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BLINK 182
Take Off Your Pants And Jacket (MCA)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
They've been good for a long time, and now Blink 182 has crossed over the line to become a great power-pop-punk band. The music does things you don't expect it to do, which is what really sells me on this CD. When I'm expecting a slow build something explodes, and when I'm air drumming at high speed the bottom drops out long enough for a quick observation by vocalist/guitarist Tom Delonge, which throws me just long enough for the rocket to blast off again. Let's face it, even some of our favorite music of the past few years has a degree of predictability, so it's nice when something zigs when you zag.
Don't get me wrong, please: this isn't Ornette Coleman here. It's just that there are quite a few surprises.
And, as usual, quite a few unusual uses of the word "fuck." I have nothing against the word, and in fact I use it when it helps make a point or spices up a joke. Or when I'm mad. And yeah, when I was a teenager I used it as often as I used vowels, and snickered at myself for it. We all did. Just like we snickered at "fart" when were were ten. But the Blink Boys aren't kids anymore, and when you have entire songs like "Mother's Day" that only repeat the lyrics "Fuckin' and suckin' and touchin' - Fuckin' and suckin' and touchin' - Fuckin' and suckin' and touchin' - It's mother's day - It's mother's day - It's mother's day" over and over, it just feels like silly pandering. It says nothing, goes nowhere, just snickers at itself for saying such bad words in such close proximity with the word "mother." And so many times. Too bad, because much of this CD sounds like Blink 182 is growing up without losing their edge.
That aside, Take Off Your Pants And Jacket gets a strong recommendation from me. There are too many punk bands that heard The Descendents or Green Day and decided to add pop to the sound and got contracts despite having no understanding of pop structure, while Chixdiggit and Bowling For Soup waited in obscurity. Blink 182 does it almost as good as those two and get the high-priced studio treatment to make it sound even better, so turn up the speakers and hold on tight.
© 2001 - DJ Johnson