LogFAQs > #930310574

NFUN posted...

blink 182 and associated media

blink 182 is probably, by far, the most meaningful band to me. music isn't, and has never been, my main interest. but they are the first band that really got me into listening to music. That probably seems like a totally absurd, embarrassing statement, but when I was like in 5th grade they made a big impact on me and it is something I have carried through my entire life. To me, they represent everything teen me I could ever want from a band. They are immature, genuinely funny, play fast and like absolute garbage live, got those punk jumps, make poetic and mature and vaguely hot topic goth tunes when they want to be, extremely good at catchy chorus and memorable hooks, and an absolute perfect representation of a suburban teen white guy sort of life experience for a young person at the time they were most popular. They have an INSANELY deep catalog with so many good tracks that its just absolutely ridiculous. I think its probably obvious to anyone who reads my post that I am very immature and stupid, and that is absolutely one of the reasons this band resonates with me. A lot of bands are very up their own ass, feel so important, or cultivate a veneer of respectability, artistic talent, or overt masculinity where they operate under a notion of being either skilled, badass, manly, or an embodiment of their subculture, and its insanely embarrassing. There are three things that make me dislike art: embarrassment, feeling nothing, or disgust. almost every blink song is either authentic sincerity, a joke, or subversive. Every single song either makes me laugh, is evocative of a life experience that I relate to or related to, or makes me relate to their experience they are describing. And they avoid the annoying traps- they don't ever pretend to be a 'skilled' band, their lyrics are consistently about their self doubt and failures, and they have been rejecting the idea of being 'punk' and embraced many genres and outright rejected genres outright. One thing that people constantly say about me in my life is that I am very cynical or negative, but blink 182 is something that I legitimately love, I make no apologies for it, and I have no fucking problem admitting it.

as for the related media,
+44 is a band that Mark Hoppus made after the initial 2003 breakup of the band, and Travis Barker was also involved. They only made a single CD, but it is fucking incredible. If you asked me to rate blink related material, I genuinely think this CD would make me top 5. probably even top 3. It is one of my favorite CDs of all time. I think it is kind of a shame that Mark Hoppus is so guarded these days and just wants to make pop songs, instead of heartfelt and raw songs like on this CD. He is insanely good at writing sadboi pop rock indie songs compared to some of the stuff we get from modern blink. It isn't a widely known fact, but he produced so many good records around this time, my favorite being the Motion City Soundtrack record "Commit This To Memory", which is a fucking incredible album.

Boxcar Racer is a one off project that features Tom Delonge and Travis Barker, with Mark Hoppus appearing on a single song. It is incredible, and the first hint that Tom is tired of being part of blink, and the first hint of a schism between Mark and Tom. It's basically Tom making a bunch of Fugazi-esque songs and exploring something different from the insanely popular Blink brand at the time, and it is so fucking good.

Angels and Airwaves is Tom Delonge's most recent project, and it is basically an over indulgent U2/Coldplay version of Tom's music. It has some good stuff, but largely is so fucking wanky and self indulgent. It also ties into his "to the stars academy" project where he works with the CIA and military to make projects while working with the government in relation to aliens, UFOS, etc.

The Transplants, Aquabats, etc.: Travis Barker shit, ska and terrible stuff, etc. who cares.