Published on Dec 20, 2000
I think I’ve discovered the downside to growing up.
When I was younger, I would have reveled in saying things that I
knew would piss off my parents or other adults. Likewise, I would
have joined in the cheering if someone said those same comments on
stage at a concert.
Now that I’m older, hearing someone scream such asides from a
stage is boring… and disturbing. Such is the case with
The Mark, Tom And Travis Show, the latest release (and first
live disc) from Blink 182. Their general goofiness and profanity
takes away from the real reason they’re on stage – and that’s the
music.
I would love to do nothing more than focus on the 20 musical
selections on this disc – but the constant inter-song banter (which
reminds me a lot of disc jockeys who won’t shut up during a song)
gets real old, real quick. Oh, sure, some of the comments that the
band – guitarist Tom DeLonge, bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer
Travis Barker – are humorous (“I wasn’t masturbating; I was
cleaning it and it went off”), and I do like the way they slam
other bands just before they take their “encore” break.
But
The Mark, Tom And Travis Show almost lives for the sexual,
scatalogical reference, and a song isn’t complete without making
some reference to bodily functions, the size of the band members’
penises or describing how they plan on having sex with everyone in
the audience after the show. Judging from the audience’s sound, I’m
betting the bulk of Blink 182’s crowd is made up of girls under the
age of 18. (Insert your “jailbait” reference here.)
When the band does shut up and tries to refocus on the music,
the moment has often been blown. Songs referring to screwing
people’s mothers don’t help things along, leaving potential tracks
such as “Aliens Exist,” “Voyeur” and “Carousel” to wallow in a pool
of refuse that Blink 182 created themselves. (Sometimes, it pays to
review these albums in MP3 format; you don’t feel guilty when you
delete the tracks.)
There are a few bright moments in between the obscenity-laden
haze. The two hits, “All The Small Things” and “What’s My Age
Again” get the loudest reactions from the crowd, and they are
pretty faithful renditions. Possibly the most surprising moment is
“Adam’s Song,” a track which dares to suggest the band has a
serious side. Of course, after that it’s back to goof-ball time.
(Case in point: the final track, “Words Of Wisdom”, which is
nothing more than 11 minutes of filthy asides that – believe it or
not – didn’t have a place in the original flow of the album.
Sometimes, I wish a compact disc wasn’t able to hold so much
information.)
I can’t help but compare Blink 182 to their fellow pop-punk
stalwarts Green Day, and marvel at how different these two bands
really are. Green Day in concert might encourage people to start a
mud fight, but they’re more interested in fucking around (and I
mean this in a good way). Blink 182, as documented on
The Mark, Tom And Travis Show, is just interested in
fucking… and in the end, it’s the listener who gets fucked.