10 Best Pop-Punk Records
1. Dookie - Green Day
The absolutely perfect pop-punk album. When Green Day got to 1994, they had been dealt a bad hand by their fanbase, who lambasted them for signing to a major label. However, when the band's third record Dookie hit the shelves, it created a pop-punk culture almost overnight.
Across the record, songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong pens tales of boredom, anger, and lovesick earnestness with a tuneful infectiousness that is impossible to ignore. Songs like "Welcome to Paradise" and "Basket Case" have such a tuneful presence that they seem to have the word 'classic' pre-stamped on them before they are even finished. At Billie Joe's side is bassist Mike Dirnt, whose trademark basslines made for fantastic instrumental passages on songs like "Chump" and "Longview." Even Tre Cool's drumming is a masterclass on how to make a punk act jump.
Once grunge started to fade after the death of Kurt Cobain, many rock fans were depressed and looking for something new. With Dookie, Green Day took the reigns and brought pop-punk into the mainstream. As the band went on, they continued to stretch the boundaries of what the genre could do while teaching every pop-punk band how quality music should be made.