Blink-182 [ARCHIVED] Band • Page 1078

I can't find the whole thing anywhere but there's like 8 minutes of video of it on apple music so there's at least that.

 

always loved Strings' verses, intro and bridge are cool too. honestly, if the chorus wasn't... that.. it'd probably one of my top 5 from the album.

also i don't really know why, but the bass intro of TV was the first blink song i figured out how to play on guitar. why TV of all songs i'm not sure, but i felt real proud lol

 

Experience

Seat upgrades for a lot of the shows are available here. Not a bad idea to grab a $20 anniversary ticket and then upgrade.

 

That'd be good, yeah, thx man

 

DUDE RANCH

1. Pathetic - A classic Blink album opener. Such a great song too! I love all the back and forth vocals and relentless energy. This song is a perfect way to kick off an album that is miles ahead of anything they released before.

2. Voyeur - Dude Ranch feels like it's going to be a lot more mature than Cheshire Cat up until this "Voyeur" starts. Tom's lyrics are still mostly juvenile. This is actually my dad's favorite Blink song. He took me to see them on the Mark, Tom, and Travis Show Tour just so he could hear this song live, haha.

3. Dammit - The guitar riff, Mark's thrashed vocals, the vocal melody, the organ in the final chorus... There's so much in this song that I love! FUN FACT: This is the first Blink song I ever heard. I randomly turned on MTV one night and this song's music video was playing and "I guess this is growing up" was immediately stuck in my head. At the end of the video though, it didn't say who the band was, so I was never able to find it or anything. I wish Google had come a few years earlier, haha. Anyway, fast forward to 1999: I see the WMAA video on MTV and my life changes forever and I become a Blink fanatic. After I wore out Enema of the State, I decided to move backwards in their discography. I got Dude Ranch and was immediately intrigued because the hype sticker on the front of the CD said that the album contained "Dammit (Growing Up)" so as soon as I got into my parent's white astro van, I skipped to track #3 to see if it was THE song that I had heard a couple years before that day, and BOOM! THAT WAS THE SONG!

4. Boring - The song has some cool guitar work, but overall, this song doesn't really do it for me. I wouldn't say it's a bad song though, but it might be the worst one on here, honestly.

5. Dick Lips - I always thought this song was kind of overrated. There's so many better songs on Dude Ranch that go basically unnoticed, I think. (I'm lookin at you "Waggy" and "Emo.")

6. Waggy - Speak of the devil. This among my top 5 favorite Dude Ranch songs, and it's easily in my top 20 Blink songs. I love the tempo of the song. It's fast, but not too fast. Almost feels kinda ballady, but in a punk rock kind of way. This song works really as a slower acoustic song too. Except for that line about jacking off. That doesn't really fit with the rest of the lyrics. Mark was on fire on this album though, despite a few random questionable lyrics here and there. That guitar riff in the bridge rules!

7. Enthused - I love how the vocals don't start on this song until a minute intil the song, which isn't even 3 minutes long. It's basically got 3 different intros, and it's awesome. The band's creativity musically was sooo on point on this album. I wonder how much of the song arranging was the band's doing vs. Mark Trombino. Anyway, this has always been one of my favorite Blink songs.

8. Untitled - I think I like the MTATS version of this song more, thanks to Travis' drumming. I love Mark and Scott Russo's (Unwritten Law) vocal harmony part at the end of the song. Best part of the song. In fact, it might even just be Russo. Either way, love it.

9. Apple Shampoo - Have I already stated that I have a favorite song on this? If not, "Apple Shampoo" takes the cake I think. Again, the band's creativity was next level on Dude Ranch. This song for example doesn't have a chorus! There's no repeating parts, but you only really notice that if you pay attention. It doesn't feel like the song is ever building up to a chorus the whole time or anything. The song feels complete without a chorus. It's pretty genius. And again, Mark...

10. Emo - Another one of the underrated jams on here. I love the repeated back and forth vocals at the end of the song. Very reminiscent to "Feeling This" and a few other Blink songs. I don't really get how the band thought the song sounded like Jimmy Eat World or any other emo bands at the time, but whatever. It rules.

