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WILDFIRE - new song thread


Helen Hoppus

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For me I guess I view the lyrics/age debate a little differently. 

I'm only 27 but a lot of times I'm like "Fuck, I'm old, the end is near, I wish I was 18 again," so I see Blink, and particularly this fun, poppy Blink as a throwback that makes me happy. 

Since Blink are in their 40's, don't you think they miss being 25 again?  Maybe they're writing songs to play that are fun and remind them of younger times, and that makes them happy.  I know a lot of you guys wished their sound kept maturing and growing, but I never connected to Untitled-Neighborhoods-DED like I connect to California.  

It's not always the evil Feldy pulling the strings, maybe they just want to feel young again. 

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29 minutes ago, Capsov said:

This song would have benefited greatly if Matt's wildfire line never existed.  

Dude it's terrrriiiblle.  He does that annoying build up to yelling in every song, it's so try hard and obnoxious.  I don't know who that caters to, it doesn't fit any Blink style.  There's little in this life more irritating than when a new song is starting to actually sound okay and Matt comes rushing in to shit on it yelling some cheesy lines "strike a match and start a WWILLLDD FIRRREEEE", "salvations barely out of REAACHHH" "They don't CAAREE ABBOUTT YOUUU"  *insert snare drum build up* *insert palm mute build up* *follow up with cheesy generic chorus about starting a fire or teenage struggle or na na na-ing*.   

Believe it or not, I don't think he's been a good addition so far.

 

1. Hey, I'm Sorry (7.5/10)

2. Wildflower (5/10)

2. 6/8   (4/10)

3. Misery   (2/10)

4. Parking Lot   (0/10)

 

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1 minute ago, Ghent said:

And I don't think it inauthentic to channel a specific mindset, even if you are far removed from it. Especially when that mindset is what your band is built on.

Is that to say I want every blink song to talk about these themes? nope. but here and there, it's just not a big deal to me.

It isn't you're right. The whole thing is ridiculous.

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I find all the 80s references in the songs to be interesting and it shows that they are actually singing about times when they themselves were that age and I don't mind that angle. If they did it better, I think I'd even find it cool.

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2 minutes ago, Kay said:

You might, I don't do that. I've never written for an audience, I write what I want to write, 90% of it is personal or based on something personal.

Also I find it really odd how much of the California era is "be careful what you wish for"

-  I wish blink would get a producer!

- I wish blink would trade off vocals more!

- I wish blink would write a more summery, fun album!

*cries* what a mistake! hahaha

 

You guys majorly underestimated how jaded and spent you were.  Dark and emo and mature and angry from here on out only, god dammit. To have thought you could enjoy a fun summer album, ha!

i'm just fucking around

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California and TOYPAJ are two of the worst blink albums to me. That said, I did love TOYPAJ when I was in my early teens. The lyrics are from both albums are bad IMO, but I do agree that California is even more stupid considering it has people aged over 40 singing them. I just find TOYPAJ just a tiny bit better when it comes to lyrics. One they weren't trying too hard IMO. Definitely way more natural. Meanwhile after 15 years of dark albums, beginning with the Boxcar Racer side project, they evolved. The smiley face album was the next step. +44 was even better lyrically, and probably the best lyrics anyone from blink-182 has ever come up with IMO. Keep in mind that Matt Skiba's whole career is pretty much full of dark lyrics.

AVA was just too pretentious, but Tom DeLonge is still capable of good lyrics when he's genuine. Pretty Little Girl is a song I've always loved. I appreciate the lyrics to Golden Showers over most of the lyrics in California. At least it's ridiculously stupid and Tom knows it. The one thing California is missing is the ridiculousness that Enema/TOYPAJ/Dude Ranch/Cheshire Cat had. Built This Pool I found funny. That Brohemian song whatever it's called, would've been way better as an actual song.

"took a shit in the bathroom tub"

They were still joking around, still being ridiculously stupid. Outside of Built This Pool, there's no ridiculous stuff going on at all. I feel a difference in the lyrics of both albums. 15 years of albums with more mature subjects, like divorce, anxiety, depression, band politics or whatever. Isn't +44 - Cliff Diving about Mark in his teens or something? The lyrics to that are superb. He managed to write a song about his youth yet still remained genuine. Hard to believe that's the same dude that wrote California.

