Green Day vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong said "Basket Case" is about his struggle with anxiety; before he was diagnosed with a panic disorder years afterward, he thought he was going crazy. Armstrong commented that at the time, "The only way I could know what the hell was going on was to write a song about it."[3]
"Basket Case" was one of the songs producer Rob Cavallo heard when he received Green Day's demo tape. Originally, the song was written as a love ballad, but he scrapped the original lyrics in favor of the new lyrics that we know of today.[4] He ended up signing the band to Reprise Records in mid-1993.[5] Green Day and Cavallo recorded the version of "Basket Case" released on the trio's major label debut Dookie between September and October 1993 at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California.[6]
In April 2021, Armstrong revealed in his book Welcome to My Panic that he wrote the song whilst on speed and that it was written in Glasgow, Scotland.[7]
"Basket Case" is a punk rock[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] and pop-punk song,[15][16][17][18][19][20] performed in the key of E-flat major.[6] The introductory verse features only Armstrong and his guitar. Towards the end of the first chorus, the rest of the band joins in, with Tré Cool adding fast tom fills and explosive transitions and Mike Dirnt adding a bass line that is reminiscent of the vocal melody. In the second verse, "Basket Case" references soliciting a male prostitute; Armstrong noted that "I wanted to challenge myself and whoever the listener might be. It's also looking at the world and saying, 'It's not as black and white as you think. This isn't your grandfather's prostitute – or maybe it was.'"[21] The song's chord progression closely mirrors that of Pachelbel's Canon.[22]
In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote, "Something of an instant classic [...] it is certainly one of the most alternative Top 10 smash since Radiohead's "Creep". As to where it goes next it is hard to tell but it could potentially open the door for a flood of the post-Nirvana young American rock bands who are currently making waves on the other side of the Atlantic."[24]Andrew Mueller from Melody Maker commented, "Green Day themselves are an enthusiastically rockin' kind of act who've learnt a neat trick or two from The Buzzcocks and The Ramones and are the sort of band I'm regrettably likely to think are the future of rock'n'roll if I've drunk enough to stun an ox."[25] A reviewer from Music Week gave the song three out of five, describing it as "the Generation X-flag-wavers' splenetic slice of Bay Areapunk".[26] John Mulvey from NME wrote, "Long-time heroes of the US skatepunk scene. Green Day are These Animal Men without the crap Brit-mod trappings and with slightly better songs. Bouncy, a bit fraggly and a bit annoying, but there are worse things in the world. Like 'Speed King', for starters."[27] Upon the re-release, another NME editor, Andy Richardson, praised it as "an irresistible punk snort, a ripping three-minute blast or the ultimate good mood record to play before you go out, depending which way you look at it."[28] Paul Evans from Rolling Stone declared it as a "rave-up", noting that Green Day's lyrics "score graffiti hits".[29]Charles Aaron from Spin ranked "Basket Case" number 19 in his list of the "Top 20 Singles of the Year" in December 1994.[30] Troy J. Augusto from Variety called it "psycho-rave".[31]
Music video
The accompanying music video for "Basket Case" was directed by Mark Kohr.[32] It was filmed in an actual mental institution called Agnews Developmental Center in Santa Clara County, California, at the request of the band members. The mental institution had been abandoned, but most of the structure remained in a broken-down state. The band members found old patient files, deep scratches in the walls and dental molds scattered around.[33] The video frequently references the films One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Brazil. The video was originally filmed in monochrome with the colors painstakingly added in later, hence the over-saturated, surreal look. [34]
The video was nominated for nine MTV Video Music Awards in 1995: Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best Metal/Hard Rock Video, Best Alternative Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Viewer's Choice Award. The video did not win in any of the categories it was nominated for.[35]
The video for "Basket Case" was later published on Green Day's official YouTube channel in October 2009. It has amassed more than 339 million views as of January 2024. In February 2024, the video was remastered in 4K.[36]
Impact and legacy
In 2006, on Mike Davies and Zane Lowe's Lock Up Special on BBC Radio 1, the listeners voted "Basket Case" the Greatest Punk Song of All Time.[37] In 2009, it was named the 33rd best hard rock song of all time by VH1.[38] In 2021, Kerrang ranked the song number three on their list of the 20 greatest Green Day songs,[39] while it was ranked number 150 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" that same year.[2] In 2022, American Songwriter ranked "Basket Case" number two on their list of the 10 greatest Green Day songs.[40]
In August 2017, the English band Bastille released a version of the song for the Peter Serafinowicz series The Tick,[42] but the song was never used in the show.
The song has also been covered and released as a promotional single by Avril Lavigne, who performed the song during her first headlining tour, the Try to Shut Me Up Tour and included on her live album Avril Lavigne: My World.[43]
^Punknews Staff (July 30, 2014). "Green Day - Dookie". Punknews. Archived from the original on July 11, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2022. "Basketcase" and "When I Come Around" were the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" of the punk genre
^"Green Day - Fantasy Studios"(PDF). Fantasy Studios. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 24, 2011. Issued in February 1994, Dookie would spawn five hit singles — 'Longview', 'Welcome To Paradise' (a re‐recording of a track on Kerplunk), 'Basket Case', 'When I Come Around' and 'She' — and, with worldwide sales of over 16 million units, would prove to be the group's most popular work, while establishing them at the forefront of the neo-punk scene.
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