FEATURE:
Basket Case or Welcome to Paradise?
Why Green Day’s ‘Demastering’ of Dookie Is More Than a Novelty
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IN an age where albums…
are mostly streamed and vinyl can be quite expensive, I am always looking around for something different. Many reissues and anniversary editions of albums are mastered and made to sound as crisp and clean as possible. This idea of remastering tracks. Making it sounds better or more professional. This feeling that people want something that is as polished as possible. Improving on the original album. That is commendable. I guess we are looking for remastered versions, though the original can be better. It is hard to offer a unique or different take on an album reissue. You can offer demos and additional songs. Apart from that, the releases are pretty standard. However, to mark thirty years of their masterful album, Dookie, Green Day have come up with a retro, random, ridiculous and perhaps revolutionary was of ‘demastering’ their album. Rather than making it all shiny and modern, they have planted and imbedded a different track from the album in a range of items that you can keep around the home. Billboard explains more:
“Ever wondered what Green Day‘s ode to soul-sucking boredom “Longview” would sound like if it was re-recorded on a doorbell? How about the hard-charging Dookie classic “Welcome to Paradise” rendered in 8-bit glory on a Game Boy cartridge?
Well, then you’re in luck, because on Wednesday (Oct. 9) the band announced that as part of the ongoing 30th anniversary celebration of their breakthrough 1994 major label debut the punk-pop trio has added to the already super-stuffed deluxe edition box that dropped last September with an innovated Dookie Demastered edition featuring all 15 songs recorded on what a press release described as “obscure, obsolete and otherwise inconvenient limited-edition formats.”
The collaboration with BRAIN features purposely lo-res, glitchy versions of the songs rendered on everything from the long-dead 8-track format (“Sassafras Roots”), to floppy disc (“Having a Blast”), wax cylinder (“When I Come Around”) and, of course, a toothbrush (“Pulling Teeth”).
“Instead of smoothing out its edges and tweaking its dynamic ranges, this version of Dookie has been meticulously mangled to fit on formats with uncompromisingly low fidelity, from wax cylinders to answering machines to toothbrushes,” reads a press release. “The listening experience is unparalleled, sacrificing not only sonic quality, but also convenience, and occasionally entire verses. It’s Dookie, the way it was never meant to be heard.
All 15 formats can be played here, with fans encouraged to enter a drawing for a chance to buy one of the one-of-a-kind recordings in a drawing that ends on Friday (Oct. 11) at 11 a.m. ET. Green day have been celebrating the Dookie anniversary, as well as the 20th anniversary of American Idiot, on their massive Saviors stadium tour, which will hit Corona Capital stadium in Mexico City on Nov. 15.
Green Day Dookie Demastered track list:
“Burnout” – Player Piano Roll
“Having A Blast” – Floppy Disk
“Chump” – Teddy Ruxpin
“Longview” – Doorbell
“Welcome To Paradise” – Game Boy Cartridge
“Pulling Teeth” – Toothbrush
“Basket Case” – Big Mouth Billy Bass
“She” – HitClip
“Sassafras Roots” – 8-track
“When I Come Around” – Wax Cylinder
“Coming Clean” – X-Ray Record
“Emenius Sleepus” – Answering Machine
“In The End” – MiniDisc
“F.O.D.” – Fisher Price Record
“All By Myself” – Music Box”.
Some might comment how this reissue is quite expensive and random. Each item costing quite a bit. I think it is more than novelty. Maybe a rebellion against all the gloss and sameness of reissues, this back-to-basics approach sort of transports us back to 1994. When Dookie was released. Artists reissue albums in all kinds of formats. Few have thought about items like a toy or a toothbrush! I don’t think it only a novelty. Sure, artists might not want to put individual tracks into a wax cylinder or Big Mouth Billy Bass! That feeling of the retro and oldskool. That feeling or tangibility. You may have the original album, so the reissue might not hold any worth. You can get remastered albums on Spotify or streaming services if you like. If you want to keep something special and different, why would you not invest in this?! Green Day already put out the standard reissue. Expanded tracks and all of that. This is important. However, to add a twist, this somewhat charming and inconvenient formatting should not end with the band and this album. I do think there are seeds that are beyond gimmick. The fun that would get hearing an album track through a toy, appliance or something like a MiniDisc. More and more, we are looking for the physical. Having music in that form. I do like the idea from Green Day. It would be great if it wasn’t a limited run. Where you could order these items weeks and months from now.
I personally like Welcome to Paradise on the Game Boy Cartridge! One might say that this is a lot of money and waste for a single song. Not environmentally friendly or quite a lot to hear a song that is going to be tinnier and less pleasing than the richness of vinyl. That is true. However, think about how we love vinyl because of its feel and durability. Something we can keep. I do feel that there is this real value, novelty or not, to what Green Day have introduced. We can get so familiar with the album and its tracks. Standard reissues might not offer too much to tantalise. I like how you can get a track from Dookie or any other album in this form. You can introduce the album to new people through this. It is a great way of opening up the music or that song. I don’t think that Green Day did this simply as novelty or a way of cashing-in. It is a really cool way of reapproaching and repackaging an album. Again, that move away from the digital. Big artists reissue albums in all formats and put out bundles. Merchandise too. There is no reason why this Dookie demastering should stop here. Giving fans choice and something different is really important today. I would not have bought the reissued version of Dookie but, when it comes to the fifteen different items with individual tracks in, I am tempted to buy one! For those who feel that this is a bit of a novelty, as I say, there is potential. I feel other artists might follow Green Day and strip things right down and take them back to basics. I feel that fans and other artists should…
LOOK at the long view.