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Rocked my whole world. I don’t know who I am anymore

mark hoppus has a personal tragedy singing: Angel wings at the bus stop Halos left on top of the bar Helen doesn't want me now Helen doesn't want me

1. Probably seeing Darkside live, or the return of Satan (always heard it in MTTS but cool to see it live once) 2. The biggest difference for me was Skiba seemed way tighter on the EOTS songs, to the point of where he would purposefully change/add lyrics and was just having a great time. The only time I saw him look at the teleprompter was oddly enough - Bored to Death lol. They honestly sounded great. 3. Yes I did (will share below). The VIP peeps made it super clear that NO AUTOGRAPHS were to be signed during the photo op, to the point of where they said "That little sharpie you have hiding in weird places, please do not even think about it." There was ~80 people with an alleged 25 minute time slot for photo ops... (I didn't have a photo op this time, just did soundcheck.) I still saw 3-4 people ask and they signed. 4. Soundcheck was very rushed, we got in late. (Could hear Mark out there 10-15 minutes before we even got let in, which is typically when you can chat with him). They were all already out there when we got in (very rare, Trav is always late) as soon as we got in a kid asked if he could play WMAA on drums for his bday and they were a bit hesitant, Skiba stepped in and finally told him no respectfully. (For which I was thankful for, I paid $100 to see blink play 2 songs, not with Jimbo on the drums). But the more they talked about it they said maybe afterwards. So they play IRWIHY, Matt was tinkering around with a heavier guitar tone on the chorus which he liked. Mark asked if they should play it tonight, people said yes, (they didn't.) Then they played Mutt. After that they invited the kid up, Mark wanted to play ATST and told him it was an 8 count intro. Mark joked that they needed Skiba to check his ID to make sure it was his bday, Skiba took a funny look at it and joked to grab the duct tape. Kid crushed it, Trav only stayed for the first ~45 seconds then walked off and was gone. Skiba was dicking around singing what sounded like Weezer's "Say It Aint So" during the second verse. Then soundcheck was over and they told everybody to leave...(my autograph story will start here below). They did give the kid a drumhead, his sticks, and he got them signed during the photo op and they took him backstage for a pic with Trav. 5. I did not see Trav smile lol Ok so as people are filtering out of soundcheck, my buddy and I were waiting to be towards the end and Mark was chilling talking to his bass tech. So as Mark is walking off I held up my Wasting Time cd and said "Hey Mark I bet you haven't seen one of these in awhile!" and he looked with a big smile and said "I have that!!! 1996 Australian EP!" and I asked if he would sign it, and he said of course... so I'm getting the sleeve out, and the security guy goes "I got it, don't worry" so I hand it to him to hand over (assuming he or Mark will take the sleeve out to sign the front), anddddd he signs the inside: Cool he signed on himself I guess, and back in the day they used to sign inside sleeves all the time - so being an OG piece that's kinda neat I suppose. At the same time my buddy had a photo that he forgot to have Mark sign at our big "VIP party thing" they did on the Cali tour. He had Trav/Matt sign it in 2016 and has been trying to get Mark to sign it for 3 years lol....so he busted that out and thankfully was able to finally finish that piece! These were the only 2 things signed at soundcheck. Like I said I saw 3-4 people go for it in the photo op, and got their stuff signed. Ok, anyway, few photos from the show: This is right when we walked into soundcheck, I have never seen them all just waiting: Cool shot when Mark was up on the stair thingy on the right: Love this photo I got of Mark: Trav drum solo: Trav now in the back after the solo: Dammit I have clips of IRWIHY at soundcheck, small clip of Adam's Song, and first verse/chorus of Darkside that I'll upload at some point...

Thanks JRR Tolkien

I mean this is some beautifully poetic dark shit, cannot get enough of this song: "Photographs of you are still haunting my halls Still framed and blue, say nothing at all Sacrifice myself, leave me dead in the sun Put it on a shelf, leave it there for everyone to see Is that all you have, is that all you have to say? Lying on the bedroom floor Hanging on the words that you said before No heart, no heart to speak of Dying on the bathroom floor Thinking of the life that we had before No heart, no heart to speak of Nothing left but scars clawed away of my heart On a crumbling edge, watch me falling apart Feel the birds of prey circle over our home Vultures in the ash, separating skin from bone Is that all you have, is that all you have to say?"