Not a fan of the band, the Wonder Years, but they are bearable to most modern pop punk bands for me. They wrote these lyrics a few years ago, which is from their song "Passing Through a Screen Door".

Jesus Christ. I'm 26.
All the people I graduated with,
All have kids,
All have wives,
All have people who care if they come home at night.
Well, Jesus Christ, did I fuck up?

That's genuine and IMO better than majority of the lyrics from California. Pop punk band, reaching their late 20s, pretty immature but it works without being cringey.

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17 minutes ago, Nosferatu said:

California and TOYPAJ are two of the worst blink albums to me. That said, I did love TOYPAJ when I was in my early teens. The lyrics are from both albums are bad IMO, but I do agree that California is even more stupid considering it has people aged over 40 singing them. I just find TOYPAJ just a tiny bit better when it comes to lyrics. One they weren't trying too hard IMO. Definitely way more natural. Meanwhile after 15 years of dark albums, beginning with the Boxcar Racer side project, they evolved. The smiley face album was the next step. +44 was even better lyrically, and probably the best lyrics anyone from blink-182 has ever come up with IMO. Keep in mind that Matt Skiba's whole career is pretty much full of dark lyrics.

AVA was just too pretentious, but Tom DeLonge is still capable of good lyrics when he's genuine. Pretty Little Girl is a song I've always loved. I appreciate the lyrics to Golden Showers over most of the lyrics in California. At least it's ridiculously stupid and Tom knows it. The one thing California is missing is the ridiculousness that Enema/TOYPAJ/Dude Ranch/Cheshire Cat had. Built This Pool I found funny. That Brohemian song whatever it's called, would've been way better as an actual song.

"took a shit in the bathroom tub"

They were still joking around, still being ridiculously stupid. Outside of Built This Pool, there's no ridiculous stuff going on at all. I feel a difference in the lyrics of both albums. 15 years of albums with more mature subjects, like divorce, anxiety, depression, band politics or whatever. Isn't +44 - Cliff Diving about Mark in his teens or something? The lyrics to that are superb. He managed to write a song about his youth yet still remained genuine. Hard to believe that's the same dude that wrote California.

Not a fan of the band, the Wonder Years, but they are bearable to most modern pop punk bands for me. They wrote these lyrics a few years ago, which is from their song "Passing Through a Screen Door".

Jesus Christ. I'm 26.
All the people I graduated with,
All have kids,
All have wives,
All have people who care if they come home at night.
Well, Jesus Christ, did I fuck up?

That's genuine and IMO better than majority of the lyrics from California. Pop punk band, reaching their late 20s, pretty immature but it works without being cringey.

I can safely say that every California Deluxe song is better than anything the Wonder Years have released.

jeez. 

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Just now, thongrider said:

I can safely say that every California Deluxe song is better than anything the Wonder Years have released.

jeez. 

I'd agree if it wasn't for like 5-6 California songs haha. Like I said, I'm not a fan of that band, but I can appreciate the genuine factor in the lyrics of that specific song. Hell even AVA's whole category is better than that band but not a fan of AVA either. I'm someone who can think lyrics can still be good even if the song itself isn't good. But the lyrics in that Wonder Years song, especially the part I mentioned is just genuine, and that's what I look for in lyrics.

