Insomniac (Green Day album)

Insomniac is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Green Day, released on October 10, 1995, by Reprise Records. It was recorded at Hyde Street in San Francisco, and the band prioritized high-energy takes during the recording sessions. Released as the follow-up to the band's multi-platinum breakthrough Dookie, Insomniac featured a heavier sound, with bleaker lyrics than its predecessor.<ref name="spence">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="brophy">Template:Cite news</ref> Lyrically, the album discusses themes such as alienation, anxiety, boredom, and drug use.<ref name="spence"/> Insomniac also served as a reaction to many early fans who had turned their backs on the band after it achieved mainstream success with Dookie.<ref name="spence"/>

The album received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the singer Billie Joe Armstrong's songwriting and sarcastic sense of humor. Three songs were released as singles, "Geek Stink Breath", "Stuck with Me", and "Brain Stew / Jaded". Though it peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified 2× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America<ref>"RIAA Certificates for Insomniac" Template:Webarchive. riaa.com.</ref> in 1996, Insomniac did not have the sales endurance of its predecessor Dookie, largely due to its slightly darker lyrical tone and its heavier and more abrasive sound.<ref>Green Day: Behind the Music</ref> Insomniac has sold over 2.1 million copies in the United States as of 2012.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The album was reissued on vinyl on May 12, 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021, a deluxe version of the album was released for its 25th anniversary, including previously unreleased live tracks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Background

Template:Quote box Green Day's previous album Dookie (1994), their first for a major label, was approaching the ten-million sales mark by the time of recording Insomniac, and the band's success saw them rejected by the punk circles in which the group got their start.<ref name="Winwood" /> The group also began performing at large venues such as coliseums and hockey arenas.<ref name=stonecover>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong was stung by criticisms of being a "sell out", telling an interviewer: "I think I was just lost. I couldn't find the strength to convince myself that what I was doing was a good thing. I was in a band that was huge because it was supposed to be huge, because our songs were that good. But I couldn't even feel that I was doing the right thing, because it felt like I was making so many people angry."<ref name="Winwood" />

The band's state of discombobulation inspired them to prove themselves with Insomniac. The bassist Mike Dirnt later said: "I felt at the time that there was a real urgency to what we were doing. There was a real urgency to stake our claim and say, 'No, we belong here.' It was really important to us to make sure people knew that we weren’t just a flash in the pan."<ref name="Winwood" /> During this period the band members also underwent changes in their personal lives; Armstrong married and had a son, while the drummer Tré Cool and his wife had a daughter.<ref name=successofdookiekerrang>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=stonecover/> For Armstrong, reaching all these milestones was a surreal experience and he struggled to process these sudden changes, noting that "what I really wanted to do was keep working, and keep writing songs...I didn't really stop and smell the roses".<ref name=successofdookiekerrang/>

Recording

Much of the album was written and rehearsed in a small, Cape Cod-style home in East Oakland, California.<ref name=stonecover/> The band decorated the walls with notes underneath song titles jokingly providing instructions for achieving the intended tempo for each track; these included "Must pop Valium for this one" and "Must take crank for this one".<ref name=stonecover/> After the birth of Cool and his wife's first child, and Cool noted that "I can hit the drums harder than I ever thought I could. Having a kid is trying – you have to watch your temper all the time – but it enhances the experience of playing in the band."<ref name=stonecover/>

Eschewing the typical punk rock ethos of creating cheap, low-quality recordings, the band strove to perfect its sound on the record, drawing inspiration from bands such as the Beatles and Cheap Trick.<ref name=stonecover/> Cool experimented with different cymbal sounds on nearly every song on the album, while Armstrong and producer Rob Cavallo developed the ritual of lining up several guitar amps and testing each one to achieve the desired sound.<ref name=stonecover/> Much of Insomniac was recorded in short, high-energy bursts. Before takes, the group would drink excessive amounts of coffee, "squeeze every last drop of energy" into the recordings, and then rest immediately afterward.<ref name=stonecover/> Bob Bradshaw of Custom Audio Electronics was employed to apply a thicker guitar sound to the songs.<ref name="Winwood" />