I know Tom has his flaws and at the risk of sounding like a Tombot it's just quite nice seeing him looking like he is enjoying himself and performing better than he has for about 15 years or so.

The same Tombot has just reported that Tom was seen at multiple times during the date to be looking down at his crotch at what has now been confirmed as a pocket sized Teleprompter displaying key takeaways from Coach Corey Wayne’s “How to be a 3% man”. The man has so many projects going on it’s understandable.

Andddd boom goes the dynamite...

I swear I've been on a blink-182 high for the past month. I started listening to Enema of the State a lot last month to get me hyped for my blink show. When I saw blink it was amazing. Now we have a new album, and it's great. We've been getting a steady stream of Simple Creatures songs lately, new Angels & Airwaves music, that mashup with Lil Wayne, and that random cover Mark dropped earlier today. In less than two weeks I'm going to see Angels & Airwaves. This is some of the most fun I've had as a blink-182 fan since I was in high school, seriously.

Show was amazing and A LOT of fun . Well worth the money and a much needed night out for these two parents.

I Really Wish I Hated You is fucking good. I can't believe how much hate that track got when it came out.

Well, if the differences were reconcilable, they wouldn't be getting divorced now, would they?

Fairly sure that’s not a teleprompter. It looks like a screen playing Oliver’s YouTube channel so Tom can quickly learn how to shred for his medley solo.

i made a meme for this thread. discuss.

Me: "Hey, Hitler, which is the superior Blink album, California or Nine?" Hitler:

Had a sneaky lol at this.

Alright so, I would like to discuss some of the issues on this record, but most of the board are super enjoying it and I don't particularly want to piss on anyones chips or have fights or whatever like we would've had in the California days. So consider this a safe 'hate' space, for lack of a better phrase. Somewhere to discuss and critique the weaknesses on the album without upsetting those who are super stoked on it. Let's contain it here. I'll start - I'm not a fan. I think the lyrics are weak, the songs are very samey (especially the choruses), the over-the-top, over effected drums are splattered over every song to overcompensate for the lack of actual instrumentation, and you can 100% tell that a lot of the writing is hired in. Truthfully you could replace Mark and Matts voices with TayTay or Katy Perry on some of these and not blink an eye. It's very shallow songwriting with some electronic bells and whistles. Smoke and mirrors. (and too much autotune). I don't think there's anything wrong with people being into it, I like some pop music so I can understand the appeal, but I know blink as being the band to pioneer and perfect pop punk, and if I wanted luke warm electronic pop rock music there's a lot of other places I'd probably go to first. But as much as my overall perspective isn't positive I think I'm finally coming around to a few home truths. Namely, that I don't like blink anymore. I love the old stuff but they've had 3 albums worth of material since Tom left and I just don't like any of it (although I still love 6/8 and Last Train Home) and I didn't even like DED much when that came out. something I've also learned from this is that I don't even like Mark's voice anymore. I can't really see how it's "different" but a lot of his vocal delivery just irritates me these days. It never used to. Does he actually sound different or is this solely me? I don't really feel like raining on everyones parade and causing fights, I think it's great that those who hated Cali are loving this, it's good for blink fans to be happy about blink again, I'm legit chuffed for everyone. but it's not for me. but I don't want to leave the forum, I like it here, I just might have to learn some self control regarding posting in the blink section. So until I learn that self control, this topic exists. Whilst I'm very much in the minority, I know I'm not totally alone in not loving this, so if others want to weigh in that'd be great. Even if it's "well, I like it, but...." that'd be fab.

bumping this for all the crow the Skiba haters get to enjoy!

Man the more and more i listen to this the more i love how much Matt is on this record. dude just kills it.

You guys are strange for caring so much about Tom and his ex wifes personal lives and how their divorce is going to work, I recommend that you take this stuff to Reddit with all the other psycho fan fiction lovers.

