Blink-182 [ARCHIVED] Band • Page 1030

My biggest gripe with the album was the lyrics from the start. Neighborhoods blows California out of the water as far as lyrics go. I see when it's brought up people expect better writing because Skiba is there but to me Heart's All Gone is the highlight of Neighborhoods and is closer to the direction I'd personally like to hear them go. Mark is capable of guiding the band to a happy medium but I don't think he's entirely confident in his ability to do so since he always talks about over thinking things to the extreme. Next time around, I think taking a little more time to put more thought into at least the writing will make a world of difference.

 

Feldmann coud also take a step back, he's known for having too much influence on bands when they record with him.

 

I finally bought California on vinyl lastnight

 

I'm hoping that the deluxe album is out within the next 2 months. Does anyone know if they're officially done recording/touching up the songs up in the studio? I haven't seen any posts from Mark or Matt in the studio in awhile.

 

I agree. There's no harm in taking a long time over something if it makes it better. The quote from Mark about Feldman giving them like 5 minute deadlines while he gets coffee to write down the first lyric that came to him has been discussed to death probably but it shows. I think they were probably just having such a good time finally being back in the studio writing that they just wanted to keep banging out song after song after song and the sooner they finished one then the sooner they could move on to another. The same goes for some of the music and melodies too to be honest.

 

Sorry had to share it

Angels and Airwaves Misheard Lyrics - YouTube

 

Blink spent the same amount of time recording California (3 months) than they did with every single album except for Untitled (10 months) and Neighborhoods (2 years).

I think the only reason why people think they did anything different was because the recording process was actually talked about with California. We have no idea how they worked/recorded with Jerry Finn, except from the MTV doc about the Untitled album which was a process they never did before. People forget that songs like Dammit and Going Away To College were written in 15 minutes. Two of blink's biggest hits (Rock Show and First Date) were written overnight. I don't think it was a timing issue.

 

In Travis' book, he said Enema was written in about two weeks.

 

Picture your favorite non blink song. Now picture Tom singing it. How does it sound?

WahIm Sorreh it took meh so lewang to come arownd tew come ARRROOWWWAAAHND

 

Feldmann took a writing credit so he must have written all the songs cause 5 seconds of summer and too much production unlike the rawness of Enema and TOYPAJ and goddamnit Feldmann ruined everything fuck Feldmann needs more soundscapes and arpeggios and charm

Oops thought I was on reddit

 

This is my laugh for today. Thank you.

 

Eh that's more of an opinion. Don't get me wrong I like California but compared to most other blink albums it's pretty meh in my opinion.

 

Aaaay eeeyhmmmm blewww dai be deeh dai be daaaah daaai be deeh dai be daaaah

 

Well, lyrics mostly suck on Cali, TBH. However, Feldmann's approach - "you have 5 minutes to finish this song!!" - is great. Because Mark obviously had issue with over-thinking. And this issue can kill artist. Mark mentioned a few things laltely about beating to death some song ideas before. It's the result of over-thinking. Great pop song must be written in an half an hour (I mean, song structure, some "raw draft"). Or you must be Leonard Cohen. So... The lyrics are not great, but vocal melodies and song structuries are amazing. Also, let's be honest — there aren't too many memorable riffs. There are memorable and catchy vocal melodies, which is more important.

Overall, I'd say Feldmann is a huge "win" to the band. That's exactly what they needed at the time.

 

Also, I think music industry hates Tom DeLonge, because blink-182 got their first Grammy nomination w/o him. Neighbourhoods couldn't get it for obvious reasons (weak production, weak sales). but Untitled? Or TOYPAJ? I just think critics were like: "Oh god, these guys deserve to be recognized on our level now. And they got rid of that crazy narcissistic guy while managed to make a really good pop album".

 

Idk about that remark, the music industry was way different back when those albums were released. And I'm not sure pop punk had the mainstream appreciation it has now.

 

Well, in my opinion the whole pop punk thing was way more relevant back in a day. Also, even Bowling for Soup were nominated once :) Thus, I really don't understand why critics were avoiding blink. For example, Pitchfork has not covered any blink album except California. Seems weird to me. But I'm not an expert, of course. Just my two cents

 

That's weird, I guess they weren't taken seriously at the time ? I was too young to remember the pre-S/T days.

 

Don't labels have to put albums forward for awards etc. Maybe Geffen just didnt want to lump up the money to put any of them into those kind of things.

 

You forgot that it sounds too much like Goldfinger, other than that this is a perfect post.

 

Hope there's some screaming, and polkacore influence on the deluxe

 

pretty much. maybe not directly, but putting in the money to target towards votes (ie. streams, "for your consideration" promo stuff) is a necessity unless you're like, kanye, beyonce, drake, foo fighters, or anyone else SUPER SUPER mainstream

 

I want to see Tom try and sing the Party Song.

 

Neighborhoods happens when you don't bring in a big time Producer like Feldman or Finn and record separately. All fingers point to Tom for that decision. Dude has always been a guy who wants to do it himself. I give him credit for being brave with that, but unfortunalety him and Blink produce better stuff with a moderator.

 

Well yeah but how many songs did they write in that time and how many got cut? I don't think there are like 20 unheard songs from Enema sessions. They spent 3 months on like 12-15 songs for previous album and spent 3 months writing 30+ songs for Cali and then picked from them. I'm not saying that spending 8 years writing something instantly makes it better obviously, but if you're focused on 12 songs rather than 30 then the 12 are bound to be a little more refined. And I'm not talking about "hit" songs because lyrics are pretty irrelevant for something to be popular. Just my opinion as a nerdy blink fan.

I disagree about the melodies. Things like the verses of Left Alone and Rabbit Hole and Los Angeles are so bland they're like the Anne Veal of songs. They barely have a face.