Blink-182 - Blink-182

Pop punk – Released November 18, 2003 – 15 songs, 49 mins

T FOX

How do I feel about writing a guest review? I’m Feelin’ This! I’d like to thank the boys for inviting me into their brotherhood for this week’s emotional tribute to a dear friend of ours.

The first time I listened to this album, when released in 2003, it was evident that this was a new Blink-182. Following 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, the jokes about bestiality and grandparents eating hot dogs were replaced with a more mature rock sound. At the time I was split, as a 13-year-old who liked hearing absurd jokes about pirate sex I felt betrayed, however as someone who didn’t enjoy my dad throwing CD’s out the car window, I was thrilled with music he only mildly hated.

Travis, Mark, and Tom shared the load of this album in a way that gave them all equal amount of time to shine. Barker’s drumming on song’s such as Easy Target and Stockholm Syndrome stand out not as a highlight of the song, but rather the star. Before he joined the darkside to Keep Up with the Kardashians, Barker playing on albums like this was the reason thousands of kids drove their parents nuts poorly playing Wish Book drumkits for the three weeks after Christmas.

How do you let a bassist shine? Other than singing half the songs on the album (side hot take: the half I prefer) Mark and his bass actually lead a few songs on the album such as All of This. Where Mark, and the rest of the band, may shine brightest are in the smash I Miss You where the running bass line is just as memorable as the mispronouncing of “in your head” to “your yead”.

Often imitated, never duplicated, Tom DeLonge’s nasal, and often whiney, vocals set the precedent for the next 6 years of punk and emo music. I would be lying if I said I loved this style of vocals, but what a mark they made on music.

This review, however, isn’t just the Mark, Tom and Travis show, it was written for, in my mind, the fourth member in the band, Joe. We lost an incredible friend recently, who along with the many gifts he gave in friendship was reintroducing me to his favorite band, Blink-182, when we lived together throughout university. Our 4 AM, post night out, ‘concerts’ we would put on with our other roommates could last upwards of 3 hours of air-guitar/air-drumming, all Blink. Joe moved away 8 years ago, but every time we reunited, we would still perform one of our concerts for whoever would give us the time, and if they wouldn’t, we would perform for ourselves. When Lundi first asked if I would like to give a guest review on this album, I wasn’t sure if I was up to the task, and the jury is still out on that, both in writing ability and emotionally. Joe, while visiting last summer, really praised Too Sweet Review’s takes on Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour as the reason he took the time to listen to the album, which was reason enough for me to take the stab at giving my uneducated opinions. I broke down on my first attempt to make it through the album and didn’t fare much better on the next few attempts. It was worth it, it was cathartic, it made me laugh, it made me cry. It’s a very good album, that flirts with great.

Joe, I Miss You.

Overall Rating : 7.9/10

Favourite Song : Always

LUNDI

Recently the TSR family lost one of our original members and greatest supporters. For me personally, I lost one of my longest standing friends. Joe, I miss you. I wish over everything I had been there more for you. I truly cherished our friendship. 

From day one we clicked, bonding over music which continued to be the foundation of our friendship for many years. I will never forget buying tickets for Osheaga without any money for flights nor will I forget experiencing our first music festival together once we figured out how to get there. The sights of you diving off the dock for a frisbee or trying to throw Roz in the water at PAB will never leave my mind nor will the memories of downing 15 plus bottles of wine on a Montreal rooftop without a care in the world. I will look fondly on our late night arguments over who got to play Tom DeLonge in the post George Street Blink-182 air guitar concert (while Mitchell Carter played Travis Barker) but most of all I’ll miss that devilish laugh and how easily we got along. You bent over backwards for me many times and I can only hope you held our friendship in a similar regard. 

With this sadness though certainly comes some frustration. I want to take this time to implore anyone who’s reading and experiencing mental health issues that there is no shame in asking for help. You are not weak, you are suffering from mental illness. Especially my male counterparts, please reach out to someone in your life. The stigma around mental health still exists and we need to break down that wall permanently. There are professionals, there are medications, there is help. Please know that you matter. This feeling truly sucks and no burden is too heavy or conversation too hard for suicide to be anyones only option. 

