Post subject: One song that took me completely by surprise...
Well as some of you may have figured out, I listen to a lot of albums. I go up, down and around the overall list looking for new albums, seeing what I could potentially buy next. If it is up there it is at least worth a shot. Maybe it is a compulsion. Maybe a superstition that more music listened to= better music artist I can become, I don't know.
Anyway, one of today's albums was Blink 182 - Enema of The State. I had put listening to this one off for over a year because I hadn't high hopes. I was more drawn to artists I didn't know prior to learning of this site and ones I thought would deliver. But as albums thinned out on the top 1000 I have yet to listen list, this album's number was up when I recently found a copy.
Well the first songs are your generic loud pop outing. Teenage subjects, fast guitars and nice hooks here and there. Nothing to get excited about. I could see they knew their craft and audience. It wasn't something I would consider listening to again and was aiming for a rating below 50/100 from me half way through.
Then track 7 comes along...
Named 'Adam's Song' it starts unspectacular enough. Guitar picking followed by your standard muted punk power chords. The first time I listened to the song the first minute or so went by with out me paying much attention.
But the further I went into it, the more I started paying attention to the lines. Near the end I had completely stopped what I was doing and was hanging onto each word he said. There is something so completely moving about this song that it warranted a 100/100 from me on first listen. I looked up the lyrics afterwards and listened a few more times. Everything about it is fantastic. It's a simple lyric yet there is a poetic sadness there. The soul of someone holding onto the world, reminiscing to when it was more simple.
What strikes me hardest though is the sincerity of it. This isn't "the world owes me one" or angst for money or whatever. There is something incredibly genuine about this and it feels life affirming. With the despair there is hope, not to mention regret. The simplicity of the music does wonders for this song and doesn't drown it out in a sea of riffs and guitar licks.
"Tomorrow holds such better days, days when I can still feel alive, when I can't wait to get outside" - that part near the end should be able to touch the hardest hearts. This is what writing a song should be about. Being able to reach ones soul rather than selling Dr Martens and scarves. It is songs like this which make looking for new music worth the time and effort.
I know they're not coolest band on the site but if you have any prejudice against Blink 182 please put it aside for a moment and listen to this one song. If I had insisted on not giving the album a go because it was Blink 182 I would never have uncovered it. Let's simply focus on the song. Here is a youtube video I found:
Yeah, "Adam's Song" is pretty much the only Blink 182 song I like. It's pretty damn good, and also holds nostalgic qualities for me as it was always playing on the radio during my childhood AND it's a song ABOUT youth so it's like a double-nostalgic whammy. Too bad they're such a shitty band. _________________ A dick that's bigger than the sun.
Speaking of songs that "totally catch you by surprise", I heard this track by Linkin Park on SNL a while back. Holy crap. I mean, I HATE Linkin Park, but this song is actually... really good. Crazy cool drumming.
Link _________________ A dick that's bigger than the sun.
It's a good song. I think your preconceived notions of the band had a lot to do with the song catching you off guard.
Totally. They never catched my interest with their big singles and got put pretty far down my priorities list. Fortunately I'm not one to red list albums or artists so I found it in the end.
This is the only Blink song I "like". But then again, I cannot even think of any of their other songs, and if you had asked me to name this one before seeing it, I wouldn't have been able to.
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