Music
Few bands seem to reflect a particular time more than Blink-182. For those of us of a certain age, they embody a time before true responsibility reared its ugly head, when growing up seemed impossible, when all we had to do was wait for the summer and the Warped Tour.
Of course, time has a habit of getting the better of all of us, Blink-182 included.
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Following the band’s self-titled release back in 2005, a markedly darker release than anything before it, things became contentious between band members. An ‘indefinite hiatus’ followed and the future of Blink 182 was thrown into uncertainty.
For many, it felt like the end of an era. This was a band who we’d grown up with, they’d soundtracked our youth, the break-ups and make-ups, and, for better or worse (it’s definitely the latter), had provided us with life advice throughout our early teens. There was only one thing left for us to do: Grow Up.
Of course, this is what had happened to the band behind the scenes. Priorities had shifted. The fart jokes and bestiality had simply run their course. After all, there’s only so long one can be taken seriously when singing about shagging pirates.
Those of us that could quote the American Pie films, who prayed at the altar of Jackass, and who had based their entire personality around oversized shorts and white tube socks were heartbroken, something which for many may or may not have kickstarted an interest in Tim Burton movies and third wave emo music. The fact remained the same for all of us though. Our priorities had shifted. Our interests had changed.
Even pop-punk itself as a genre had moved on. And though bands forever indebted to Blink-182, the likes of Fall Out Boy and All Time Low for instance, were more prevalent than ever, the toilet humour was all but left behind in favour of a more emotionally charged almost matured approach to the genre’s lyricism.
This coincided perfectly with many of Blink’s fans growing up themselves, both figuratively and literally. We left school, romantic relationships gradually became more serious. Some will even have become parents themselves. As such Blink’s inevitable reunion five years later was met with a degree of scepticism.
A plane crash involving drummer Travis Barker in which he was one of two survivors seemed a valid reason for the band to settle their differences and pick things up where they had left off. Sure, we were interested, some might even have said excited, but we weren’t the same people. And nor were they.
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What followed was several tours, including a particularly joyous headline at Leeds festival in 2010, a questionable sixth (or seventh depending on what you view as their debut) album, and a fractious atmosphere in the band that became evident almost from the outset, something which led to a constant stream of delays in the next record. Inevitably, this in turn led to the departure of co-founder Tom DeLonge, once again throwing the band’s future into question, whilst vindicating the scepticism felt by many on their initial reunion.
It’s strange then, for the band’s recent announcement that DeLonge is back (instantly overshadowing the last seven year’s with Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba), to be met with such elation. Evidently enough time has passed that the rose-tinted haze of nostalgia has well and truly settled over the eyes of Blink fans, who now have bank balances healthy enough to support their eye-watering ticket prices. Perhaps even kids old enough to look after themselves, right after rolling their eyes at their dad, desperately trying to squeeze into his Dickies shorts and Vans slip-ons. It’s impossible not to be at least a little cynical. Maybe I’m just skint?
Once again though, it seems trauma was the precursor to DeLonge’s return, with bassist Mark Hoppus’ recent fight with cancer the catalyst. Obviously, the kid inside me that still knows each and every word (of the first five albums anyway) is begging me to be wrong, is needing this to be the reunion everyone thinks it will be.
On hearing their recent single however, the jury’s still out. On first listen my cynicism felt vindicated all over again. A lazy less-than-three minutes of textbook bouncy pop-punk that was about as memorable as it was profound. Repeat listens have me a little more hopeful, however. There’s a buoyancy there, a sense of fun that was lacking in the band’s more recent releases. Of course, we’ll never get the same care-free sense of irreverence that their early material harboured, and indeed embodied. We’ll never again manage to live life with such little cynicism. I guess that really was growing up.
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Re-visit an archive interview with Tom DeLonge.
Words: Dave Beech