I don't know that I've ever given a shit or a second thought about their wives, kids or personal lives outside of their music and Blink 182.

😭 My eyes got watery. blink-182 life. For life.

It won’t do shit because the single they’ve released are the worst songs on the album.

the more times i listen to the album, the more critical i'm getting. particularly with the lyrics. example: "it was over, the last time that i saw her." like, no shit. that's why it was the last time you saw her.

That song is fucking incredible. Best thing they’ve done since Untitled 100%

After a couple of days and more than 20 listens the album is still great to me.

I just hope they play these damn songs live! Cmon Mark! Time to let go of the past bro.

yesterday i listened, back to back: neighborhoods, california (including deluxe) and nine. nine has flattened since i first listened to it. it mushes down into a soup with california to my ears. like, i could put both albums on in shuffle, and it would just be one long effort. and then i realized, it's just this guy mark and this guy travis and this other guy matt from alkaline trio, a band i've seen many times since 2001. and this guy john who used to sing in goldfinger, that band i saw once in 1996. and then i put on is this thing cursed. and it was better to me than anything on california (including deluxe) or nine. there is not a single track on california (including deluxe) that i love. and i've realized there's not a single track on nine that i love, either. no hate, no. but no real love either.

When you listen front to back though...

I think Mark has started to become a storyteller and not a character in the story. He always used to write about himself but if we want to believe he has a songwriter block, then it's good for him to write about something else. He's pushing 50 and he's living a good life, at some point you run out of ideas and you don't have to feel like your life has to be super interesting to write stuffs. I'm not justifying lazy lyrics, especially from Mark who is known as an avid reader, he meets plenty of people, sees so many different places etc. but at the end of the day he writes for an audience of presumably normal people, so you have to write something people can relate to. People who blatantly write about how interesting their life is, probably lie about their exploits, if it makes a good song. I love Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen and even they are/were mostly storytellers, but I don't expect that level of committment from Mark haha his lyrics have improved from California, they aren't stellar but it's still blink-182. (Those lyrics in On Some Emo Shit are kinda cringy but they still sound good when you listen to them and I can accept them.)

You’re in for a fucking treat then

Can't believe you ranked every song out of 5 and then scored the album out of 10...what kind of sick cunt are you?

I'm still on the process of listening to it more and in different moments to see how it grows. I don't want to be californiated again. That record was a blast on the first listens, but then it showed critical flaws (IMO). I just tryed and tryed to listen to it tons of times and I only can rescue a few songs. I still think "Bored To Death" is one of the best songs they have put out since the reunion, though. Anyway, this is not about California. Nine feels different. On this first listens shows how bad Feldmann kidnapped blink (and I'm sure they know it). I think the main difference between Feldy cupping all California production and shared songwritting compared to the songwriters they have hired for Nine, is that Fledy tryed to make blink kind of his own band... but all those producers and co-writers, this time, have been the opposite: just serving the band and the songs (it feels like that), which is pretty noticeable and different to my ear, specially because we can hear a biggest presence of Skiba all over the record (still, I don't see it as much as +44 or Alkaline Trio-esque as some of you guys do). To me feels like the White album by Weezer. Yeah, it had lots of co-authors, but it felt like Weezer. This is a very similar situation. Nine feels pretty close to what some of us expected when Skiba was announced as Tom's replacement, and that's a good signal. Also, despite all the production paraphernalia used on this album, Nine feels much better and 'organic' that California. A little bit less compressed too, and production-wise more diverse. It's not all 'just make it loud and shit to impact the listener and the radio', it shows how they worked more time on the songs. In terms of songwriting and all, it feels much better too. More dynamic, so to say (specially compared to California), at least on the first listens. I like the fact that Mark and Matt are singing in different ranges and not aaaaaaaaaaall screaming and out of range. Also, on the songs, as I said, you can see more Matt influence, which is good. In general, it sounds more relaxed than California, which had this kind of pressure all over it (to show off, to scream, to be oud and overproduced). Still, I find hard to consider this new incarnation as blink. This is a very personal opinion and impressión. It just lacks something. I like it better than California, though, and as a project between Matt and Mark, sounds good.