Composition

Musical style

Template:Listen Template:Listen David Browne of Entertainment Weekly described Insomniac as "14 slices of hearty anarchy, played with a follow-the-bouncing-spitball compactness and vigor."<ref name=EW/> Ian Winwood of Kerrang! wrote of the album's "master class in buzzsaw efficiency, the songs are so economical, not to mention harsh, that the removal of even a single chord would cause each composition to collapse in on itself," calling it "the album on which its creators lost their baby teeth."<ref name="Winwood">Template:Cite web</ref> Music journalist Andrew Earles said producer Rob Cavallo "helped the band make huge guitar walls out of riffs and grow away from the shiny-happy locker-room dip-shittery of Dookie."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The album features bleaker, more pessimistic lyrics than those of Dookie.<ref name=EW/> However, Rolling Stone noted that the lyrics exemplify "cold-eyed realism, not trendy nihilism or bleak despair."<ref name=RS/> Armstrong's vocal delivery on the album has been described as an "adenoidal vocal whine."<ref name=RS/>

Lyrical themes

The album begins with "Armatage Shanks", which explores disassociation and the lack of identity, with Armstrong feeling "Stranded / Lost inside myself."<ref name=RS/> "When I wrote that song it was right before Dookie came out, and I was really at odds with myself," Armstrong said of it in an interview with Spin.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> "Brat" takes the perspective of a "snot-nosed slob without a job" waiting for his parents to die in order to receive his inheritance.<ref name=EW/> "Stuck with Me", the second single of the album, talks about the band's negative experiences with their newfound fame after releasing Dookie, as evidenced by the line ”I'm not part of your elite, I'm just alright". "Geek Stink Breath", the first single, discusses methamphetamine use, including side effects such as the formation of facial scabs and an accelerated pulse.<ref name=RS/> "No Pride" talks about a narrator at the bottom of society, who doesn't mind being there, since he has no pride. The angst-ridden "Bab's Uvula Who?" begins with the lyric, "I've got a knack for fucking everything up," backed by a "brutal, unforgiving wall of sound."<ref name=RS/> It is followed by "86", which discusses the rejection Green Day faced from the 924 Gilman Street music club in Berkeley after the band's rise to fame in 1994.<ref name="brief">Template:Cite news</ref>

"Panic Song" exhibits a pessimistic view of the world, describing it as "a sick machine breeding a mass of shit."<ref name=EW/> It begins with a "pummeling" instrumental introduction that has been compared to the Who, which lasts for roughly the first two minutes of the three-and-a-half minute-long song.<ref name=EW/> It was inspired by Armstrong's panic attacks caused by his anxiety issues and Dirnt's panic attacks, which were suffered as a result of being born with an enlarged mitral valve in his heart.<ref name="myers22">Myers, 2006. p. 22</ref> Cool tore the calluses on his hand while recording the instrumental intro, and slumped against a wall between takes. Cavallo recalled the musician's hands resembled "a bloody mess".<ref name="Winwood" /> "Stuart and The Ave." is about a girl Billie liked but then realized he didn't anymore. Billie wrote this song after Billie’s girlfriend broke up with him before Insomniac’s release. So he proceeded to go home and write a punk anger filled song about it. Stuart and the Ave. is a real location in Berkeley CA, it is an intersection between Stuart Street and Telegraph Avenue. "Brain Stew", the third and biggest single off of Insomniac, talks about insomnia and is quickly followed by "Jaded". "Westbound Sign" is about Billie's wife, Adrienne, moving to California with him. "Tight Wad Hill" talks about how the activities teens once did (like getting high) are not fun anymore. Tight Wad Hill is also a real place at California Memorial Stadium where people would watch games without paying, as said in the line, "Cheapskate on the hill, a thrill seeker making deals". The final track, "Walking Contradiction" was described as an anthem for "anyone who has chafed against the bounds of the demographically correct, computer-coded, image-conscious mid-'90s."<ref name=RS/>

Title and artwork

File:Winston Smith - God Told Me to Skin You Alive (1995).jpg

God Told Me to Skin You Alive

Before the name Insomniac was decided on, the band considered naming the album Jesus Christ Supermarket<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Tight Wad Hill. Insomniac was originally the working title song for "Brain Stew" on demo. After visiting collage artist Winston Smith for the album cover, Billie Joe Armstrong asked him how he managed to make such intricate pieces in such short times. Smith answered: "It's easy for me. I am an insomniac."<ref name="Smith">Template:Cite web. winstonsmith.com.</ref> Armstrong himself has said that the album title comes from his own insomnia, after having been woken up frequently during the night due to his son's screams. Armstrong also mentions his insomnia from the perspective of methamphetamine use in the song "Brain Stew".

