Today marks two things:
1) blink-182’s seminal album, Enema Of The State, turns 20 years old
2) I am once again reminded of my crippling mortality as time continues to march ever forwards, never bothering to even once—
Oh. Sorry.
*Clears throat awkwardly*
That’s right. If The Matrix turning 20 years old earlier in 2019 wasn’t timey-wimey enough, now the album that helped blink-182 attain worldwide mainstream acceptance turns the big two-oh.
All The (Life Changing) Small Things
Enema Of The State (EoTS) was the album that helped me finally figure out what kind of music I liked. It introduced me to a whole new world of pop punk, punk rock, and all the branching sub genres that sit alongside them.
I’ll always remember discovering blink-182 during a sick day from school. A repeat was on TV of…and gather ‘round now children…it was a show called Top Of The Pops.
It was during this sick day that I first experienced the magical blend of pop punk as Mark, Tom, and Travis ‘played’ (it was TOTP, after all) their hit single, All The Small Things.
The album, first released on June 1st 1999, was instrumental in helping pop punk bands break into the mainstream allowing their sugary pop melodies, melded with punk angst, to reach wider audiences than ever before.
With no hyperbole, if Enema Of The State never happened, then there would be no New Found Glory, Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, and more—at least not in the way we know them. That’s how deeply they were inspired by blink-182.
The current day, knock off effect of that? No Neck Deep, WSTR, and other new wave pop punk bands of their ilk.
Thanks to mega producer, Jerry Finn, Enema Of The State eschewed the dirtier, grungier tones of Green Day and The Offspring. Instead of trying to emulate that sound, which would have made it aurally (stop sniggering at the back) closer to their previous album, Dude Ranch, a creative decision was made to lean into a cleaner, vibrant, more melodic tone—one that would help the band to grow their fanbase in ways never before imagined as hits like All The Small Things and What’s My Age Again? easily toed the line between accessible pop hit and pop punk classics.
This wave of mainstream popularity was met with some pushback from a more ‘hardcore’ scene. With their success, people would claim the band had sold out, arguing they were just as polished, produced, and fake as the bands they lampooned in their music video for All The Small Things.
Their outcry, however, was a minority versus the general populace, leading EoTS to sell over 15 million copies worldwide. Lead singer/guitarist at the time, Tom Delonge, said of the success of the album that “When it was done, we were so stoked. It was like a masterpiece for our band. We knew this was going to be the best thing we ever did.”
It’s no mistake that The New York Times proclaimed that the album took “punk's already playful core and [giving] it a shiny, accessible polish," before calling it "among the catchiest music of the time.”
EoTS has a long legacy, one that saw it listed as number 2 in Rock Sound’s list of 101 Modern Classics in 2012. They wrote that “Enema didn't just bring pop-punk to the masses, it marked a complete shift in how music television, radio and the world at large viewed it.”
If their hit-single from Dude Ranch, Dammit, was the song that launched a thousand pop punk/punk rock ships, then the singles from EoTS suddenly made that fleet clamour for radio play and the mainstream success it promised.
Defend Pop Punk
On a blunt personal note: I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it wasn’t for discovering blink-182 that day, oh so long ago.
*looks around for window to stare wistfully out of. Finds none.*
Enema Of The State was one of the first ‘real’ albums I bought for myself—one that was proudly armed with a ‘Parental Guidance’ sticker.
Their music, humour, attitude, and even their taste in clothing (long shorts 4 lyfe) shaped me and my musical tastes forevermore. This connection to the band was all the more important because of how I found them during such a transformative time in my early teens. Like most, their on-stage banter helped forge a sense of humour that I still enjoy—much in the way I still love Kevin Smith’s writing.
That’s why I wanted to write about the album today. To share my love for it, and express why and how it helped to influence and shape me as a person in the way that great art and artists are capable of doing. And yes, this is all obviously subjective to personal likes/tastes.
