Blink-182 [ARCHIVED] Band • Page 232

I just don't necessarily understand this line of thinking in terms of trying to stifle conversation. We should never be able to talk about any creative decisions that a mildly/super popular artists makes if you follow that reasoning. I think it's implicitly understood that they were famous when they wrote it, that doesn't mean I need to be famous to question why their lyrics were so weirdly immature for a few songs on the record.

 

Not any good at this, but I tinkered with the black album cover @RyanNevill provided a little bit and made a lock screen wallpaper for my iPhone 6s+, if anyone wants it. I'm sure it would work fine for an iPhone 6 too.

 

the production is definitely better, ha.

 

Really enjoy the new song. That being said, it's really weird hearing Blink without Tom. Reminds me more of Plus 44 than anything.

 

Do you know what +44 sounded like to me, Blink without Tom.

 

Imagine songs like "Shut Up" or "Here's Your Letter." It's all Mark. I don't think this song sounds much different than any other Mark song. And Matt having a similar sounding voice doesn't hurt it at all.

 

Do you feel the same about the large number of Blink-182 songs without Tom's vocals on them?

 

To me that whole EP was sloppy. That brutal album cover, the awful AVA inspired intro on "When I was Young", the production, the rapping in pretty little girl (albeit that was absolutely a Travis Barker influence, but still... wtf haha)

 

Reverting back to my original thought, I have said everyone is entitled to their opinions and criticism. That being said, taking all that into consideration, what do you personally get out of deep diving into whether their maturatity matches where they are in their output musically or in the ages they are? Seems like a non-argument or even real topic to me. Enjoy it, or don't enjoy it. I don't think their "motivations" can be taken into question for such as we have actually no idea as to what they are. That's all.

 

+44 sounded so weak and boring, for the most part. there's like 5 songs on it that I like. And the production on it kills me... Finn executive produced it though. It makes me wonder how much he ACTUALLY worked on it.

 

Is there something inherently wrong with immature lyrics? I mean, I can think of quite a few massively popular, and many very critically acclaimed, artists that I would say have written "immature" lyrics in their careers. To that end: is there something inherently wrong with being "immature" if it makes you happy and doesn't hurt anyone else?

 

A lot. They used a whole lot of the team that worked on untitled on that record.

 

was just thinking the exact same thing. it's flawed logic to think any song with just mark on it sounds like +44.

 

Sounds like +44.

 

Because I listened to the record and began to question those specific lyrics, so I posted in here with what I was thinking. It isn't about enjoyment, it's about spurring a discussion regarding something that I hadn't really thought of before. In the long run, it doesn't matter, but neither does debating literally anything relating the band as this forum exists in a space that they will probably never see.

 

Nailed it.

 

That was my biggest problem with the +44 record. The songs weren't bad, but the way they were produced made them feel far weaker than they should have.

 

interesting... i should like it more. the lead guitar parts are so shitty though, bad production or not.

 

Should have worded it different. "It's going to be really weird hearing a whole Blink album without Tom's vocals." One of my major draws to the band in the first place was the way they incorporated both of their (unique) voices off one another.

Love the song though and excited to hear more!

 

Yeah, I don't get the "Mark automatically equals +44" argument.

There are definitely two distinct periods to Mark's writing: pre- and post-Untitled. There's no way songs like "Shut Up" or "Roller Coaster" sound like what he did on +44, but starting with "Go" and "Here's Your Letter," he's been big into that moody, raw sound. That gradually rolled into the +44 record and most of his stuff on "Neighborhoods" outside of "MH," which was closer to the pre-Untitled days than anything. I think "Bored to Death" bridges that gap well, with the darker verses but that undeniable bridge unlike anything he's done in years. Love. that. bridge.

 

Nah, I don't think it's about right or wrong. I'm just questioning what the band's mindset was in terms of writing records in the past, and songs on the same album, that deal with similar topics in more nuanced or mature ways and then writing a song that has imagery and lyrics that seem like a 14-15 year old wrote it. More questioning creative choices than making a judgment.

 

It definitely had it's fair share of problems, all of those are bad except I really like the intro to "When I Was Young", I just really like most of the songs on there.

 

Tom was my favorite person ever up until the end of Blink (round one)

 

Oh yeah, I def agree. I just feel like it's going to be weird listening to a whole Blink album and not hearing Tom's voice at all. I REALLY enjoy the way Mark and Matt's voices go together though too.

 

I can definitely get behind an entire album without Tom as long as the songs are bangin. So far so good! They're 2 for 2 right now!