The collage on the album cover was created by Smith<ref>"The Montage Art of Winston Smith" Template:Webarchive. winstonsmith.com.</ref> and is called God Told Me to Skin You Alive, a reference to the Dead Kennedys song "I Kill Children". The cover art contains an image (the dentist) that was originally used in a collage featured in the inside cover art of Dead Kennedys' album Plastic Surgery Disasters (1982). Smith knew drummer Tré Cool from Green Day's time at Lookout! Records and told Cool that if he ever needed album artwork that he should call him.<ref name="Smith"/> The cover art features several hidden images: a naked woman, three fairies, and several other ghostly faces in the flames.<ref name="Smith"/> There are also three skulls on the entire album cover and back, one for each member of Green Day. One of the skulls requires the viewer to tilt the piece at an angle. The hidden skull is taken from Hans Holbein's 1533 painting The Ambassadors.<ref name="Smith"/> Green Day's version, however, is slightly different from the original, with the woman holding Armstrong's iconic Sonic Blue Fernandes imitation Stratocaster rather than an acoustic guitar.<ref name="Smith"/>

Promotion and tours

Promotion for Insomniac was limited, with a "virtual press blackout".<ref name="Winwood" /> All of the album's singles contained the words "fuck" or "shit" and the music video for "Geek Stink Breath", showing a methamphetamine addict having his tooth removed, was removed from MTV playlists. This, combined with the God Told Me to Skin You Alive cover collage, led Winwood to comment that "everything about Insomniac was noticeably different from Dookie, yet fully informed by the vast shadow it cast."<ref name="Winwood" /> Larry Livermore, co-founder of the band's former label Lookout Records, found Insomniac to be "depressing", and recalls that he "was even a bit worried about them" upon hearing the single "Brain Stew".<ref name="Winwood" /> A staff writer for People compared the release of Insomniac to Nirvana's In Utero (1993), which featured a darker, less accessible sound in the wake of the success of the band's multi-platinum album Nevermind.<ref name=peoplereview>Template:Cite web</ref>

Green Day also became homesick because touring forced the members to leave behind their families. The band eventually decided to cancel the late 1996 European leg of the Insomniac tour to take time off to spend at home.<ref name="Spitz126">Spitz, 2006, p. 126</ref><ref>Myers, 2006. p. 130.</ref> During this time, the band continued to write, and eventually completed over three dozen new songs by the beginning of 1997 for the upcoming album, Nimrod.<ref name="Spitz127">Spitz, 2006, p. 127</ref> Although the group's last effort with producer Rob Cavallo was considered a disappointment, the band did not contemplate choosing anyone else to work with on Nimrod, because the members viewed Cavallo as a "mentor".<ref name="Spitz127"/>

Release and commercial performance

Insomniac debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, selling over 171,000 copies its first week of release.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first single released from Insomniac was "Geek Stink Breath". The song was successful on both Top 40 and rock radio stations and peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay. The second single, released exclusively in the United Kingdom, was "Stuck with Me". The song was moderately successful in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, but was not one of the group's bigger hits in the US. The third single from the album was "Brain Stew/Jaded". The two were separate songs (tracks 10 and 11 on Insomniac), but they were released together as a single and a music video. The song "Walking Contradiction" was released as a promotional single in August to promote the album, while "86" was only released as a promotional single in Spain and Germany.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Deluxe edition

In 2021, For the 25th year anniversary, Green Day made a deluxe version of the album, which includes eight tracks from "Live in Prague".

Critical reception

Insomniac did not have the big sales or airplay as the singles from Dookie, but it was generally well received by critics. It earned three and a half out of five stars from Rolling Stone, which said "In punk the good stuff actually unfolds and gains meaning as you listen without sacrificing any of its electric, haywire immediacy. And Green Day are as good as this stuff gets".<ref name=RS/> Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B with particular praise for Billie Joe Armstrong, stating that: "Fans needn't worry about Armstrong, a new father, rhapsodizing over the joys of changing diapers or whining about being a wealthy rock star. Once more, the songs relate the travails of a pathetic, self-loathing goofball whose sense of self-worth is continually reduced to rubble by sundry jerks, authority figures, and cultural elitists."

