Still, it’s charming and the flaws are endearing. Mark’s and Tom’s singing is rough and scratchy (although Tom’s was always sort of that way), and the production, while not bad, is certainly nothing to write home about. When this album was recorded back in 1997, the band members were all very young, around the age of 19, and it certainly shows. After a few less than impressive releases, they put out Dude Ranch and the single “Dammit,” which kicked off a long and fruitful career for the band. Thanks to Green Day, pop-punk was now a legitimate musical force in the mainstream, and blink-182 were able to find their home catering to what the young people wanted to hear. Ten years ago, blink-182 were just breaking through as a young band whose sound was a bit rough around the edges, not too polished or refined yet. On Dude Ranch, blink-182 were kids being kids, and that’s precisely what they should have been doing. Blink-182, on the other hand, were able to tap into the teenage spirit better than almost any other band ever has, and they were able to convey this in most of their songs, and I think, more than the catchiness and more than the humor, that’s why they were so hugely popular with young people. So, again, it's interesting to hear a song like "Dammit," which captures not only the angst of being a teen (my girlfriend left me, I’m a day late and a buck short, etc.), but also the resignation that comes after the angst, the part of you that says “Sure this sucks, but it won’t last forever.” That second part is rarely seen in pop-punk anymore these days most bands just seem to focus on the angst. Somehow, when you're having a bad day, hearing Tom Delonge sing "Sh it Dad, please don't kick my ass" just hits the spot. It was a sound that worked for them, one that their semi-shallow teenage audience could relate to. Pretty much every one of the band's earlier records focused on the outer surface of things, never venturing too deep or looking too far into the issues they presented. It’s interesting to hear a line like that so early in blink-182’s career. The streaking music video (featuring porn actress/ Enema cover star Janine Lindemulder) is arguably the most iconic in all of pop-punk, and has been endlessly parodied – twice by the band themselves for the aforementioned Man Overboard and She's Out Of Her Mind."Well I guess this is growing up," sings Mark Hoppus in blink-182's "Dammit," an introspective lyric from a band who became famous for being the complete opposite of introspective. And as us fans have grown up with the music we've come to understand that revisiting them is as satisfying – and even more poignant – a form of rock escapism as ploughing through battlefields alongside Iron Maiden or tearing up the Sunset Strip with Guns N' Roses. These guys understand that you don't truly appreciate the comedy, tragedy and low-key beauty of your teenage years until they're behind you. For many, the idea of men in their late-twenties (writing as men in their early 20s) continuing to fixate on high school hijinks and the flutters of first romance seemed strange, if not a little sad. Less a song title than a tongue-in-cheek mission statement, What's My Age Again? found the band bravely facing up to the question of whether they might be getting too old for this sophomoric shit – then flicking a punkish two-fingered salute and carrying on regardless. We’ve done our best, however, to provide a comprehensive overview of the finest milestones on blink’s ever-onward path… With such shifting tones – both sonically and philosophically – different fans from contrasting eras will surely have their own opinions on which sorts of songs belong on a list like this. Bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, however, remains a rocksteady constant.ĭig into their eight albums (nine if, like the band, you wish to count 1994’s Buddha demo), however, and you’ll find an artistic evolution drawn out over three decades that few others in rock can match. Original drummer Scott Raynor was replaced by the untouchable Travis Barker in 1998, while once-irreplaceable guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge has been swapped out for Alkaline Trio mainman Matt Skiba for their last two LPs. Maybe it’s that their stop-start output, numerous side-projects and the changing faces of their line-up have undermined their monumental significance as pop-punk figureheads in some fans’ minds. Perhaps it’s an impression informed by the throwaway façade of their early years (an endless barrage of toilet humour fronting, as it does for so many young men, the well of more complex emotion within) having been mistaken for genuine numbskullery. Even almost two decades since the undeniable artistic watershed of their Untitled LP, there remains a strange consensus amongst many fans that there’s something insubstantial about blink-182’s body of work.
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