Joe, in your honour TSR has decided to look back on our shared love of Blink-182 and dive into your favourite album. I would simply give anything for this to be a discussion over beers rather than a tribute to a friend but here’s my best effort to honour you. 

The bands self titled fifth record is a departure from the refined pure pop punk songs of their first four efforts that leans deeper into emotional context and the seriousness of life itself. It adds new musical layers to their formula and we always agreed it was their best. It doesn’t have the raunchy well known moments of their previous hits, but musically it’s the band at their peak. The immaturity of their past is replaced with a refined outlook of personal growth. In the grand scheme of things it sees Blink leave behind childhood and become adults. Perhaps we shared this album at the perfect time as we too were in this same transitional phase. 

We also loved this album as the spotlight is squarely on our favourite member, Tom. Delonge takes centre stage and his vocals have never sounded better. His foray into more complicated lyrics and robust song arrangements elevates the album completely. In hindsight it’s easy to see how this was the beginning of the end for Blink as Tom’s musical direction was veering from that of Mark and Travis. The two latter members are more complementary to Blink than ever before but it nevertheless works and the experimental album definitely succeeded. 

Feeling This may get the air play, I Miss You may get the meme lore but this album is a dense collection of some of the best tracks Blink have ever written. Easy Target, Stockholm Syndrome, Always, Down, and Asthenia deserve to be talked about amongst the bands greatest. I love this album front to back, now more than ever. 

Blink-182’s self titled album is their most creative and emotional album. It’s my personal favourite of their discography and on a lot of days it was Joe’s. These songs now have the added effect of carrying the weight of cherished memories never to be forgotten. Rest easy, friend. 

Overall Rating: 9.0/10

Favourite Song: Asthenia 

REID

Blink-182’s self-titled album was chosen as a tribute to our friend, Joe, who recently passed. My experiences with him were briefer than the other three you’ll read so I’ll share my thoughts from a different angle. 

Lundi has been one of my best friends since meeting in the 2013 graduating class of civil engineering at Memorial University of Newfoundland. We became close several years prior as we navigated through a challenging program and had a common interest in music and the Habs. Lundi was a res guy and often took me under his wing, introducing me to many of his friends in the process. Two of those are Roz and T Fox. My friendship with Roz has grown to be one of my strongest despite seeing each other a few times a year. T Fox and his wife, Brittany, have always been welcoming and go out of their way to make a guy feel at home. The character of company these men keep is up there with the best of them. Joe is amongst that group.

Joe and I spent time together on two very memorable occasions. A boy’s trip to the McClarty cabin in Pointe-aux-Baril (PAB), Ontario, in 2017 and Osheaga Music Festival in 2019. The thing that sticks out for me with Joe, was not only his kindness to a stranger but his genuine desire to get to know me. Oftentimes when you meet someone new, they’ll shake your hand, share a conversation and move on. Hell, that’s what I typically do. Joe took the time. He asked questions about my life and was interested in what I had to say. Was he like it with everyone? I’m not sure. I like to think it was because of how he felt about his friends whom I had grown close with and wanted to understand why. 

Over the last decade, major strides have been made on mental health but there’s still so much work to do. My message to anyone reading this is – it can happen to you. On a personal note, I lost my father to cancer in 2020. For my entire life I read the heartbreaking stories of the illness, optimistically thinking it could never be me. My Dad barely missed a day of work! But one morning in late March 2019, we got the diagnosis and just like that – it was my family. Although the situations, and illnesses, are much different – the lesson is the same. We’re all vulnerable. Take care of yourself. Seek help if you need it. For all the devastating stories, there’s just as many beautiful ones on recovery.

Grief is by far the most difficult thing I’ve had to go through in life. It’s cruel and unforgiving. It changes who you are. I hope Joe’s friends and family find comfort in the memories.

I’m told his favourite band was Blink-182. This didn’t surprise me at all as I remember us connecting over the song, Elevator, by Boxcar Racer at PAB. The members of the band separated after the success of Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. Tom and Travis formed the side group, Boxcar Racer and the ladder also put out a record with Transplants because who wouldn’t want him behind the set. All three of them had also become fathers. 

