Released in 1992, Kerplunk would be the album Green Day used to get themselves to the big leagues, leaving behind Lookout and Epitaph for the big bucks of Reprise Records, where two years later they would shoot to some degree of stardom with the album Dookie. It also saw the first record with drummer Frank Edwin Wright the third, who would assume the monicker of 'Tre Cool'. Wright has been the group's drummer since.

Green Day now took up their line-up that would stand firm, with singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong being but a youngster here, and bass-player Mike Dirnt, despite his youthful years, still looked 40. It has to be said though, that if there is one member of Green Day I absolutely abhore, it's 'Cool'. As well as having one of those faces that you would never tire of punching, the man is basically responsible for Green Day's reputation as morons. Constantly doing his best to 'act punk', this man, who is closer to pension age than high-school, seems to think going on stage naked and burning his drum kit looks rebellious or cool or something. And yes, it has pretty cool destroying your instruments when bands like The Who and The Clash did it, but this is decades later, the same goes for the naked thing, with different bands.

But what about the music the group makes, what kind of band are they? with that description, what other group could they be, the Californian Pop Punk genre is the only place such a group could fit in, and within it Green Day take up one of the main starring roles, as a more lightweight alternative to Rancid or NoFX.

Kerplunk, like it's predecessor,1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, never even contemplates breaking from the genre, except maybe for a cover version at the end, which I'll get back to later.

Believe it or not, as with that record, Kerplunk actually starts out fairly well. 2000 Light Years Away isn't ever going to be regarded as any sort of classic, which, and it's a rarity to here me say that about this band, it may actually deserve. While musically this is your standard Green Day semi-catchy guitar hook driven pop-punk fare, lyrically it may sound similar, with it tackling the matter of day-dreaming about a girl. But where this stands out from the waves of garbage with the same subject matter, which also comprises a lot of Green Day's CV, is that there is just something so lyrically real about it. Possibly Armstrong's delivery, it's easier to imagine someone close to their teens feeling like this, and therefore maybe more acceptable than when a 30 year old sings about the issue, I don't know, the song just works, and can go on a short list of songs that actually capture the essence of teenage love issues properly.

Sadly, it just goes to hell from here, with One For The Razorbacks being slightly slower musically, and tackling a similar subject matter, just with none of the class, making for one of the highly forgettable songs that take up most of this record. The only reason this get's singled out is because I like the name. Indeed, I actually can't differentiate between 10 of the 16 songs, because they just sound like lo-fi, generic pop-punk garbage to me. They don't even have particularly good guitar hooks or anything, which is one thing I am willing to concede Green Day have a talent for writing.

Not that the 6 songs that I can tell the difference between are all smooth sailing either mind, 2000 Light Years Away is joined on the 'good' side by One of My Lies, a song about coming to grips with one's mortality. "When I was younger/I thought that the world/Circled around me/but in time/I realised I was so wrong" being the opening line of this song, which is easily one of Green Day's best tracks. Sure it follows the formula of 90% of their songs, but it, along with the opening track, are examples of the few occasions where it has been distilled into as close to perfect as it can get.

Sadly, the other 4 songs just sting to listen to. Christie Road starts out slowly, and fairly depressingly, and tries to sound grungy in parts, and succeeds simply in sounding like a pop-punk record trying to sound grungy. Green Day thankfully learned this was a mistake, and decided not to bother trying again until Nimrod, and when they tried on it the songs failed as well.

Welcome To Paradise can also be found on Dookie, and it's a tale of growing accustommed to living in terrible conditions. Musically, it sounds like a more guitar driven version of the Powerpuff Girls theme tune. That isn't an attempt to be funny by the way, it actually did make me think of that when I heard it. That aside, it's a pretty standard song.

Possibly the worst song written by Green Day, the terrible attempt at a joke song Dominated Love Slave, is a country-tinged track about being submissive to 'hilarious' lengths. It's also sung in a mock accent that hurts the ears, and has got to be one of the worst songs I own.

The final song Im going to have a go at is the closer. I should point out that the album Kerplunk is only actually 12 songs long, and the final 4 are bonus tracks from the 'Sweet Children' EP. The first 3 of these sound like standard Green Day stuff, just not very good. But the final track, and final insult, is a terrible cover of The Who's My Generation, which sounds like it was recorded in a public toilet, with Bille Joe painfully trying to out-cool the vocal performance of Roger Daltrey and just looking like a stupid little boy fronting a poor covers band.

On the whole, I really don't see what people find entertaining about Kerplunk. Over half the songs sound the same, a good few are just terrible, and there are only 2 songs it's worth remembering the name of.

Im not going to go OTT and give Kerplunk minimum marks, because it is a definite improvement on 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, and the two songs that are good are easily as good as anything in Green Day's CV.

Fans of the band might want to pick it up, but only if you are truly hardcore into the band, and must have every track. This album is basically a waste of time apart from those two tracks, which Im sure you can get your hands on via other means, and not have to pay for this poor record.
2 Stars should be about right. Definitely below average, yet not quite as disgraceful as the band's debut.

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Recommended: No

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