However, Green Day was slightly criticized for not progressing as much as their predecessors. Entertainment Weekly stated that: "Insomniac does make you wonder about Green Day's growth, though. Between albums one and four, The Clash, to take an old-school example, branched out from guitar crunch to reggae, dub, and Spectorized pop. By comparison, Green Day sound exactly the same as on their first album, albeit with crisper production and, ominously, a palpable degeneration in their sense of humor. The few hints of growth are fairly microscopic: a tougher metallic edge to a few of the songs ... and lyrics that are bleaker than Dookie's."<ref name=EW/>

AllMusic similarly noted that "they kept their blueprint and made it a shade darker. Throughout Insomniac, there are vague references to the band's startling multi-platinum breakthrough, but the album is hardly a stark confessional on the level of Nirvana's In Utero. ... While nothing on the album is as immediate as "Basket Case" or "Longview," the band has gained a powerful sonic punch, which goes straight for the gut but sacrifices the raw edge they so desperately want to keep and makes the record slightly tame. Billie Joe hasn't lost much of his talent for simple, tuneful hooks, but after a series of songs that all sound pretty much the same, it becomes clear that he needs to push himself a little bit more if Green Day ever want to be something more than a good punk-pop band. As it is, they remain a good punk-pop band, and Insomniac is a good punk-pop record, but nothing more."<ref name="allmusic"/> Robert Christgau opined "[Armstrong's] songs conceptualize his natural whine with a musicality that undercuts his defeatism."<ref name=Christgau/>

The album was included at number 8 on Rock SoundTemplate:'s "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time" list.<ref>Bird, ed. 2014, p. 73</ref>

Legacy

Despite being considered a commercial disappointment, Armstrong noted, "Insomniac did a lot better than I thought it was going to do...From the sound of it, we knew it wasn't going to sell as much as Dookie."<ref name="Beyondpunk">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The group embarked on an extensive world tour to promote Insomniac in early 1996, which saw the band performing in sports arenas that contrasted with the small clubs the group was accustomed to playing. The members became increasingly uncomfortable with the level of stardom they had attained; Armstrong recalled, "We were becoming the things we hated, playing those big arenas. It was beginning to be not fun anymore."<ref name="Spitz123">Spitz, 2006, p. 123</ref>

Music journalist Andrew Earles referred to the album's third single "Brain Stew" as "one of the better mainstream radio moments" of the decade.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Personnel

Green Day

• Billie Joe Armstrong – lead vocals, guitar
• Mike Dirnt – bass, backing vocals
• Tré Cool – drums

Production

• Rob Cavallo; Green Day – producers
• Kevin Army – engineer
• Jerry Finn – mixing
• Richard Huredia; Bernd Burgdorf – additional engineers
• Bob Ludwig – mastering

Artwork

• Winston Smith – cover art
• Dirk Walter – art direction<ref name="liner notes">Insomniac liner notes. Retrieved 2011-10-13</ref>
• David Harlan – typographic design<ref name="liner notes"/>

Charts

Weekly charts

Template:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chart

Chart (1995)	Peak position
Canada Albums (The Record)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2
Europe (European Top 100 Albums)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	5
Italian Albums (FIMI)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	14
Portuguese Albums (AFP)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	5
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	14

Template:Album chart

Chart (2021)	Peak position

Year-end charts

Chart (1995)	Position
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	53
European Top 100 Albums (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	57
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	146

Chart (1996)	Position
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	48

In popular culture

• The song "Westbound Sign" was used in the teaser trailer for the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars. and on the 2007 kiddie ride of Lightning Mcqueen
• The title "Bab's Uvula Who?" comes from a 1976 Saturday Night Live sketch with Gilda Radner and Chevy Chase.<ref>"SNL Transcripts: Elliot Gould: 05/29/76: Babs' Uvula" Template:Webarchive. snltranscripts.jt.org.</ref>
• "86" was featured in the 1996 MTV film Joe's Apartment.
• The songs "Geek Stink Breath", "Brain Stew", and "Jaded" are featured in the music game Green Day: Rock Band.
• A remix of the song "Brain Stew" was made for the soundtrack of the 1998 movie, Godzilla.

References

Citations Template:Reflist

Sources Template:Refbegin

• Template:Cite journal

External links

• Insomniac at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)