaves and The White Stripes were “the” indie act du jour at the time. They were great and naturally, I can only assume they will be at the Isle of Wight Festival on Sunday. 

They are a band that thrives off the audience’s energy, as cliched as that may sound, and I’m contemplating getting tickets once again to see them on their remaining UK tour dates - and I might even have a little pogo to “Basket Case,” if these old bones allow it. 

But that is a big “might” - my relationship with the song is softening the older I get. 

Are there still tickets to see Green Day at the Isle of Wight Festival 2024?

Day tickets to see Green Day perform on Sunday at the Isle of Wight Festival are still on sale through Ticketmaster UK, with some tickets for the weekend also still up for grabs. 

Where else can I see Green Day on tour in the United Kingdom?

Green Day are scheduled to continue the UK leg of their “Saviors” tour at the following venues on the following dates. Links to the event’s respective Ticketmaster pages are included to ensure quick access if you want to see the band live.

• June 25 2024: Bellahouston Park, Glasgow
• June 29 2024: Wembley Stadium, London

Are there any special editions of Dookie available as it celebrates its 30th anniversary?

There are some enviable-looking deluxe vinyl packages available for “Dookie,” including one through HMV which includes “In addition to the original album, the super deluxe box set includes a wealth of rare and unreleased material. The legendary Woodstock '94 performance is included - previously released as a very limited Record Store Day vinyl release.” 

“The 6 LPs also feature 17 unreleased demos, 6 studio outtakes (3 unreleased), and a 17-track unreleased club show from Barcelona in 1994. The deluxe vinyl box features the six LPs, plus a 36-page 12-inch x 12-inch book.” 

“The box also includes many fun memorabilia items inspired by the 'Dookie' artwork: Doggie poop bags, air freshener, poster, colour-in litho, button set, magnet sheet, postcard, bumper sticker and paper plane.”

Rough Trade also has the 30th anniversary vinyl alongside some official clothing too, if HMV isn’t your bag.

Are you heading to see Green Day on one of their remaining UK tour dates? Do you have the same issue our writer has when people foist music upon you relentlessly? Were you one of those people who taped music off the radio before Napster came around? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below or emailing our writer at [email protected].