11. Josie - Over the years, this song has become one of my favorite Blink songs. Such a classic! When I was a kid, I'd always be like "Oh man, Josie is the perfect girl! Watches movies you like even when you're not home, and she brings you burritos!" I'm marrying a girl named Jessie (close enough) and she likes watching the same movies and TV shows that I do (mostly), and brings me burritos randomly sometimes. So yeah, everything's gonna be fine.

12. A New Hope - This is kind of like the "TV" song on this album, but it's WAY better in quality. I think this song actually got me really into Star Wars when I was a kid. I was like "If Mark loves it, then I should too!" so I started watching the original trilogy even more than I did before that.

13. Degenerate - I remember my friend Matt trying so hard to memorize the vocals in the chorus and then would battle each other to see who could sing along without messing up. It's interesting to note that this song is actually really old. It's even older than Buddha! It's not that good though, let's be honest, haha.

14. Lemmings - I've really come to loving this song in the last few years. It was always one of my least favorites before, but now I really love it. The last verse of the song really grabs me now.

15. I'm Sorry - Mark has always loved repeating words over and over and over and over and over. This is probably the best mostly-Tom song on the whole album. But that's not really saying much since there's pretty much only this one and "Dick Lips." But god dammit. Dude Ranch rules. It's my go-to Blink album to listen to these days.

 

I agree with this 100%.

 

I'm almost positive Mark responded to a question about this on Twitter or IG and that's exactly what happened. Mark had the bass line written and Tom had the guitar riff and they were just messing around and put them together and it worked. They just didn't have any lyrics written so technically it was the first song they "wrote".

Anyway nice review. I've always said that if Cheshire Cat was the first blink album I heard I might not be a fan or at least as big of a fan of the band as I am today. They had some really good songs on there (Carousel, M+M's and Wasting Time) and some with a lot of potential (Peggy Sue, Toast and Bananas) but it's mostly forgettable and sometimes just really really bad. I appreciate the raw sound to it and I know people like to rag on Tom about his guitar playing but he had some really interesting riffs in there.

 

@bradsonemanband dude let these reviews breathe a little like an ending of Feldy produced song, give us some time here to read them before pumping out the next one haha.

 

That's all I'm gonna do for now! Hahaha. I figure I should do some work now. I'll do Enema tomorrow.

 

I’ll try to do Cheshire and Buddha tomorrow as well.

 

Pretty sure I agree with every bit of this. The album is good, but the older it gets, the more obvious it is that Mark absolutely carried the whole thing. Tom still has a few classic moments here and there, but it was obvious who was ahead in their songwriting progression at this point in time. I somewhat feel the same in regards to Enema but Tom closed the gap quite a bit more there.

 

I really underappreciated Dude Ranch when I was younger mostly because I was listening to Enema and TOYPAJ so much more. Don't get me wrong I liked the album but I never really listened to the deeper cuts (Waggy, Emo, Enthused, and Lemmings) as much as I should have.

I agree with you on the line in Waggy, it kind of ruins the song a bit and I prefer the Uranus version of Waggy instead because of it even if there's no outro like there is on Dude Ranch. Mark does have some regrettable lines like in Apple Shampoo too with the R word. But I think Mark absolutely carries this album. My least favorite tracks are all Tom only songs but again Tom's guitar playing is still pretty good, even a song like Boring which is my 2nd least favorite song the riff is fun.

The one thing that is interesting is there are 5 songs (Waggy, Enthused, A New Hope, Degenerate and Lemmings) that were previously released that ended up being re-recorded for this album. Granted in 1997 it was harder to get some these songs releases but imagine the outrage today if blink released an album and a third of the record were songs they already available on other EPs/split singles/B sides?

That's a cool story about you and your girl and everything is going to be fine (just as long as you don't listen to Track 2 of TOYPAJ).

 

TOYPAJ was when I felt that Tom's writing finally caught up to Mark's. I agree with you that Tom closed the gap on Enema but Mark's songs were still better. TOYPAJ was when I felt ok I'd have a hard time picking either Mark only or Tom only songs. Peak Tom started in 2001.

 

Buddha?! I thought we were just doing Cheshire Cat on. Guess I'll do my Buddha review right now:

7. 21 Days - The best song on Buddha and Blink's most underrated song and should have been re-recorded for Dude Ranch and should be played live. The end.

