Green Day is a punk band from the East Bay in California. Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool have playing music together since 1987. They’ve sold over 90 million records. They’ve won four Grammys, including twice for Best Rock Album. They put out their first album in 1990, and in 91, they put out their second album, Kerplunk!. And then they moved to a major label, and in 1994 they put out their third album, Dookie, which was huge. It helped bring punk into the mainstream. And this month is its 30th anniversary. So for this episode, I talked to Billie Joe Armstrong about the making of one of Green Day’s biggest hits of all time: “Basket Case.”

Coming up, you’ll also hear from Rob Cavallo, who produced the album. Plus you’ll hear two different demo versions of “Basket Case,” the first of which is basically a totally different song.

Billie Joe Amstrong traces the history of “Basket Case,” from its origins as a cassette recording in a punk basement, all the way to becoming a song that helped define an era of music.

You can buy or stream “Basket Case” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes:
Andy Ernst’s studio, Art of Ears
Fantasy Studios
The Muffs’ self-titled album

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The first episode of Song Exploder, about The Postal Service song “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight,” came out 10 years ago, in January 2014. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the podcast, we’re doing what bands do, and putting out a deluxe, expanded edition of our very first release: this version features a new interview, new insights, and new pieces of the song and demo.

The Postal Service formed in 2001. Their debut album came out in 2003, and it was a game changer. Their combination of electronic music and indie rock not only sold over a million copies; their songs were everywhere on TV and in film, and influenced a generation of artists. Last year, they played sold-out concerts across the US in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the album, and there are more shows to come in 2024. A few weeks ago, I spoke to Ben Gibbard, and I combined that with my original interview from 2013 with Jimmy Tamborello. And here, together, the two of them tell the story of how they made their song “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight.”

You can buy or stream “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes:
Jenny Lewis, who sings backing vocals, was the singer of Rilo Kiley
Dntel – “(This is) The Dream of Evan and Chan”
Jimmy’s band Arca once played with Death Cab For Cutie at Spaceland in Los Angeles
Pedro Benito of Sunday’s Best and The Jealous Sound
Jimmy used a Macintosh Quadra to control his Kurzweil K2000 synth
Bjork – Homogenic
Black Cat – Music venue in Washington, D.C.
Audio-Technica 4033 – Microphone
Barsuk Records

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For the last episode of the year, I got the chance to drive up to Northridge, California, and have a conversation with Dave Grohl. We talked about the Foo Fighters song “The Teacher,” which is an epic, 10-minute long song. Dave told me it’s the most important piece of music he’s ever written, because it’s dedicated to his mother, Virginia, who passed away in 2022.

Dave Grohl started Foo Fighters in 1994, after Nirvana ended. This year, Foo Fighters set a record for having the most Top 10 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts. They’ve won 15 Grammy awards, including winning the Grammy for Best Rock album five times — more than anyone else.

“The Teacher” is from their 11th album, But Here We Are, which came out in June 2023. I sat with Dave in the Foo Fighters practice space, and he told me the whole story of the song. Coming up, you’ll hear the two voice memos he originally recorded on acoustic guitar, plus the two demos he made on his way to figuring the song out.

You can buy or stream “The Teacher” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes:
Foo Fighters: Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear, Rami Jaffee, Josh Freese
Greg Kurstin – Producer
Taylor Hawkins

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