How good is No Heart To Speak Of!? This is how Blink should sound in 2019! Travis is killing it on the drums and great vocals. Awesome tune. My favorite.

Oh dear. What a disappointment this album really was. Very average to shit songs from start to finish. I know Blink have to change their music to keep it fresh, but this was just so different that you couldn't even tell it was Blink for most of the album. You literally could tell it was written by a bunch of different people. Like seriously, not even one good and catchy song in the whole album? It just felt very bland to me. Black Rain had potential, but then it went to complete shit after 40 seconds. It felt like they wrote one part of the song 1 day and came back to it weeks later. Pretty much sums the whole album up to me. Mark and Travis should have just started a side project and asked Matt to join, because this is not Blink-182. It's so far from Blink-182. At least then we'd understand if they were trying something different; Mark and Travis did it with +44, which worked out pretty well at the time. But to me, they're doing more damage than good to Blink's legacy. But I guess we all know why they're using Blink's name. I guess the kids of this generation will like this type of music. But this isn't the Blink I used to love. Before you say, "oh, they have to change. They can't make music like they used to." I get it. I understand. But it's like they're just trying to force out music that fits the music of today. I would prefer if they took a risk with their music. It's worked out many times with Blink in the past, so it wouldn't hurt. And when Blink did change their music, it still had the Blink-182 feel to it. That's not what Nine had. It just felt like they made different music for the sake of it. I'm now certain Tom is the most talented song writer out of the lot of them. He always knew how to write a catchy song and get Blink in the right direction. Am I asking for Tom to come back? Probably not. But Blink will never write another good album again if he's not there. It's just the truth.

