Two industry-changing events happened in 1994 – sadly, Kurt Cobain passed away, thus ending the reign of grunge, but Green Day's third album, Dookie, was released, exposing a mourning generation to a new kind of music, the likes of which differed greatly from the grunge to which they were acclimated. Kids could relate to the emotions portrayed in the songs – boredom, alienation, frustration, possible insanity. Green Day ended up booked as the opening act at Woodstock II, the 25th anniversary of the landmark concert; their performance at the show would go down in history as the biggest ever recorded mud fight. Good thing they weren't trying to develop a reputation as "mature".
Dookie was released on February 1, 1994, along with the single and video for "Longview". Debuting on the Billboard chart at number 127, Dookie quickly attracted a fan base. "Longview" was already getting substantial MTV airtime, only aiding Green Day's popularity.
But the immediate success of Dookie had its downfalls. Fans from the early years, those in the East Bay and elsewhere, were repelled by the idea of a band making it big – being able to earn a living was deemed "selling out". The backlash from their past fans took its toll on Green Day's morale. Though they hadn't spent their incomes on extravagances (Tre bought himself health insurance), they couldn't help but feel like they had done something wrong. Even at Gilman Street, which had been their home for so long, they were persona non-gratas, and facing the fact that they could never return to their haven was not an easy task.
Things were changing behind the scenes, too. Billie Joe had married his girlfriend, Adrienne Nesser, on July 2nd, 1994. The pair found out they were expecting their first baby the very next day. Billie Joe seemed to have his head on straight about his youthful marriage: he told Alternative Press in June of 2002, "The funny thing is that I wouldn't want to be in a band if I wasn't doing it with the family." Once again, Green Day proved that they just didn't fit the mold: they sold tickets to their shows for $7.50 a piece, they slept on their tour bus instead of indulging in hotel suites, and all they really wanted at the end of the day was to go home to someone they loved.
Dookie achieved Gold status in less than six months, a testament to the growing popularity of the trio. Their first video, "Longview", had been shot in the basement of the house in which they lived. The house, with too many tenants and too few beds, had given the video a look and feel that rocked the children of the 90's. There was a Twister board on the wall, displaying the words "I don't even know her" down one edge; a bong could be spotted in the corner; there was a Sea Monkey tank on the windowsill. In the midst of these quirky admissions of some kind of guilt, Billie Joe Armstrong was captivating. Neurotic and twitchy, he embodied teenage angst. Baby-faced and blue-coiffed, Billie Joe had star quality, even when reducing a defenseless sofa pillow to a pile of feathers. With the mantra "I'm so damn bored I'm going blind / And I smell like shit," he had endeared himself to an entire generation. This guy knew how they felt.
In September of 1994, "Longview" garnered Green Day their very first award nominations: the video got three nods at the MTV Video Music Awards, for Best Group Video, Best New Artist and Best Alternative Video. Even though the video lost in all three categories, the recognition showed how far the band had come in a year.
The next single and video from Dookie was "Basketcase". The video took place in an insane asylum, with the guys playing in the middle of milling patients wearing strange masks. Shot in black and white, Green Day were colored in, making them seem vibrant while the "rest of the patients" were gray and indistinct. "Basketcase" gained an incredible following, and is easily the best-known video of the Dookie era. The video was an MTV darling, and it helped Green Day rise to the top. The boys from the Bay were on their way to stardom.
The final video from Dookie was track ten, "When I Come Around". It consisted of alternating shots of the band walking around a city, and of insights into different peoples' lives. The most relaxed yet introspective of the videos, "When I Come Around" was a critics' and fans' favorite. It is also the only video other than "Wake Me Up When September Ends" in which Jason White, Green Day's friend and touring guitarist, appears.
Next on the awards circuit, in January of '95, came a nomination for the American Music Awards' Favorite Alternative Artist. The band lost this award, but was continuing to reach more and more fans. Finally, in March of the same year, Green Day won their first major award: a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance for Dookie. The era of unrecognition was ushered out in favor of tremendous stardom.
In September, "Basketcase" earned an amazing nine VMA nods: Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best Hard Rock Video, Best Alternative Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Viewer's Choice. It was Video Music Award recognition of the kind that they would not see again for some ten years, when they would finally, again, float clear of the mushroom cloud that was Dookie's unprecedented success.
Green Day had gone from gritty East Bay kids scrounging for rent to industry darlings. Billie Joe and Tre had married and become fathers. And in a single year, Green Day had graced the covers of Spin and Rolling Stone. They had won a Grammy. Dookie had gone Gold, and would eventually become one of few prestigious albums to be certified Diamond.
You could say it was "The Year Punk Broke".