It’s a wonderful thing to discover a writer, director, band, or artist that inspires you so intrinsically that their style and work almost feel ingrained into your DNA, and I know I’m not alone in my fondness, love, and nostalgia for blink-182 or those by-gone days of late ‘90s/early ‘00s pop punk and punk rock.
I am, however, lucky enough to be able to pinpoint a personal turning point for me, knowing the exact moment I not only became a fan but had my teenage outlook fundamentally changed because of their impact. And even if EoTS doesn’t stand as my personal favourite blink-182 album, it is nonetheless held in high regard by myself as well as thousands of others to this day, and for good reason.
I may no longer go to as many live shows as I once did, and life is drastically different compared to that fateful day I had off of school, but the influence and inspiration this one band has had on me—that all began with Enema Of The State—has forever made me a fan of long shorts, sugary pop punk melodies, and blink-182. I will forever defend pop punk.
Top Five
Despite only being 35 minutes and 17 seconds, here are my Top 5 Songs from Enema Of The State, and why these tracks resonate with me.
Remember: these are my subjective favourites, and if you disagree…well, I can’t help it that you’re wrong. (A joke, folks. A joke.)
So if you don’t have that precious time, why not just dive into these tracks?
Alternatively, listen to the full album.
(Pssst....do it.)
Top 5 Songs From Enema Of The State
1) Going Away To College
This song was literally the first song I played after I had moved into my dorm room at University. It was so apropos to my situation, so universally connected to my current state at the time that it has cemented itself as my number one. The brutal honesty of its own lyrics and its simple but infectious melody just hook into your brain and refuse to let go.
2) What’s My Age Again?
Ah, yes. The ‘young-men-running-naked’ song. So much more than the (tonally appropriate) video it spawned, WMAA? is a pop punk phenomenon.
It’s abrasive, catchy, in your face, and even has swear words in it as Mark sings a laundry list of situations that had most people nodding along—even if they didn’t want to.
And, if you were (are) a blink-182 fan, and don’t have a blink-182 themed cake when you turn 23…well, you’re doing something wrong.
3) Aliens Exist
Just listen to that bass line accompanying the first verse. Then the guitars shredding in just slaps you in the face, and at that point you just want more sugary pop punk goodness. And between the palm muted verses and bold, brash bridge, they give it to you.
Aliens Exist stands out for me because of how it’s not about girls, parents, or rebelling. It’s about believing in freakin’ aliens! It’s about not fitting in with the norm because you have the guts to stick to that belief—a value that would eventually see Tom Delonge leave blink-182 to pursue his new career with To The Stars Academy.
I…simply can’t explain what this pivot is in the space for this song, so I’ll let the man do it himself.
4) Adam’s Song
“The Sad Song.”
Adam’s Song stood out as so much more than a slower, introspective song on this album. It’s probably one of the very first songs I heard that actually related to depression, mental health, and feelings of loneliness—all things I had no true concept of at the time.
It demonstrated that blink-182 weren’t all just poppy riffs and/or dick and fart jokes. Unless you have a flatline for a heartbeat (in which case…what? How? Get some medical attention!) when the song’s bridge builds before its explosive final chorus, you’ll be undoubtedly feeling this (oooh, get it?) song.
Adam’s Song proves there was a hidden depth simmering away that would take them years to fully explore—the result being their self-titled album, released in 2003.
5) Anthem
A call to arms for teenagers worldwide, this song decries the tyrannical rule set by parents and their drive to rebel against it. Fast, anti-authority, and instantly relatable to anyone who ever wanted to just cut loose as a teen, whether through music, house parties, or just fucking around and doing stupid things with your friends, Anthem provided exactly that for a generation of listless, lost, angry teens.
Steve R
#Writing #AmWriting #Blink182 #20Years #Top5 #PopPunk #DefendPopPunk #Freelance #TeamPerseverance #NeverGiveUp
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