The First Time - MH 4.4.122.3l55.54, vibes. This track makes me grateful that, in general, they don't attempt to sound like old blink. It's catchy, right? And it's fast... Very Blinkish, but for some reason feels a little empty to me, in a push and pull sort of way, like the left side of my brain is saying "embrace it" while the right side's saying "It just doesn't do much for you, and that's okay." Hard to tell which half wins me over, impossible to tell actually. I'll give it a 3/5 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Happy Days - I can't with this song. Something about Mark singing the words "Happy days", I laugh too hard and cannot take it seriously. Especially after seeing that video where he breaks down the meaning. Hearing him with a straight face say "I want happy days"... I can't. I feel like the phrase "Happy Days" equates to me like a man who takes a bath without a woman accompanying him. 1/5. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Heaven - Solid song, I've always liked songs that tie one's thoughts to how they'd fair in Heaven (and there are several, you'd be surprised) it's a very interesting thought/thing to think about. My criticism, I am really tired of them switching off vocals in pretty much every song verse by verse. I'd much prefer each singer given their own songs, with the occasional Call And Return. It takes me out of the ride a little, and with this formula being so consistent at this point with Blink, the songs can blend into each other for me. It doesn't stick like TBS did. But that chorus, look, solid song. And the lyrics didn't make me cringe 3/5 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Darkside - This one really didn't do anything for me. Y'know, I can say this though - Regardless of what singles like this might do or not do for me, I get them and the thought of erasing them from existence feels like it would be greatly negative affecting and selfish towards the record. 3/5. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Blame It On My Youth - Especially paired with the rest of this album, this should've gone on the EP or something. I didn't get it, and get it even less now 1/5. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Generational Divide - I get that this song is basically a DEAL WITH IT towards people (somewhat me, not as much as others) who just want Blink to sound a way they don't wanna sound, but hey it's good. And I think intellectual and firm in its stance that makes it harder to refer to them as sellouts, when if they wanted to produce this sound they can but they DON'T-WANT-TO. So I agree with the statement "Fucking deal with it". 4/5 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Run Away - Real bummed they put words to Plus 44's beautiful Interlude , still, I really like this one. Especially on further listens. I think if this album shows one thing more than anything else is how capable they still are at generating a chorus. 3.5/5 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Black Rain - Look, one of my favorite songs of all time is SuperTramp's Logical Song, and I don't like the melody similarities in parts. This should've been all Skiba. Minus his Logical Song melody, the "howcanigoon" sequence really pushes things forward. God, you have to understand that my criticism is a compliment. Give him more fucking room to grow in this song! Others too. Stop switching back and forth. I feel like he could've developed it into a great solo singer song. Does anybody else feel that frustration? A lot of the time, Mark holds him back by cutting into his moments. Anyway, this song is pretty damn good. 3.5/5. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I Really Wish I Hated You - I did not like this at all when I first heard it. I was even mad about it, frustrated with the direction in general. The more I heard it/hear it, they really got themselves a winner here. The mass appeal for this track is/will be undeniable. It's smart like that. And it's not like I find it incredibly catchy, but it somehow gets stuck as fuck in my head in a way that feels like an anomally. "Won't you say something, won't you say something" - really pushes this over the line into "I get it" territory, and the way Skiba closes the song out is impressive. Also the chorus in general becomes progressively more catchy the more you listen to it. 4/5. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pin The Grenade - This and Hungover You had me cringing long, long before I ever heard them. Bruno Mars/BoysLoveGirls (is that the name of the band? Whatever) vibes off the title alone. I thought, here we go.. Anyway. This chorus is great. I laughed hysterically @Ghent wasn't the biggest fan of the chorus. I'm not sure if that was him messing around or not. the choruses on this album greatly outweigh the verse-work. The MUSIC is really solid too. Doesn't get a 4, cause I feel like the verses are a bit of a mess. 3.5/5 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ No Heart To Speak Of - I'm not going to be nice to this one in regards to the criticism portion. I was messaging Kevin while listening to this in real time, and said Message 1: No Heart To Speak Of better be all Skiba Message 2: nope. Message 3: k tired of it, especially in moments like this. I don't like being pulled away when it feels like a total Skiba song (in a good way). I will give it a 3/5 though. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ransom - I had to listen to this a few times. My first thought was "talk about a throwaway" - More than a lot of songs, I felt "what's the point" but after a few listens, okay - It's catchy and I think it's at this point I'm realizing more so than any other Blink record I'm paying a great deal of attention to THE MUSIC. Growing up, surrounded by friends who played drums, and bass and guitar and loved those instruments and what they bring to music passionately I was 100 percent about lyrics and vocals, I could not put myself into a position to ever once EVER ONCE hear a song and think "Wow the drumming is incredible" or bass, guitar maybe but even that's a stretch. On this record that's been a big theme to my thoughts. This song got a "Wow, that drumming" from me. 3.5/5. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On Some Emo Shit - The title felt try hard when I first saw it, and in the context of the song itself it definitely feels unnecessary. I get the added oomph, but they should've just called it Better Off Dead. I have a feeling they wanted to. This song doesn't stand out to me much in the grand scheme of things, I could see it as a grower though and I get the appeal enough to not be caught dead writing it off. You know you've got something, especially as far as Blink goes, when honestly - there isn't much to write off on this record at all. 3/5 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hungover You - Okayyyy, this is great. Best song on the record. I think everybody really shines on this track. I hear a lot of criticism about Skiba's yell singing (which, I don't understand personally) but you can't deny that moment at 2:07 -2:16 is pretty special. And when Mark cuts in getting louder at 2:25 it's impossible not to feel like this song packs a real excitable punch "it was just one time. One time. Started turning into two times, a few times. We've been sober(?) in a long time, a long time You used to be all mine, all mine" really rocks. And if I'm being completely honest, I really really connected with this song. I've literally cracked a bottle for breakfast trying to let go to an embarrassing degree. As somebody who's struggled with alcohol mixing with pain, and used for all the wrong reasons I'm pretty grateful for songs like this. 5/5 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Remember To Forget Me - I really disliked parts on this song. I felt like getting to the end would be a chore. as Mark cut in. Really didn't care for Mark singing "Hey mom I'm on my own" at this point. at 2:25 when the music really breaks in, it's cool and the music is definitely rad. Digging deep into analyzing the album as a whole, and listening closely I can't help feel Skiba stands out. Anybody who wanted more Skiba, and criticizes this release can fuck off as far as I'm concerned. Skiba at the very end seals this one getting a 3/5. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SUMMARY: When Blink (my favorite band) broke up in 2005, I literally received phone calls from people making sure I was okay worried about me over the news. And I felt pretty lost. I remember it hitting me how little I cared about so many pop punk bands everyone loved. Didn't like Yellowcard, NFG, GD, Starting Line, with blink gone I started to wonder who I was in terms of musical taste was. And then I discovered Conor, and that scene and felt at home in a way I never had. When Blink came back, I got this kick of excitement in my chest, and while there are songs off Neighborhoods that I liked a helluva lot (Love Is Dangerous, Even If she Falls) I think I falsely considered it bad for the most part. False in the sense, this band was falling off - Same thoughts with DED, and California. It was a gradual disdain, but I'm at a point where I realize that it's more me who's changed, and moved on so to speak, and can't really be something I can point a finger at them for. This album is world's better than California in my opinion, and it wasn't hard at all regarding the majority of these songs to not get lost in my lyric-pickiness because of the pacing and melodies. The shades of Blink from the past on this album have a lot less to do with sound, than they do the ability to churn out a chorus as catchy as only these guys were able to provide me with personally. Hearing this really makes it clear for me what a lot of my foggy reasons for not liking California were. I don't personally feel like there are any choruses on that record that come close to the ones on here. It's fascinating to me. I went from pretty much writing off what I'd think of their music going forward and laughing it off like it was fine, to no longer laughing and finding myself genuinely worried for the state of their legacy in the big picture of it all, to hearing this and coming to this really calming conclusion that die hard fans were in good hands, and I was overreacting like I'm far more important in the blink world than I of fucking course am. I think if I were to shit on this album, it would be because it seems like it's cool to shit on them at this point. Maybe I'm not cool, but I cannot bring myself to shit on this release. I will say, I've been a Mark guy since the third grade and I feel like he's generally pretty weak in comparison to everything else at this point, and that feels weird - Not on a massive, uh oh scale or anything, just... in comparison.