 

Fuck it I’ll do Cheshire now.

CHESHIRE CAT

1. Carousel - I actually, unlike Brad, prefer the Buddha version of this song. I couldn’t tell you why, perhaps because that was the version I heard first. It’s a fine, simple song, and the lyrics are simple and genuine enough. Have a lot of nostalgia for this song due to memories of High school I have tied to it but I think it’s a bit overrated in the fan base though, I don’t return to it very often except for full album listens.

2. M+M's - Best Song on the album, and classic blink in my opinion. The intro is classic, and the lyrics while still simple kind of stand out a bit more for me on this song. Getting to see them play this in 2016 when it wasn’t originally slated to be on the set list was a great moment for me. Also one of the first songs that was an ‘us’ song for me and my wife.

3. Fentoozler - Just as Brad said, this song doesn’t really have anything going for it besides Tom’s riffs. Even then this is kind of forgettable on just the album let alone their whole discography. I never listen to this song outside of album listens, and I actually kind of have trouble listening to it these days.

4. Touchdown Boy - Honestly this song falls into the same boat as Fentoozler for me, and is not one I go back to willingly very often.

5. Strings - One of my least favorites on the album and a big ol whopping MEH from me. Honestly if this was the first blink song I’d heard I’d never have checked them out.

6. Peggy Sue - Maybe my second favorite on the album, this song is a better track than the last few before it. I do agree the MTTS version is better.

7. Sometimes - This Song is OK. It’s not bad but it’s not great either. Middle of the road here, but I do like it’s grit.

8. Does My Breath Smell? - This is literally one of my least favorite blink songs of all time. The lyrics are down right bleh to sexist with a cherry topping of ‘I’m a nice guy’ mentality, and it’s not sonically appeasing to me really. I honestly forgot how much I don’t really care for this song until this track by track.

9. Cacophony - This Song is a bit better. I like it’s tempo and how it plays, and it’s a much needed recovery from the last track. It goes a little hard on a good way too.

10. TV - Super forgettable. It’s ok I guess, not bad. But I don’t rush to listen to it or most of these songs.

11. Toast And Bananas - Another Song I think is really forgettable. Some fans love this one and my best friend in high school used to consider it one of his favorite songs; but I just never saw the appeal.

12. Wasting Time - I have a nostalgic liking for this song, and it’s higher up on my list of songs from this album. That being said, it’s not one I throw on very often. This album sometimes is a slog to sit through.

13. Romeo And Rebecca - I always felt this was a better song than Wasting Time, and is one of my favorites from the album. The bridge is good, and it earns a spot higher on my list.

14. Ben Wah Balls - HARD PASS.

15. Just About Done - I never found these joke songs all that funny even though my friends loved them.

16. Depends - see 14 & 15



Overall, this isn’t an album I throw on when I want to hear blink-182. There’s s couple good tracks on it, but it’s far from my first pick. Mostly these songs are just kind of meh save for a few here and there. If this was the first blink album I’d heard of, I’d never had continued listening to them.

 

I like Blue the best, but Im fond of Green and Pinkerton too.

 

You're missing:

Time
Point of View
Reebok Commercial
Girl Next Door
Don't

Give the people what they want.

 

Agreed. That was around the time he got "serious" about the songwriting it seemed (evidence by Box Car Racer).

TOYPAJ was mostly a tie, but then he definitely took the helm with Untitled and probably shined more. The only difference is I've never really felt like Mark was a "weak" part of any album unless you count Neighborhoods....but that was both of them.

 

Neighborhoods was probably Mark's worst work in terms of song writing. I definitely think not having Tom, Travis and a producer in the same room at the same time really hurt Mark's (and Tom's) writing during that album.

 

The bass auction is higher than the limit I set for myself. Now I’ve asked my wife how much I’m allowed to bid. I really want this bass.

 

just go to his house and ask him if you can have it?

 

Do you have kids? Bring them to the show and make sure Mark seems them in the pit area...

 

I do! We’re thinking about it for sure!

Man that’s so fucking cool. Mark is such a standup dude.

 

It's gonna be soooo expensive I feel like by the end.

Would be really cool to frame and hang though.