Kerplunk

Armstrong had gathered a pile of songs, some documented on a four-track at home. Livermore pushed the band to record again and show off Cool as a drummer. They went to Art of Ears Studios in San Francisco in May 1991 with Andy Ernst, who co-produced. Six tracks were recorded before the band had to go back on tour. They re-recorded those songs when they returned in September, and four days in all were spent recording. Ernst mixed the album, and John Golden mastered it at K-Disc in Hollywood.

The cover was drawn by Chris Appelgren from a story by Livermore about a girl who murders her parents to meet the band. Kerplunk reached UK shops on 17 December 1991, and the band was on a 64-date European tour when copies arrived, so a Southampton show became the record release party. It sold 10,000 copies on its first day. After Dookie it topped the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums chart and went platinum in the United States. Welcome to Paradise was re-recorded for Dookie. NME's Simon Williams called Kerplunk a storming-but-soothing antidotal cream for grunge, and Pitchfork's Hogan called it a sharply improved record.