I really liked this quote when I read it because it made me think: what is it about blink-182 that makes them so awesome? Why can they do anything? After 6 albums, a 5 year hiatus, side projects, and almost 20 years since their beginning, why are they more popular now then ever before? Coming from guys just skateboarding and messing around with guitars, this is a band that influenced a generation of music and has become more well-known than almost any other punk band. And now, numerous new-school pop punk and punk bands are citing blink-182 as a huge influence. Best of all, not only are they favorites of multitudes of punk kids and twenty-somethings, but critics have liked their past few albums too.
So how can they manage this? Well, it might be the fact that Travis Barker is the greatest active drummer alive. On the other hand, it could also be that no matter what Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus do, they just cannot write a bad song--some people can write good lyrics, and some can write great catchy music, but these guys can do both at once. Every. Single. Song.
Neighborhoods is a genuinely good album. When you hear the first song, you may be confused: Am I listening to blink or Angels and Airwaves? I like Ghost on the Dance Floor a lot, but then I'm a huge AVA fan. When Natives started up, I also got an AVA vibe--maybe because Tom's guitar riff sounds strangely like an AVA song (see: Young London). However, when the verses actually start, it broke more into a blink-182 vibe; then, when Mark joins in the chorus, you know. You know that finally, this is what you've been waiting for.
Up All Night is next, and I love that fact that Tom and Mark have competing lines in the verses. I've always thought one of the greatest things about blink is the fact that Tom and Mark have such drastically different voices, but somehow they are complementary. After Midnight might be one of my favorite songs on the album; it takes a little longer to catch on to when compared to Up All Night, but after a few listens I was obsessed. Snake Charmer comes next, and is hands down one of the catchiest on the album. At first I thought the lyrics were a little...weird, but I find myself humming it literally all the time--can't get it out of my head.
Heart's All Gone Interlude is just what you'd expect it to be. It leads up to and gets you excited for what is undoubtedly the most punk song on the album (you guessed it: Heart's All Gone). Travis goes absolutely insane on this song, and while the song itself might seem slightly out of place when compared to the style of the rest of the album, I don't think the album would have been complete without it. I love the songwriting on this one, and the style of it is going to make a lot of die-hard punk fans happy.
But now is the point in the album where I have to be honest: after Heart's All Gone, the rest of the album is slightly lacking. I've always held the position that the worst blink-182 songs are still close to par with a lot of bands' biggest successes; thus, I'm not saying these songs are bad--in fact they are still great songs--they just aren't as great as the first half of the album. However, this isn't exactly unusual, as blink seems to have a penchant for loading the hits on the first half of their albums.
Wishing Well is a song that has amazing lyrics (I reached for a shooting star, it burned a hole through my hand/ Made its way through my heart, had fun in the promise land) and makes me wish the music was slightly better, but still a great song . Kaleidoscope is what I thought I was waiting for the entire album: a song with Mark on the verses and Tom on the chorus. I'm am a gigantic fan of songs that seem calm and then absolutely explode--absolutely rock your world--on the chorus. However, even though it wasn't what I was expecting, this is my favorite song on the back half of the album. This is Home goes back to AVA-like tones again, and next comes MH 4.18.2011. Since its a Mark-composed song, it sounds more punk again and has a catchy chorus.
Now, we're into the bonus tracks. Love is Dangerous sounds more like AVA than almost anything else on the album, with the exception of Mark's backing vocals (the two singing at the same time marks the high point of the song), but as previously stated I'm an AVA fan so I like it. Fighting the Gravity has definitely got some really cool sounds going on; the whole song is sort of trippy, and its got a catchy chorus so overall I like this one; in fact, the more times I went though the album, the more I found myself looking forward to this song. Even If She Falls is a Tom-led song that is definitely new blink: sometimes a distinction between "new blink" and AVA is hard to make, but this song brings memories of "Not Now." Maybe this isn't the most catchy song on the album, but I'm a big fan of the lyrics.
So, there you have it. I could listen to tracks 1-7 all day long, every day. The rest of the album makes me happy because its blink-182 and is still really good music, but the first half is really where the greatest music lies. I've read reviews where people love the album, and read reviews where people hate the album. I would recommend this album to anyone, but whether you actually like it or not definitely depends on your taste in music. If you don't like the album, I would challenge you to ask yourself whether you would like it if you didn't have any expectations. I think some bad reviews don't stem from it being a bad album, just from the fact that its not as good as the impossibly high expectations. I can say that as a true blink fan, this album may not be their greatest ever, but its still terrific to have blink-182 back in action and Neighborhoods is a great, great new beginning for my favorite band.
Tom, Mark, and Travis: Thank you. I can't tell you how many people I've met who have told me that blink-182 changed their life, or helped them through a particular point in their life, and I'm also one of those people. Hopefully this album represents a long road ahead for blink-182 so they can keep inspiring youth and music lovers everywhere.
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