Studio
Art Of Ears
Label
Lookout! Records Records
Producers
Andy Ernst, Green Day
Mixing
Andy Ernst
Engineers
Andy Ernst, John Golden (mastering)
Musicians
Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar, drums), Mike Dirnt (bass, vocals), Tre Cool (drums, guitar, vocals)
Artwork
Chris Appelgren (cover art, disc art), Pat Hynes (artwork), Thadicus (art direction)
Notes: Green Day's second and final album on Lookout Records. The original vinyl-only release was followed by a CD/cassette release on January 17, 1992, which also included the songs from the Sweet Children EP. The album was hugely successful for an indie release and drew the attention of major labels. It has gone on to sell over a million copies.
Tracklist
01
07
02
08
03
09
04
10
05
11
06
12
CD/Cassette version (1992)
Tracks 13-16: From the Sweet Children EP
Studio Sessions
Key
[O] Officially released
[D] Demo released
[U] Unofficially released
[X] Unreleased
Session Tracks
- [O]2000 Light Years Away
- [O]One For The Razorbacks
- [O]Welcome To Paradise
- [O]Christie Road
- [O]Private Ale
- [O]Dominated Love Slave
- [O]One Of My Lies
- [O]80
- [O]Android
- [O]No One Knows
- [O]Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?
- [O]Words I Might Have Ate
Session Notes
In the album's liner notes it's documented that the album was “Recorded May + (mostly) September 1991". While it's unknown what was saved from the May session, we do know they recorded demos at the request of Lookout Records owner Lawrence Livermore: "I’d been bugging Billie, Mike, and Tre about coming up with something new since the spring of 1991, when I all but ordered them into the studio to record some demos. It turned out they had only enough material for half an album, and while the songs were good, they were less than fully formed." Livermore would go on to say they "realized that it wasn’t really ready to be an album yet".
The recordings from the May session likely survive to this day but have never been released. Livermore further stated, "I’m sure those recordings are out there somewhere, but they’re basically just less-tight versions of the songs that ended up on the album. I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to them."
As for what they recorded in the May sessions we can only speculate. Todd, our audio archivist, speculates it would most likely have been 'One For The Razorbacks', 'Christie Road', 'Private Ale', 'Android', 'Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?', and 'Words I Might Have Ate' based on what the band were playing live at the time.
The liner notes for Kerplunk give thanks to a few song and title inspirations, including Billie's future wife Adrienne Nesser & former girlfriend Arica Pelino (both subjects of numerous songs), Brainstew (the namesake for 'Brain Stew'), Jason Relva (the inspiration for 'J.A.R.'), producer Andy Ernst (the namesake for 'Android'), and Tim Yohannan (the inspiration for 'Platypus (I Hate You)').
The riff for '2000 Light Years Away' originally came from another potential side project Billie Joe was working on with Jesse Michaels (Operation Ivy), Pete Rypins (Crimpshrine), and Dave EC (The Wynona Riders), which is why they are credited for music on the track. Green Day tightened up that original arrangement and turned it into the song we know today.
Former drummer John Kiffmeyer, credited as Al Sobrante, is listed as an executive producer for the album.
Tre Cool plays guitar and sings lead vocal on ‘Dominated Love Slave’ with Billie Joe stepping in behind the drums.
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