Blink 182
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Blink 182
The artist that I chose for my research paper is Blink 182. This band is not known for taking a big political stance or rebelling against any major social issues, but rather, they rebel against something that hits much closer to home. The main thing that Blink 182 is rebelling against is parental authority and other forms of adult authority. Their audience was comprised mostly of teenagers, considering that these kids could relate to the music that the band played. I feel that the reason that I chose this band is actually worth noting in showing how they appealed to this audience. When I was trying to come up with a topic I knew I wanted to do a musician or band and out of all the music that I listen to I just could not get past Blink 182. When I was 13 years old, someone introduced me to the band by giving me a copy of their 1999 album Enema of The State. After listening to it, I knew it was something that my ultra-conservative and super-religious parents would not approve of. Case in point, when my mother found the hidden CD, I got a long lecture on how they were a very bad band and I should not be filling my head with their nonsense. But, I continued to listen to the band and became a huge fan, all the while without my parents knowing. I might even say that this was the first of many rebellious acts that I would perform through my teenage years. I was definitely in their target audience, and they had definitely achieved their purpose. So, that is why I chose to discuss one of my most favorite bands of all time, Blink 182.
Blink 182 was comprised of guitarist-vocalist Tom DeLonge, bassist-vocalist Mark Hoppus, and drummer Travis Barker. The band started in San Diego, California while the band members were still in high school. They “first found an audience with the extreme sport crowd and the suburban youth of the United States” (Hightower). The band most likely gained such a big following because they didn’t think it was necessary to write songs about social problems. Instead, Blink 182 gained their fame by singing about things that teens could relate to, like rebelling against your parents and sexual acts. They also were very, very well known for their potty-humor, foul language, and crazy stage antics. Vocalist Tom DeLonge once told a reporter,
“We’re one of the few bands that encompass a full lifestyle. A band like Black Crowes, they write a bunch of songs about nothing, and who really cares? We bring along a whole Southern California lifestyle, about running around naked and having fun. But we take our music seriously, and we have thoughts about relationships and what not. It takes an educated listener to know that we’re not just singing about flatulence and masturbation. At least not all of the time” (Hightower).
The band was only interested in writing songs that appealed to their audience and their fans. They never cared to write songs that appealed to adults or leaned towards any political ideals. The band never really took themselves all that seriously and they “[embraced their] stardom like it [was] a fluke” (Klien).
The bands rebellious reputation came from their stage shows as well as their albums. Their shows were even said to have held wet t-shirt contests in the early years. One friend that I interviewed described a Blink 182 show as “crude, rude, hilarious, and basically like the mind of a sixth grade boy” (Hems). During their shows the band talked about farting, shitting, pissing, vomiting, masturbating, sex, boobs, boners, and pretty much anything else that they felt like talking about in the moment, and they were even known to perform naked at times. The band actually released an album in 2000 called The Mark, Tom & Travis Show that was a live recording and the end of the album features almost 30 different dialogues from between songs in their set. It is a great example of what going to a show would have been like. For example, after a girl in the audience flashes the band Mark says “My boner just died. I had one and now it’s gone. Please, I saw your boobs and my wiener ran away.” Blink also got a lot of criticism for being somewhat sexist, as they were often known to ask girls in the audience to flash them. “The treatment of women that [a female fan] is seeing reinforces her own sense that she exists to amuse and be exploited boys who go see the punk bands on the Warped Tour may be inspired to start their own punk bands. Girls may be inspired to think they could actually be pretty enough to be cheered on when they remove their shirts.” (Hightower) A lot of parents, including my own, were very cautious about letting their kids go to their shows for fear of what they might see or hear. DeLonge says that the band was “just trying to keep it real,” but reality was too much for some to stomach. But this mentality “allowed the band and fans to rebel against the manners and maturity with which their parents tried to raise them.” (Blink 182 Bio) I think that this is why the band gained so much popularity with youth around the world. In my opinion, boys could identify with them more than girls, mostly because young girls don’t really sit around and chat about things like farting and masturbating. Some girls, like myself, were still drawn to their music though. The way the guys looked was also what attracted a lot of their female fans. Hoppus and DeLonge are both very good-looking guys, which only added to their fascinating persona as a band.
Their music is basically “just trying to get in the mindset of a teenager, which means a lot of curiosity about sex” (Hightower). Any teenager could relate to any of the songs on a Blink 182 album. Their music was also very catchy, which attracted a lot of listeners with their “minimalist rat-a-tat-tat rhythms never falter; the guitar boings up and down like a sonic Superball. Its all harmless but still gnarly enough to foment the kind of anti-everything rebellion that spawned rock & roll way back in the day” (Chonin).
Their lyrics were not very hard to understand and mostly elementary in nature, which speaks to teens and young adults. One of their more “rebellious” songs was a song called “Anthem Part 2” off of 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. The song claims that teens are “misled / young and hostile, but not stupid.” It goes on to say that teens will “never give up, it’s no use / If [they’re] fucked up [adults] are to blame… / Kids are victims in this story / Drown the youth