Why Green Day is rereleasing one of its iconic albums on a Teddy Ruxpin

When artists rerelease their classic hits, the plan is usually pretty much the same: Remaster the recordings and release a cleaner, upscaled version of the album, maybe with an extra track or two.

Green Day has never been one to follow the standard plan.

The ’90s alternative rock band is rereleasing its fan-favorite album Dookie on 15 different formats, each with a single song. And none are what you’d expect.

Want to hear “Welcome to Paradise”? That’s on a Game Boy cartridge (and in 8-bit without lyrics). Prefer “When I Come Around”? That’s on a wax cylinder. “Basket Case” is on a Big Mouth Billy Bass. And “Chump” is sung by none other than Teddy Ruxpin.

Other formats include a player piano roll, a doorbell, a floppy disk, an 8-track, an answering machine, an electric toothbrush, and a Fisher Price record. And the sound quality is about what you might expect. It’s “uncom­promis­ing­ly low fidelity,” notes the project’s website. “The listening experience is unparalleled, sacrificing not only sonic quality, but also convenience, and occasionally entire verses.”Teddy Ruxpin’s “Chump” is muffled and distorted as the somewhat creepy teddy bear blinks and mouths along with the words. “Longview” on a doorbell clangs like the classic front door chimes. And “When I Come Around” gives you an idea of how Green Day might have sounded in Thomas Edison’s day—scratchy and hollow, and almost as if it’s being played in a different room.

As the band puts it, “It’s Dookie the way it was never meant to be heard,” and yet there’s something pleasingly nostalgic about the crackly and tinny sounds.

The band, who partnered with Brain, an L.A.-based art studio, for the promotion, is selling only a limited number of each format. (There will be only one Teddy Ruxpin and only one Billy Bass, for instance, but 50 floppy disks and 25 Game Boy cartridges.) Fans have to register today, by 11 a.m. ET, for a chance to buy one of the items.

Released 30 years ago, Dookie put Green Day on the map, going 10 times platinum. Over this past summer, the band toured and played the album in its entirety (as well as all of American Idiot, which was released 20 years ago). So the unique rerelease is, in some ways, the continuation of an ongoing celebration, not only of Green Day but of all things ’90s and the millennial nostalgia currently driving a lot of pop culture.

It’s a unique publicity stunt, and it’s a unique way for the band to connect with fans.

“Green Day has a fan base that has 30 years of history,” says Michael Lewis, a professor of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. “They’re going back to classic periods the fan base knows and loves and playing the nostalgia game with them. They’re giving the fan base something to display and talk about.”

Vinyl albums and cassette tapes are making a comeback (and Dookie is available on both), but by opting for unusual formats like this, the band has already gotten a lot more attention for the rerelease.

“It’s a way of the band having a conversation with fans,” says Lewis. “When you think about the relationship between a band—or a brand—and a group of fans, it’s a one-sided one. This is a way of making it more interactive.”