"Basket Case" is a song by American rock band Green Day, released in August 1994 as the third single from their third studio album, Dookie (1994). The song spent five weeks at the top of the US Billboard Alternative Songs chart and garnered a Grammy Award nomination in the category for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. In 2001, the song appeared on their greatest hits album International Superhits!. In 2021, "Basket Case" was ranked no. 150 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Origin and recording 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." "Basket Case" was one of the songs producer Rob Cavallo heard when he received Green Day's demo tape. He ended up signing the band to Reprise Records in mid-1993. 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. In April 2021, Armstrong revealed in his book Welcome to My Panic that he wrote the song whilst on speed. Composition "Basket Case", is a punk rock and pop-punk song, performed in the key of E-flat. The introductory verse features only Armstrong and his guitar. During the middle 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.'" The song's chord progression closely mirrors that of Pachelbel's Canon. Release and reception "Basket Case" was the second single released from Dookie, following "Longview". "Basket Case" peaked at number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, a position it maintained for five weeks. In 1995, "Basket Case" garnered a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Rock Vocal Performance