Green Day – When I Come Around

I’m sure I discovered Dookie about the same time as I discovered Grunge, Alternative and other Pop Punk pioneers like The Offspring. And whilst I can’t remember exactly when I first heard this song, it was probably sometime during the summer of 1996. I was 12 and contemplating the terrors of going to a different high school to all my friends.

My mother had decided to enrol me at a private school, which in Australia just meant it was religious and you had to pay thousands of dollars a year to attend. How she managed this, I’ll never know. Her only source of income was part time work as a Physiotherapist’s secretary. I know my father agreed to help out (they were divorced), against his better judgement. He was an employee of the public school system and a staunch believer that private education was a waste of money. But to his credit, he came to the party and helped pay some of the fees each semester.

I can only assume she did some wheeling and dealing to pay off the rest in instalments; something she had become fairly familiar with doing.

So on the first day of school 1997, a lanky, overgrown version of me with too much cheap hair gel on my head slinked into this scary new environment. I knew virtually no-one, and the ones I did know seemed uninterested in making me feel welcome. But I found my way and made friends like I’ve always done. It was awkward and non-linear but I made out OK that first year.

For the first couple of months though I longed for weekends. They meant seeing my real friends, football and disappearing into my CD Walkman. I was a tragic football fan by that age, and my team was the mighty Norwood Redlegs of Adelaide’s eastern suburbs.

As it turned out, one of the guys in senior year at my school was playing for the Norwood team. Naturally, I began to idolise him. So when one day, he and his mates set up and impromptu concert on the balcony above the main courtyard and struck up When I Come Around, my hitherto casual appreciation of Green Day and Dookie went up a few a notches. That moment really did cement in place my love of this band. A love affair that has lasted a life time.

The short set on the balcony that day in 1997 wasn’t a particularly polished performance, but it was enough to get me started. And to this day, whenever I hear this song, I can’t help but remember that day.