Big John's got a face that should meet a shovel.

I'm all about Melissa personally.

i hope your kids are made up, absolute disaster of a human being

Parking Lot is the worst song the band has ever done. Talk about uninspired and cringe. I hate it so much.

Pin the Grenade weirdly might be my least favorite song on the whole album actually. I know that's one that most people seem to really like, but for some reason I just don't enjoy it much. Also weirdly, I Really Wish I Hated You is honestly probably one of my favorites. I liked it when I first heard it, but it's really growing on me more and more, and it gets stuck in my head more than any other song. Also, as someone with a very limited and low vocal range, it's nice to have an entire blink-182 song that I can easily sing for once.

Whoa, I created a monster! I created this thread specifically to have somewhere where I could be honest about Nine without getting in the way of the boards overall happiness and letting others who feel similar join me. And here you dicks are slamming Untitled and goddamn Cheshire Cat?!? Goddammit NOT IN MY HOUSE, I WILL TURN THIS THREAD AROUND! jokes aside, Untitled and Cheshire are very different but both extremely important regarding blinks sonic journey. I love them both.

I Really Wish I Hated You played tonight.

rarely post here anymore, but i just wanted to say... It was just one time, one time Started turning into two times, a few times Ain't been sober in a long time, a long time Ya you used to be all mine, all mine IT FEELS LIKE LAST NIGHT YOU CAME OVER NOW I WAKE UP AND YOU'RE NOWHERE Fuck this song is a toe tapper

No Heart To Speak Of, Ransom, On Some Emo Shit, and Hungover You is hands down my favorite section of the album. Four songs in a row that I think are really great. This album honestly keeps getting better the more that I listen to it.

Who the fuck hates Lost?

I hope this album tour is actually an album tour. Drop some of the fucking hits for good already. I miss the varied sets from the past so much. I've been offered free tickets twice and said no. Shrugs.