The result was a much more measured and mature band. The mainstream memory is of the quirky, funny songs when in reality, these guys always produced solid rock music. Different style? Absolutely. That’s what made them unique. The shared and contrasting lead vocal contributions from Tom and Mark are incomparable. Travis was and still is one of the best drummers on the planet and his skills are on display with every song. Although the four hits – Feeling This, I Miss You, Down and Always are my favourites, the album is packed from front to back. Unfortunately, this is their last good album together (in my opinion). 

Revisiting this album came under the most heartbreaking of circumstances. I’ll forever think of Joe when I fire this one up and I know that’d bring a smile to his face. He had good taste.

Overall Rating: 8.8/10

Favourite Song: I Miss You

ROZ

Whenever the boys and I would be in Montreal, our friend Joe would make it his mission to drop his plans and ensure that he got to see us. Whether that meant drinking wine on the rooftop of his apartment or even just spending an evening together on the tail end of our time in his city, he made sure to get there and he did it with a big smile on his face. One of my fondest memories on this planet earth consists of a trip over to Pointe au Baril Ontario where Joe, the TSR boys, and a handful of our close friends spent 3 nights drinking, singing, laughing, and throwing eachother off of the wharf. I still think about that weekend a lot.

Blink-182 was a favorite of our dear friend Joe, a dear friend who left our lives much too soon. Joe was a close friend of T Fox, Lundi, Reid and I who tragically took his own life last month. Joe was a good man, a good friend, and was as successful or as driven as anyone could ever aspire to be. He wore his heart on his sleeve and he was extremely thoughtful. He’s gone now, and it fucking sucks. It really fucking sucks.

Blink-182 taught me how to swear. What I should say is, an eleven-year-old me did not understand the C-word (you know what one) or the T-word (use your imagination please) or any of the other glorious words in my now ever-growing repertoire of colorful and extremely tasteful language. In the year 2000 The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show came out, a live album by Blink that was to be used as a sort of filler between major studio albums for the band. Now, my mom didn’t have a clue in the world what she was buying for me when I told her that I wanted a Blink-182 CD for my walkman (yes back in those days we used a walk - man), but boy did mother ever realize the errors of her ways soon enough. The between-song banter is absolutely wild. Not only that, but track 4, Family Reunion, is exactly the song I’m talking about that tainted my blossoming young mind (and was also a nod to George Carlin I later found out, who’s work I very much enjoy). I really loved that album - until mom threw it out. Ah well I still love her too.

Blink-182’s eponymously titled fifth album, which is sometimes referred to as simply untitled, was their last before a long hiatus. Already riding on the success of their sound and the popularity of their music, the pop-punk trio made efforts to experiment a little more in this venture; a risk that they surely did not have to take, yet they did anyway. Like many of Blink’s albums this one is no different in the fact that it is chock full of radio hits, as can be seen in its four released singles Feeling This (the flanger effect on Barker's drums will never not get me going), I Miss You (beautifully haunting), Down and Always (my personal favourite on the album). Absolute classics. The overall production is immaculate; producer Jerry Finn ensures that every element and instrument pops, pounds and sizzles. The polish of mainstream pop music coupled with that punk angst comes together oh so well. Other standout tracks include Violence, Stockholm Syndrome and Asthenia, with the latter channeling DeLonge’s love of space and aliens (which do exist, just ask him) and brings about an otherworldly soundscape to the albums overall ‘outside the mold’ aesthetic.

While I did shed my pop punk skin many years ago, this experience teleported me back into my old room, back into a young kid who loved music, learned to swear and generally had very few actual cares in the world. It teleported me back to Pointe au Baril that weekend, now a young man; loving music, loving his friends and for just a small sliver in time forgetting about my actual cares in the world. This album gave me a week of joy but it also gave me a heavy heart. Joe, you were one of a kind and I will cherish our memories always. Rest peacefully. 

Overall Rating: 8.8/10

Favourite Song: Always