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My thoughts on some of the "teenage" lyrics. Yes, I find many of them to be a bit cheesy at their age - but here's my take. There's an underlying theme of them reminiscing on youth and there's nothing wrong with a songwriter doing that as they age. In fact, the older you get, it's often easier to reminisce on your younger days because you appreciate those days and that mindset. Nothing wrong with a songwriter trying to capture that. Unfortunately, I find many of the California lyrics to be kind of split between doing that tastefully and doing it in a forced manner. There's many instances where they approach it well (referencing old 80s songs/bands, reminiscing on going to shows, general carefree nature) and then theres instances where it seems contrived to the point where its not charming. Seems to be a 50/50 split and that's what makes it harder for me to get into. Nothing wrong with wanting to recapture an old sound or vibe that your band was founded on, but it just seems they approached it from two conflicting angles. I have no problem with them wanting to keep humor and youth in their lyrics. Many punk bands still do this into their 40s and 50s and nobody faults them one bit. I just feel like the angle is all over the place. It's tasteful at times but then you get like Mark's Parking Lot line where "the smiths and violent femmes" line is well executed but the "target curb" line is just ehhhhhh. Just my 2 cents.

 

Also, as for them writing those lyrics when they were like 25-27 on Enema/TOYPAJ - sure, its a bit odd for guys those age to sing about "wishing my friends were 21" but at the same time I think that when a band starts so young (16-18) years old in Tom's case, you tend to grow up at a slightly different pace. They basically did not have proper young adult lives at that age, and were constantly surrounded by a teenage-21 year old audience when they themselves were 25-30. So they kind of grew up alongside those fans and had a bit more of an extended youth in that regard. At 40-45 I have no problem with them throwing it back, but I just think its a little more forced now and can be done tastefully. They hit the nail on the head 50% of the time on these lyrics like I said..but I think much was contrived intentionally to the point where its cheesy. Sorry for the long post, just my 2 cents :)

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With the debate on lyrics/California "sound" I went back and read a ton of stuff around the Neighborhoods release, and some things that stood out to me were:

-Mark said for Neighborhoods he "Couldn't write anything happy."

-Tom saying it wasn't just going to be "three power chord pop punk songs"

-Trav saying Tom wanted to sound like U2, and him/Mark were like "No, we want to sound like Blink-182". 

-Lots of reviews saying this doesn't sound like "Blink" really

-So much emphasis on being and sounding "disconnected"

-Fairly poor overall reception

When you combine all of that stuff, it's pretty obvious to see why Mark/Trav wanted to get in a studio together (with whoever) and write 3 minute upbeat pop-punk songs that sound closer to EOTS/TOYPAJ/Untitled. This "dark/mature" Blink era was a failure in their opinion, and when you combine that with just bad vibes from that time period it's easy to see why they want to leave that behind. Plus they seem to be in a happier place now. So these 3 minute fun/throwback/youth songs are exactly what they want, and they are happy doing it. It's how they got famous to begin with. So whether we like it or not, this is what Mark/Travis think Blink-182 is supposed to be. 

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13 minutes ago, ryan1125 said:

With the debate on lyrics/California "sound" I went back and read a ton of stuff around the Neighborhoods release, and some things that stood out to me were:

-Mark said for Neighborhoods he "Couldn't write anything happy."

-Tom saying it wasn't just going to be "three power chord pop punk songs"

-Trav saying Tom wanted to sound like U2, and him/Mark were like "No, we want to sound like Blink-182". 

-Lots of reviews saying this doesn't sound like "Blink" really

-So much emphasis on being and sounding "disconnected"

-Fairly poor overall reception

When you combine all of that stuff, it's pretty obvious to see why Mark/Trav wanted to get in a studio together (with whoever) and write 3 minute upbeat pop-punk songs that sound closer to EOTS/TOYPAJ/Untitled. This "dark/mature" Blink era was a failure in their opinion, and when you combine that with just bad vibes from that time period it's easy to see why they want to leave that behind. Plus they seem to be in a happier place now. So these 3 minute fun/throwback/youth songs are exactly what they want, and they are happy doing it. It's how they got famous to begin with. So whether we like it or not, this is what Mark/Travis think Blink-182 is supposed to be. 

They definitely don't see the dark mature era as a failure. They may not have liked Tom's style specifically, but they definitely don't see any of it as a failure. They made the +44 album, and mark is way more of a depressing writer than Tom. I think it's as simple as Mark and Travis wanted to emulate what the band was like 20 years ago. I don't think there's a whole lot of underlying stuff to it.

