Green Day’s ‘Dookie’: 7 Hidden Musical References on the Cover
Green Day’s Dookie turns 25 today (February 1.) The album, itself, remains timeless. And so is its album cover. Drawn by local East Bay artist Richie Bucher, the cover alone…
Green Day’s Dookie turns 25 today (February 1.) The album, itself, remains timeless. And so is its album cover.
Drawn by local East Bay artist Richie Bucher, the cover alone deserves special recognition. It’s full of all sort of references to Berkeley’s punk scene at that time, but there’s also a number of musical references even fans outside of the East Bay would know.
How many? Seven in total. Think you know what they are? Click through the gallery below to find out!
Erica Banas is rock/classic rock news blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.
The University of California Marching Band
In an interview with 'Willamette Week' in 2014, Bucher said of his inclusion of the UC Berkeley Marching band, "They were always marching around playing. I thought they were pretty great."
Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath"
The image used to represent Sabbath is a hybrid of Ozzy Osbourne and the woman on the cover of the metal band's self-titled debut. For good measure, next to the image is the opening lyric to the album, "What is this that stands before me?"
Ramones' 'Rocket to Russia'
This is a significant deep cut. The Bad Year blimp's banner phrase "Eat at Chef Wong's" can be found on a t-shirt within the animation from the Ramones' third studio album 'Rocket to Russia.'
Patti Smith's 'Easter'
In one of the open building windows on the cover of 'Dookie,' you'll find Patti Smith as shown on the cover of Patti Smith Group's 1978 album 'Easter.' If you look even closer, you can even see the shading of Smith visible armpit hair.
Angus Young
Located just above Smith is Angus Young on top of a building as depicted on the cover of AC/DC's 1977 album 'Let There Be Rock.' Bucher said in his interview with 'Willamette Week' that he was listening to that album a lot around the time he drew the 'Dookie' artwork.
Alex Chilton
There's no specific reason known as to why Big Star's Alex Chilton is featured in one of the open windows. Considering Bucher was listening to 'Let There Be Rock' at the time, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to think he was listening to '#1 Record,' too.
Fat Elvis
Because why not?
