green day, black mood

Dookie (Reprise)

Green Day

By Kevin Gibson

Punk rock hasn't sounded this good since "Kill the Poor" and "Blitzkrieg Bop."

Green Day's third album, Dookie, mixes punk recklessness, enthusiasm and energy with sharp cynicism and dread for a mix sure to keep you thrashing from the first grungy guitar chord to the last piercing beat of the snare.

Outside the music, which typically comes in short, jolting bursts, don't look for anything here to cheer you up in times of despair. I don't mean to be a downer, but Green Day does.

I didn't realize things were quite so bad in the band's home state of California, but all 14 of these band collaborations tell stories of teenage gloom and doom, depression, and hatred for society. Not that that's a bad thing.

For instance, in "Burnout," the West Coast quartet gives us this analogy of becoming an adult: "I'm not growing up, I'm just burning out/And I stepped in line to walk amongst the dead."

This single release, "Long View," apart from being a well-crafted, bass-heavy, alternative rocker, is an anthem for teenage lack of motivation, when the desire to work, play — even to go outside — has fled. What that leaves to do is detailed in the song, but this is a family publication.

Buy the CD if you want to know the rest.