SONG OF THE DAY: "When I Come Around" by Green Day

The Internet has informed me that today is the 20th anniversary of the release of Green Day's Dookie. It's hard to overstate the importance of this album on both punk music and popular music in general. This album must have started a million bands all by itself. Upon listening to it last night, I was amazed not only by how well it holds up after all these years, but also how good it sounds, how fresh the songs still feel after hundreds of listens, and absolutely groundbreaking this album was. The album has universal appeal like no other punk album and there really has been nothing remotely like it before or since.

In my mind, 1994 may have been the best and most important year in music of all time. Many will point to the rise of punk in the '90s as a result of Dookie, The Offspring's Smash, NOFX's Punk In Drublic, and Bad Religion's Stranger Than Fiction all achieving mainstream success in '94 after years of fantastic albums by those bands and others. Great albums by Jawbreaker, Lagwagon, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were released for those in tune to the underground, and punk-ish artists like Weezer and Sunny Day Real Estate released career-defining albums as well. Now-legendary punk bands Millencolin and The Bouncing Souls were just getting their feet wet, as were The Suicide Machines and Unwritten Law. The following year saw the release of Rancid's classic ...And Out the Come the Wolves, which further propelled punk into the consciousness of the masses. These releases broke ground for blink-182, Good Charlotte, Sum 41, Yellowcard, and hundreds of other bands to take over the radio near the end of the century.

But to simply group Dookie in with all those other albums is a disservice to the impact that album had. Green Day managed to take pop music and give it energy and grit, and to take punk music and make it fresh and fun. The lyrics were self-deprecating, humorous, and emotional all at the same time, and they managed to summarize and articulate all the thoughts and feelings and frustrations that teenagers around the world have experienced for decades. These songs were the first ones I learned when I began playing guitar, not only because they consisted almost entirely of power chords, but also because they're awesome!

There are too many classic lyrics to quote in this space. But kicking things right off the bat with "I declare I don't care no more" immediately lets you know what you're in for. Each song sounds unique, the musicianship is fantastic (especially the drumming!), and the deep cuts are just as good as the hits. And there were so many hits! "Longview," "Welcome to Paradise," "Basket Case," "She," and "When I Come Around" remain huge songs to this day. Anybody reading this can instantly hum the bass intro to "Longview" or recall the "Basket Case" video, which is a testament to how important these songs still are.

But for now, I really want to focus on "When I Come Around." I remember hearing this song on the radio back when I was still too young to really know the names of any artists or songs I heard. The only other song that sticks out in this way is Blues Traveler's "Run-Around." THAT'S how big Dookie was (or maybe I just liked songs that say "around" a lot). When I began discovering music on my own, this song came back to me like an old friend. The riff is timeless, the classic video was the coolest thing I had ever seen, and the lyrics meant something.

As I became more aware and knowledgeable about music, I realized how unusual the structure of the lyrics in the verses is. They are almost completely devoid of end rhymes, although there are a few internal rhymes snuck in there, accented by Billie Joe's vocal inflection. I had never heard a pop song that did anything like that before. It was a revelation to me, and it's a testament to Billie Joe's songwriting talent that he was able to craft verses like these without anyone noticing. That's enough rambling about this album, so just take a listen to the song and remind yourself how amazing this album was!

I heard you crying loud,
all the way across town.
You've been searching for that someone,
and it's me, out on the prowl.
As you sit around feeling sorry for yourself.
Well, don't get lonely now
And dry your whining eyes.
I'm just roaming for the moment
Sleazing my backyard so don't get so uptight,
you've been thinking about ditching me.

No time to search the world around,
'Cause you know where I'll be found
When I come around.

I heard it all before,
So don't knock down my door.
I'm a loser and a user, so I don't need no accuser
to try and slag me down because I know you're right.
So go do what you like.
Make sure you do it wise.
You may find out that your self-doubt means nothing was ever there.
You can't go forcing something if it's just not right.

No time to search the world around,
'Cause you know where I'll be found
When I come around.

No time to search the world around,
'Cause you know where I'll be found 
When I come around