Music Bloggery: Punk

Showing posts with label Punk. Show all posts

Here it is, the final day of our '7 Days of Blink-182' segment. I've been saving this song for the last day as it is one of my favourite Blink-182 songs. It's simple, emotional (as always!) and it's sombre tone just leaves you in a morbidly pondering state.

The bass riff in the intro sways with your soul, and when I first listened to it, I became captivated by the song. The thing I love about it, is that it's not a quintessentially Blink-182 song and the fact that on the same album, you've got upbeat songs like 'All The Small Things' and 'What's My Age Again?' contrasts really well with this song.

The song marks the first step in Blink's road to maturity, later achieved on their 2003 self-titled album on songs like 'I Miss You' and 'Always'. With Hoppus' dark vocals and the strings on the guitar turned a step down, it's a song that delves much deeper into the thoughts of the band. With the rest of the album (Enema of The State) being quite upbeat and in quite a toilet humour style, this song runs away from that idea.

Once again, the lyrics are synonymous of Blink-182. You've got your simple yet effective lyrics which are poetic in their own way. (They should be, considering Mark Hoppus is an English Literature major!) The reason why I emphasise on the band's lyrics is because usually with a punk-rock band, they're more on the fun side (as Blink-182 are most of the time), however, they rarely delve into the more emotional side. The great thing about this band is that they're not scared of doing it, and they do it, is the main point I'm making here!

Anyhow, before I end up on a tangent, this song is definitely a song you've got to listen to. It's 'Adam's Song', if you non-Blinkers out there didn't guess already. Check it out below.

The penultimate day and yet another amazing great Blink-182 song. This song, 'Down' is released from the band's self titled 2003 album, which some people regard their best album (including me). I find the song quite similar to 'Feeling This'. Nevertheless, it is still a great song.

The repetitive singing of the word 'down' as the hook works really well, and doesn't fail to get into the listener's head straight away. According to guitarist Tom DeLonge, the song came from a picture he had in his head about a girl and a boy in a car with it raining outside (hence the repetition of the word 'down' in the chorus). The song is on the same album as 'I Miss You', but I find that it's still a great song and it's too underrated. It did feature on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, but quickly fell off, therefore the song received mixed success. The song begins with a great punk rock riff that is consistent throughout the song.

The video features the actor Terry Crews who you may recognise as playing the father in the TV sitcom 'Everybody Hates Chris' as a policeman entering a backyard party (in which the band are attending), in search of a gang member, resulting in a chase. It's another one for the books, so make sure you give it a watch!

So we've had two of Blink-182's biggest hits, and now it's time to feature an equally good, but less known single. It's taken from the album 'Take Off Your Pants and Shirt' and it's a great rock classic. The video itself is really well done. Although the concept's been done before, it hasn't been done quite like this. It's your typical punk rock skater music video with a twist. Blink-182 get some cash from the record company, and the video is following them around showing us what they do with it.

The chorus, yet again, is catchy and the lyrics are simple yet effective, which is quite synonymous of the band. The fast paced, upbeat tempo will leave you jumping for more (even if you are jumping in your imagination).If you hadn't been on the ball, the song is 'The Rock Show'! Yet another great Blink song that's well worth listening to!

This is the third instalment of our '7 Days of Blink-182' segment and we've already featured one massive hit - time for another one! Today's song is one of the band's biggest hits, selling more singles than 'All The Small Things'. Although 'All The Small Things' gained more radio play, this song had more sells through singles. The song was a top ten hit single in the UK, peaking at number eight in the charts in 2004.

This song defines the new-found maturity of the band and it is the first of many heartfelt romantic Blink-182 songs to come. With a catchy chorus and beautifully simplistic lyrics which still manage to capture the raw yearning of love, this song is most definitely one of the band's most iconic songs and will be remembered for a very long time. If you hadn't guessed already, today's Blink-182 track is, 'I Miss You', and even if you think you haven't heard of it before, trust me, after listening to the chorus, you know that you've heard it before.

For day two of our '7 Days of Blink-182' segment, we're featuring one of the most popular Blink-182 hits which gave them more credibility, gaining popularity for their irrelevant sense of humour and catchy songs. That's right, if you hadn't guessed already, it's the 2000 release, 'All The Small Things'! This song is a great punk-rock classic, and the video is a great parody style which highlights the band's great sense of humour. Released from the band's 2000 album release 'Enema of the State', it is the band's highest-charting song of their career to date, teaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100.
Make sure you check it out!

