Whenever I think of blink-182, I picture Mark in a red shirt, Tom in an orange Hurley tee and Travis with dredlocks. This image is engraved in my head. Whenever anyone mentions blink, that is my image.
My first blink-182 encounter took place at my grandmother's apartment, more specifically, in the guest bedroom. (Where is this going? Haha!) Ricky Martin was pretty big at the time and I based my liking of him on his catchy songs (shut up.) and stunningly good looks (look, I was a kid. We make mistakes.) As I was drawing, I heard something fun sounding pumpin' its way from the television to my little ears. I immediately stopped what I was doing and gave it my full loving attention. I couldn't believe it! The song was funny, but very listenable. The singing was pretty good too. The video was hysterical. I waited until the end to find out who was behind such magic. Blink-182. "What's My Age Again."
I just teared up from watching their New Year's Eve 1999 performance for MTV. There are a lot of reasons leading to water forming in my eyes-This was one of the first times i got to see my heroes play live. I met my best friend during this video. It marked a new beginning. The end of a stupid pointless year.
Everyone was freaking out about Y2K. I thought it would be funny, and looked very much forward to it. A girl I knew through other friends, Alicia, was having a new year's party. I didn't really know her that well, probably decided that I hated her (I hated everyone) but decided to go. This was probably due to my ex, who I was still 'in love" with also attending...supposedly. My mother was hesitant to take me to her house (she is hesitant to do anything that involves doing anything). I made sure to remind EVERYONE at my grandmother's (where we were living at them time) to tape blink on the mtv new year's show. (Remember VCRs? I do!)
My mom dropped me off at her house. I don't remember much, which is weird. She has a long hill driveway that i'm sure I had to walk down in the dark with no idea what was waiting for me at the end.
I stepped in the house to find....nobody there. Just Alicia and her family. Some 2000 decorations. I asked where everyone was. Some kids were grounded. (The one I liked had food poisoning. Go figure.) So we sat on the sofa talking for a bit. I suggested turning on MTV, since blink would be playing soon. Surprisingly enough, she liked blink too. (Everyone probably did....just not the majority of idiots at my school.) I told her how my mom gave me a censored copy of Enema of the State for Christmas. (Don't buy CDs at K-Mart.) She was going to take it back, but I had already opened it. It was my friend.
Sure enough, blink came on the screen. I believe they played two songs..probably "What's My Age Again?" and definately "All The Small Things." We fought over which member was which. She kept telling me that Mark played guitar. I corrected her. We got out the pamphlet for proof.
After that we stayed up talking, blew some celebratory 2000 bubbles, eventually falling asleep in her and her sister's bunk bed to the South Park movie.
For months after I watched that new year's performance.
Now it has been years since I have seen it. I was surprised at how much I could recall of it, and how much I had forgotten. I remembered all the little quirks in Tom's live vocal. I remember how awesome Tom's hair was (I think this may have been the first thing leading to Alicia and my friendship: the agreeance of Tom DeLonge's hotness).
Looking back on this video and blink, I have realized that they have played a huge part in my life. Yeah, I'm aware that many people have said this about bands. I'm not going to make myself out to be SUPERBLINKFAN4EVA...but I'm going to aim close.
I've started friendships over blink. First show-blink. (Alicia and I DO NOT count the TRL tour in Hershey we went to a month before blink. We were bored, I liked her cousin from Minnesota, and I'll have you know that the entire time Destiny's Child was on stage I stared at the ground.)We liked to think we were the Mark and Tom or our high school. (I was Tom of course.) And there have been countless times I have met people and we hit it off due to our blink rambling.
Through blink I was introduced to other bands. I finally found out what real music was like. I remember the first time listening to New Found Glory (A guy I used to talk to in study hall's suggestion. Tom was also his favorite. I liked him.) and finding it odd that only one person was singing all of their songs. I was so used to Tom and Mark's dual vocals that everything else sounded strange to me.
Blink gave me goals. I successfully saved up a week's worth of lunch money ($13.00) to purchase Dude Ranch on cassette (Remember cassettes? I do!) from the local mall. I ran into gym class the next day with my Walkman (!!) excited to show Alicia the song "Degenerate" because I thought it was so ridiculous.
Blink inspired me to draw and paint an awful lot more. I have tons of blink drawings from 1999 up until around 2004. During this time, I learned to draw faces more realistically and was getting quite good at it (if I do say so myself).
Discovering blink was new and exciting for me. I had never felt that way about a band before. Yes, I had loved Hanson(they're still alright by the way), but this was completley different. I felt a connection to them through their music. Blink gave me courage. They taught me to disregard the dumb shit people say about you....and if all else fails, just say that you fucked their mom last night. I wasn't a popular chick in school (this was before it was the "cool" thing to be a loser, like it is nowadays. Wow, I feel old). Blink, to me, was three guys who were where I was at one point, not fitting in, didn't give a shit, did their own thing and became successful. They also shared my love for obnoxiously uncomfortable humor. Sure I didn't run around naked, but I felt almost comfortable enough to, if need be. I think that's why I still feel hatred and nostalgia for my high school years. So much of me changed and helped take shape to mold me into the ever changing ball of joy I am today. (Haha.)
We became pissed off when we couldn't find Hurley shirts anywhere. We proudly wore our Atticus shirts to school before everyone else. We became slightly annoyed at the popular peoples attending the Pop Disaster show. (I thought, "Here are these people that Tom calls out in 'Give Me One Good Reason' who make me feel so shitty-at the same show as me seeing MY band. Do they not listen to lyrics??") We recited ALL of the banter from The Mark, Tom and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back and The Urethra Chronicles which included, but not limited to: "I'm fucking in the mood to party!" "Fuck fuck shit fuck!" "My nuts taste better with fudge!" "I could take all of you in my bed right fucking now!"
Urethra Chronicles. Take Off Your Pants and Jacket photos. The opening to "Dumpweed," MTV's Diary. Pop Disaster Tour. The jokes about fucking dogs. The blink bunny. Swearing. Awesome music. High School. Tom the Hair God. Reading the hiatus news for the first time online after work and calling Alicia at 1:30 a.m. in total shock. Tom DeLonge in a backwards hat.
Now for video overload. i highly suggest going on youtube someday and watching all the wonderful blink footage that many have to offer.
The famed performance that started my rock and roll fantasies.
Here is the beginning of the blink Diary. I can't find more of it, but I'm sure if you search around, it will come up. (Haha.) Don't blink or you might miss something!
Aww.
The words that pissed off a thousand parents. They're still just as classy today.
Tom DeLonge on Craig Kilborn.
(As for recent news, blink has reunited (which just so happened to be my new year's resolution. I'll write about that in the future since I'm uncharacteristically tired at the moment.)
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