HYPEBy Chee Hui Ming
In recent years, rockstars have come in the form of heavily tattooed individuals with floppy, unkempt hair and a penchant for black clothing, who croon constantly about heartaches and heartbreaks, and who, frankly, take themselves a little too seriously.
Rewind back to the late 90s, however, and there was Blink-182.
Best known their endless stream of crude banter, they never took themselves seriously and frequently sang songs about aliens and never wanting to grow up.
The band shot to mainstream fame with their third album in 1999, Enema of the State, which sold 15 million copies and gained them a huge following of loyal fans.
However, just about 3 albums later in 2005, the band shocked their fans when they went on an “indefinite hiatus”, citing creative differences and an internal power struggle. Guitarist-vocalist Tom Delonge moved on to front his own band, Angels and Airwaves, while vocalist-bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker formed +44. Both bands released separate albums in 2006.
It was only after Travis was involved in a plane crash that the 3 started communicating once more.
Said Tom in a recent Rolling Stones interview, “I was just sitting there with tears in my eyes. I decided that I wanted to be next to Travis when he played drums again.”
And so, at the 51st Grammy Awards this year, all 3 members appeared on the same stage and declared, “We used to play music together, and we decided we’re going to play music together again.”
For long-time fan, Joel Tay, 25, this definitely spells good news.
He candidly remembers Blink-182 as that reckless, fun-loving band with ridiculous, vulgar lyrics that “obviously never captured everyone’s hearts” but certainly captured his.
“Their reunion announcement seriously sent chills down my spine – and in a good way!” he exclaims excitedly.
Picking up from where they left off, Blink-182 has planned a series of summer concerts across North America and is in talks to produce another album.
Still, there are rumours swirling around that the band only got back together for the cash.
Hoppus, however, claims that this is not true. In an interview with SPIN magazine, he declares that the band wasn’t desperate for a moneymaking opportunity, but simply wanted to go back to having fun once more.
And whether or not they’ll be a continued success or not remains to be seen. The odds seem to be good as of now.
The band has promised that the concerts will be more than just a repertoire of their past hits. They will hit the roads with plenty of new material on hand.
More importantly, they’re doing something that they’d never bothered to do up until now: Rehearse.
“We used to walk around onstage and forget our parts – we just wanted to play fast and look cool. This time we want to be more artistic,” Mark claims in another interview with Rolling Stones.
It may seem like Blink-182 has finally grown up but don’t be fooled, one thing still remains, they claim: toilet humour and dirty jokes.
I’m sorry, what’s their age again?