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6 minutes ago, NotNow said:

They definitely don't see the dark mature era as a failure. They may not have liked Tom's style specifically, but they definitely don't see any of it as a failure. They made the +44 album, and mark is way more of a depressing writer than Tom. I think it's as simple as Mark and Travis wanted to emulate what the band was like 20 years ago. I don't think there's a whole lot of underlying stuff to it.

Failure is probably too strong of a word, but they certainly don't have high regards for that era/sound/time period of Blink (Which bums me the fuck out). And instead of continuing that, or even evolving from that, you are right--they wanted to emulate what the band was 20 years ago. Happy, fun, 3 minute pop-punk songs. Which is ultimately the point I was making.

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2 minutes ago, ryan1125 said:

Failure is probably too strong of a word, but they certainly don't have high regards for that era/sound/time period of Blink (Which bums me the fuck out). And instead of continuing that, or even evolving from that, you are right--they wanted to emulate what the band was 20 years ago. Happy, fun, 3 minute pop-punk songs. Which is ultimately the point I was making.

The only album they've done a tour around is untitled, their darkest album. Untitled is the most songs they play live, even today when they're trying to be more pop punk. I'm pretty sure they regard that time highly.

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2 minutes ago, NotNow said:

The only album they've done a tour around is untitled, their darkest album. Untitled is the most songs they play live, even today when they're trying to be more pop punk. I'm pretty sure they regard that time highly.

Out of a 23 song setlist they play 5 Untitled songs.  And at every show I was at the reception for those songs except Feeling this and I Miss You is hit or miss at best.

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3 minutes ago, NotNow said:

The only album they've done a tour around is untitled, their darkest album. Untitled is the most songs they play live, even today when they're trying to be more pop punk. I'm pretty sure they regard that time highly.

This "dark/mature" period I am referring to is Neighborhoods/DED. BCR/+44 "dark" stuff wouldn't even count because they are side projects where you can do whatever. The whole point is Mark/Trav feel Blink should "sound" a certain way, weren't happy with how Neighborhoods/DED were going, and felt the need to go back and emulate the 3 minute fun pop-punk songs they wrote 20 years ago. My original post was just listing some interesting stuff from Neighborhoods era that makes it easier for me to connect the dots on how we got to where we are...

 

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2 hours ago, Ghent said:

And that lyric was written when Tom was like 25. There's no way he related to that anymore than a 40 year old would.

Let me assist you Ghent.

Enema and TOYPAJ were certainly written down to kids. There is no question. But Blink was riding the wave of what worked and it was an extension of their early days.

 

THEN IN 2003, they decided to evolve out of that, and they wrote a mature album, Tom did BCR, and Untitled reflected the more mature sound of them GROWING AND CHANGING. Please note those last words there Ghent. ANd you know what? Going the mature route was a MASSIVE SUCCESS and is now regarded as some of BLink's best work and BCR is without a shred of doubt Tom's best solo work.

They continued the trend of mature albums with neighborhoods and DED.

So Ghent, why does it make sense to turn around at age 45 and go back to 1999? That reeks of being stale. That reeks of not seeing that the mature stuff worked. That reeks of failedman trying to get Blink to be mid 40's ALl Time Idiots. Which is EXACTLY what is going on here.

So when you look at it like that, its not the fucking same thing at all.

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As has been stated, Enema and TOYPAJ backtracked in terms of maturity from their first two releases. Each album is independent. Having a throw back album isn't that big of a deal.

Also- the only reason untitled "matured" their sound so rapidly was because Tom's interests and mental state changed.

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20 minutes ago, Ghent said:

As has been stated, Enema and TOYPAJ backtracked in terms of maturity from their first two releases. Each album is independent. Having a throw back album isn't that big of a deal.

Also- the only reason untitled "matured" their sound so rapidly was because Tom's interests and mental state changed.

Failedman and his factory won't be able to produce anything other than recycled California tracks. Eventually the gig will be up.

Try as you might with your diversion tactics, you still can't explain how its ok for a 45 year old man is singing out being the lost youth of surburbia other than they did it 20 years ago. Yep, 20 years ago. Totally the same thing. LOL

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