Kerplunk (album)

"2000 Light Years Away" redirects here. For the Rolling Stones song, see 2000 Light Years from Home.

Kerplunk!
A black-lined illustration of a teenage girl wearing a flower shirt holding a smoking gun against a white background, with the band's name and album title in green
Studio album by
Green Day
ReleasedDecember 17, 1991 (1991-12-17)
RecordedMay and September 1991
StudioArt of Ears, San Francisco, California
Genre
Length
  • 33:58 (LP)
  • 42:10 (CD)
LabelLookout
Producer
Green Day chronology
1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours
(1991) 		Kerplunk!
(1991) 		Dookie
(1994)

Kerplunk (stylized as Kerplunk!)[nb 1] is the second studio album by the American rock band Green Day, released on December 17, 1991, by Lookout! Records. Following a US tour promoting their debut studio album 39/Smooth (1990), drummer John Kiffmeyer left to attend college and was replaced by Tré Cool, formerly of the Lookouts. By this stage, Green Day's audience expanded to teenage girls from suburban towns. In May 1991, they decamped to Art of Ears Studios in San Francisco, California, to record their next album with Andy Ernst, who co-produced the sessions with band. Six songs were recorded until the proceedings stopped in order for Green Day to resume touring, returning to the studio in September 1991 to finish the work.

Mostly seen as a pop-punk and punk rock album, the songs on Kerplunk dealt with love and frontman Billie Joe Armstrong's subconscious. Some of the tracks also tackled the theme of boredom, while others focused on alienation. The artwork for the album was created by Chris Applegren and Pat Hynes, based on a story written by Lookout founder Larry Livermore. It follows a girl who is obsessed with Green Day, eventually getting arrested by its end for murdering her parents. Prior to the album being released, the band embarked on a three-month European tour that began in late 1991. During the trek, Armstrong was suffering from a mental health issue; despite this, bassist Mike Dirnt said it became a bonding experience for the three members. Kerplunk rode on the success of Nevermind (1991) by Nirvana, with some commenters seeing Green Day as the next Nirvana.

Kerplunk was met with a positive response from critics, with a selection of them highlighting Cool's addition to their sound. Some reviews commented on the overall songwriting, while others talked about the diverse aspects of the album's sound. It sold 10,000 copies on its first day of release, ultimately becoming one of one of the biggest-selling releases on Lookout Records. The success of their next studio album, Dookie (1994), helped the sales of Kerplunk, as it topped the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. With it having sold four million copies worldwide as of January 2017, it was certified platinum in the US and gold in the UK. Several songs from the album have appeared on best-of tracks lists for the band by publications such as Kerrang! and PopMatters, while many of the tracks have been covered for various artist compilations.

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