Enough Already Tom Delonge

So, I was in the mood for some reminiscing and I decided to whip out one of my old school Blink 182 albums. I chose “Take off your pants and Jacket” because I hadn’t heard it in a really long time. It’s obviously not one of my favorite albums by them but I found it first. What can I say? Anyfart, as I was listening to it, seeing as how I was in high school during its release, I realized the reason why I liked it then was that I was relating to the lyrics of Tom Delonge. Don’t get me wrong I like the lyrics of Mark Hoppus substantially better and, here’s the thing, his songs still ring true. Tom’s, despite being relatable tunes during my adolescence have no lasting power and have become stale as can be. This led me to think, “This is the guy who’s trying to start the next “U2?” And so, it led me to this quick little blog post.

Song #1
“I learned a lot today,
not sure if I'll get laid,
not sure if I'll fail or pass,
kissed every girl in class

Everybody would waste it all,
to have a summer that they could call,
memory that's full of fun,
fucked up, when it's all done”-Blink 182: Reckless Abandon from the album “Take off your pants and Jacket”

Song #2
“Now just hold on, hold on to me
Hold on, hold on to me (hold on to me)
Hold on, hold on to me (hold on to me)
Hold on, hold on to me (hold on to me)
Hold on, hold on to me (hold on to me)
Hold on, hold on to me (hold on to me)
Hold on, hold on to me (hold on to me)
Hold on, hold on to me (hold on to me)
Hold on, hold on to me (hold on to me)
Hold on, hold on to me (hold on to me)”-Angels and Airwaves: Do it for me now from the album “We don’t need to Whisper”

Okay. Analysis of song 1: This man was in his late twenties when he wrote this song. What demographic do you think he’s aiming for here? To his credit, however, I loved this song when I was in high school and really have no qualms with these lyrics, they just don’t relate to me now. However, these lyrics were penned by the man who said this about his new band, Angels and Airwaves, in an interview with Rolling Stone, “With Blink, people would go, "What's your message?" and we'd go, ‘Fuck! We don't have a message!’ With Angels and Airwaves, it's absolute message; it's absolute . . . positivity.” Now, this quote is understandable and you can see why an actual artist would want to kick his act up a notch after 16 years of fart jokes and writing for a demographic substantially younger than he or any other member of Blink-182 fell into. But what did he do with his Angels in the Airwaves project…..

Analysis of song 2: He took his nasaly simple lyrics and made them even more repetitive. I’ve listened to the majority of the album “We Don’t Need to Whisper” and after about 3 songs into the album, I’m convinced that I’m listening to the same song over and over again. Not only that, EVERY SINGLE SONG has a ridiculously and unnecessarily long repetitive bridge, as depicted in the example from song 2. All of this is coming from the man who had this to say in the same Rolling Stone interview, “I want to come out with an album that people will refer to twenty years from now as the album of this decade. [There hasn't been] a record like that since Nirvana's [Nevermind] and I don't think there's ever been a band as good as U2. But I'm willing to take on that challenge.”

Simply put, ENOUGH ALREADY TOM DELONG! Blink-182 was fun while it lasted but what makes you think you can put on some goofy shades, ride Bono’s jock and all of a sudden create music that you’re not talented enough to create. All you can pull off is jack-off jokes, high school love lost songs and you can toss some more fart joke songs in there too. We loved you for it. I hate you for Angels and Airwaves.

P.S. I have a far more substantial post coming in the near future. It should be a doozy so keep checking back.