Love it or loath it the 90’s punk revival didn’t go mainstream because of Nirvana, Sonic Youth or any of the other champions of noise from 89 to 93. The exact day it started was February 1^st 1994 with the release of Dookie, and it was a monster. It sold 10 million copies in the year following its release and has sold another 10 million since. It was fast, it was fun, it was angry, and it was everywhere! It was the kind of record you knew would be HUGE on a single listen, and believe me, that isn’t an easy thing to say as a critic. Arguably, Dookie may even be the greatest air-guitar record ever!

So from a vinyl perspective, it is an obvious and essential part of the collection, but what is available and where the hell do you start?

Well believe it or not, your options are quite limited. You can find a used copy from 1994, of which a dump load of unofficial copies were also released, or you can buy new and there have only been three “official” re-releases since 2008. The first two are re-issues printed in the US and Europe on black 180 gram vinyl and are still widely available.

The last one is slightly more interesting than the others. It is a limited edition green translucent vinyl that had only 1000 copies printed and were sold exclusively at Hot Topic stores in the US. While the limited Dookie sold out long ago, most Hot Topic vinyl is sold under $30.00.  Resellers are asking over $50.00 for the green vinyl now. Of course, if you have a giant whack of cash, you could buy an original 1994 green translucent vinyl or autographed copy for several hundred dollars on the resale market… but … um… that’s a bit out of my price range.

If you are looking to get a copy, your best bet is still the 2008 180 gram version which sounds great and can be purchased at very reasonable prices at all the usual places.