blink-182 has had such an interesting to follow, particularly over the last 10 years or so. Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 10 years, you probably know about the band’s impact from the music they made in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They were one of the leading members of the Pop Punk scene that took Rock music by storm. It is amazing how vast their influence has been on musicians from all walks of life. Not only did they definitely create their own sub-genre of Rock, but they have also had a huge influence on a multitude of Pop and Hip Hop artists as well. If you ask today’s biggest artists from all walks of life who their inspirations are or who they loved growing up, blink-182 is on the list of so many of them. As I mentioned above, their career has been full of twists and turns. After seeing a ton of success throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s(their albums Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket are considered to be extremely important Pop Punk albums) with their lineup of Travis Barker at Drummer, Mark Hoppus on Bass and vocals, and Tom Delonge on guitar and vocals, the band went on hiatus for a few years in 2005. The group came back together in 2009 after Travis Barker almost died in a plane crash, and released two projects, 2011’s Neighborhood and 2012’s Dogs Eating Dogs, to a lukewarm reception. After Tom Delonge left the band again in 2014, Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio joined the band from 2015-2022. During this era, the band released two more albums, 2016’s California and 2019’s Nine. Both of these albums received a pretty good reception, with California especially being praised(California was even nominated for a Grammy). In 2022, Matt Skiba left the band and Tom Delonge returned for a third time. This led to the release of blink-182’s ninth album, One More Time, which was released late last year to a pretty positive reception, with critics and fans praising its update on blink-182’s signature sound(I did not review this one on this blog when it came out, but I may go back to it due to my opinion on their new singles, which I will tell you about under this intro). Last week, blink-182 dropped two new singles, ‘ALL IN MY HEAD’ and ‘NO FUN,’ which I wanted to briefly highlight in this write-up. Please let me know in the comments below how you feel about these new singles from blink-182, and also comment the names of any other Pop-Punk songs or artists that you think I should look into!

When I first listened to ‘ALL IN MY HEAD,’ I was hit with a major blast of nostalgia. Like so many people around my age, I loved blink-182 as an adolescent, and this song brings me back to that era, which I love. I say this in the most endearing way possible, but this song makes me want to commit petty crimes and go screw around at the skatepark all day, which is a feeling I did not know I needed. I will say that ‘ALL IN MY HEAD’ is a little harder than what most people would probably expect from ‘ALL IN MY HEAD’(especially if you have not listened to them much since the early 2000s). The guitar riff that drives ‘ALL IN MY HEAD’ is huge, chunky, and heavily distorted. There is a bit of a Blues element to it, but the late 1990s and early 2000s Punk elements are certainly there as well. Although this melody has a super bright tone, its heaviness and distortion make it feel imposing. This creates an interesting juxtaposition which makes the song feel positive and anxious at the same time. The drums on ‘ALL IN MY HEAD’ are just as high-key and pushy as the melody. The raucous manner in which the drums are played on this track certainly makes it feel larger than life. As nice as the instrumental is, I would say I enjoy the vocals even more. Both Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge kill it in this song. I really like the way their vocals mesh with each other, as their varying tones give the song so much texture. On ‘ALL IN MY HEAD,’ blink-182 about feeling depressed, dejected, and hung over. These emotions are clouding their judgment of the world, but they are determined to make things better for themselves regardless. ‘NO FUN’ has a bit lighter and poppier tone than the song that precedes it. When listening to this one, it literally feels like a blast of the past. So much so, if you were to tell me this track was actually a deep cut from 25 years ago, I may believe you(there is an element that gives it away that this song is new, but I will mention that in a second). The melody for this one is even brighter than the one on ‘ALL IN MY HEAD.’ This melody has a very colorful tone that makes me think of a sunny autumn morning for some reason. This guitar riff is faster, lighter, and way less distorted than ‘ALL IN MY HEAD.’ The “Pop” element of Pop-Punk is definitely more prevalent on ‘NO FUN.’ The drum pattern on ‘NO FUN’ truly stands out. The fills that we get before the chorus on this track are huge, giving this song a jolt of energy that I love. As I mentioned, there is one thing that makes it obvious that this song is not an old deep-cut from blink-182, and that is the vocals. Both Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus do their thing on this one once again, but the maturity in their voices is evident on this. Some of the vividness in their vocals(particularly the vocals from Tom Delonge) is not there as much. I like the huskiness in the vocals on this track, though, as they give the song texture. On ‘NO FUN,’ blink-182 is feeling a bit of nostalgia. They miss when their lives were more simple and independent, and did not have to feed into the fake culture that permeates through Hollywood. On these two new releases, blink-182 shows a sense of development in their sound while still staying close to their roots. These show that blink-182 still can capture some of the magic that made them so popular back in the day, and it makes me excited to see what they do in the future.