★★★★

Red Hot Chili Peppers are a psychedelic, funk rock band, first formed in 1983 in California, Los

Angeles when attending Fairfax High School. They were originally formed by Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Michael ‘Flea’ Bulzary (bass), Jack Irons (drummer), and Hillel Slovak (guitar), who was a close, long-term friend of Kiedis and Flea. He later died of Heroin overdose which sparked a new found sense of reformation in Kiedis. The band has had a lot of struggles in terms of battling drug addictions and fame, however, with the release of ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’ (1991), the world had realised what they had been missing and finally wanted in on the world of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Over the years, guitarists have come and gone. One of the most memorable and most possibly influential guitarists who has recently left the band (it was made official in 2009), was John Frusciante. Recently made No. 72 in the Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarist list, it could be argued that he gave the Chili’s their definitive sound. However, although Frusciante left the band in previous years for negative reasons, this time, he left on a positive note of developing his solo career, and the band respected that. Frusciante’s replacement, Josh Klinghoffer was introduced to the public in January of 2010 when the band performed for the first time with the new line up at the MusiCares event in the same year. After taking a hiatus of about three years, the Chili’s finally announced their comeback to the world, and after hitting the studio and creating up to 70 songs (though most were just experimental and were not actually featured on the album), they released their brand new album – I’m With You in August 2011.

The album artwork for this album was created by Damien Hirst and as you can see to your right, the cover is of a fly on a pill saying ‘I’m With You’. The artwork itself can be interpreted in many ways, and I believe that the meaning of this artwork is that that pill, which symbolises the disgust of drugs and drug abuse, is highlighted by the fact that an insect that is considered disgusting (the fly) is sat on this pill. The work in general stresses the degrading nature of drugs; Kiedis himself stated that this album has more of a positive theme as opposed to their previous albums. Nonetheless, there is a slight ambiguity in the art as the title I'm With You, suggesting that narcotics offer a supportive nature and lead the audience to question whether the band have actually turned a new leaf.

The album marks a shift in the band's sound as is it the first to feature Klinghoffer, and it is when we see his true skills as a guitarist - songs such as Monarchy of Roses and Dance, Dance, Dance feature great guitar riffs, both memorable and catchy in their own way. Earlier this year, Flea studied music at University level, and developed his passion for the piano – this new found talent and passion can be heard immediately. Happiness Loves Company is an example of Flea’s great skills as a pianist and musician and it gives the Chili’s a style that they’ve never had before. Even Kiedis is on form in this album; his lyrics have a level of meaning and emotion that left me shocked how he had never wrote like this before. Police Station is a great example of Kiedis’ new lyricism and yes, I am saying this, but it just might be the new Under the Bridge. I personally love this album; it is full of great melodies and riffs that cannot instantly be identified as the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

They have proven to be on form once again, and with Klinghoffer, they have much more of a refined and somewhat mellow tone. Could it be that the Chili’s have toned down the funk? Maybe, but it could mean that their music is now better than ever? (Comment if you disagree!)

However, and there is one big however - The album seems to be lacking something; there’s some sort of void. Frusciante was the driving force that gave the Red Hot Chili Peppers their amazing sound and some of their biggest hits, and since that force is gone, it doesn’t really seem the same. There is no potential hit song in this album, they all seem to be songs that have potential, but are not quite there yet. As much as I love this album, I don’t believe that it was worth fans waiting almost five years for. For that reason, I am giving this album, 4/5 stars!

Music Bloggery Recommends: 'Factory of Faith', 'Dance Dance Dance', 'Happiness Loves Company', 'Annie Wants A Baby', 'Did I Let You Know?', 'Look Around', 'Police Station'

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7 Days of Blink-182! [Day Seven - Sunday!]

7 Days of Blink-182! [Day Six - Saturday!]

7 Days of Blink-182! [Day Four - Thursday!]

7 Days of Blink-182! [Day Three - Wednesday!]

7 Days of Blink-182! [Day Two - Tuesday!]

Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You - Album Review

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