Blink-182 is, in my opinion, a band that could never grow old. It is relatable to any mood or situation you may be in. Regardless of what you may be feeling or going through, you can find a song that could make it all better! Here are some of my personal favorites that any teen or college student could understand.
1. “Can we learn to get by if we learn to have scars, we learn to forgive and accept who we are” (Pretty Little Girl) Dogs Eating Dogs, 2012
So this song is what life is all about, at least mine. I am actually saving up for a tattoo of this lyric, but you know, college. Everyone has regrets and painful memories and experiences that they carry with them for all time to come. Once we learn to forgive ourselves and accept what we cannot and shouldn’t change about ourselves, that weight we carry will grow lighter with each passing day, but we will always remember the lessons we were taught.
2. “Lets go, don’t wait, this night's almost over, Honest, lets make this night last forever” (First Date) Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, 20012
First date is a song about, well you guessed it, a guy's first date. The song describes all the nerves and thoughts that run through our minds the moments before and during the date. If we let these fears and nerves prevent us from facing the night head on, we will miss out on having a good time.
3. "Look to the past and remember a smile, and maybe tonight I can breathe for a while” (Feeling This) Blink-182, 2003
Life is full of painful lessons, memories, and heartache; however, we shouldn’t let the way a good thing may have ended affect the way we view it. This is similar to that lame saying, ‘Don’t be sad its over, smile because it happened’, basically that, Blink just says it better.
4. “Now that all my friends left, this place is [freaking] dead, I want to move out, this shit has got to stop, I’ll run away” (Shut Up) Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, 2001
Friends at this age, heck friends at any age, are awesome and most definitely needed. Without my friends and sisters I don’t know where I would be or what I would be doing... nothing probably. *Insert shout out- to my good buddy-pals at AEII, my beauties in AOII, and my awesome non-greeks- here* Without my friends allowing me to vent and escape my parental issues I would have completely lost my mind, or in Blinks words, ‘ran away’.
4 ½. “I’ll never ask permission from you, f- off I’m not listening to you, Im not coming home, I’m never going to come back home, I’ll run away” (Shut Up) Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, 2001
Parents, parents, parents…Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. At least when I personally listen to this song I perceive it as being about the whole parent vs. child thing. Those days when your mother says you can’t go out or do this or that, curfews being before midnight (a.k.a when all the fun happens, because let’s face it, parties don’t really start until 10 or 11), and of course daddy doesn’t approve of your boyfriend. This song truly speaks to me, let’s all run away.
5. “I never thought I’d die alone another six months I’ll be unknown, give all my things to all my friends, you’ll never step foot in my room again” (Adams Song) Enema of the State, 1999
SO MANY FEELS. The second this song comes on, tears, so many tears. The void where my heart should be? Yeah, it’s breaking. Sadly, suicide is the “10th leading cause of death for Americans” (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention). By now many of us, too many of us, know someone who has attempted or died from suicide. Personally, I have had someone close to me commit suicide and have known a few others who have passed the same way. I almost can’t finish this song because the lyrics speak what they can’t say.
6. “But everybody’s gone, and I’ve been here for too long, to face this on my own, well I guess this is growing up” (Dammit) Dude Ranch, 1997
Dammit is a song about what us college students fear, growing up. Like what the heck am I going to do when I graduate? What job am I going to get with my degree so I can pay off my student debt? After we graduate, we are supposed to be grownups and completely on our own. We are expected to figure out how to navigate our own lives, but I'm not quite there yet.
7. “Tidal waves they rip right through me, tears from eyes worn cold and sad, pick me up now, I need you so bad” (Down) Blink-182, 2004
Ah, the four letter L word that we all hate to love and love to hate. We all can admire a good angry, sad heart break song we can sing to; well this one is mine.
8. “Everyone wants to call it all around our life with a better name, everyone falls and spins and gets up again with a friend who does the same, everyone lies and cheats their wants and needs and still believes their heart, and everyone gets the chills, the kind that kills when the pain begins to start” (Up All Night) Neighborhoods, 2011
People tend to surround themselves with like-minded people. People who have the same struggles, have been through the same problems or have a similar past. We have all made mistakes but those mistakes don’t define who we are; furthermore, we all have been through painful experiences and these experiences connect us.
9. “No one should take themselves so seriously, with many years ahead to fall in line, why would you wish that on me? I never want to act my age, what’s my age again?” (What’s my Age Again) Enema of the State, 1999
‘What’s my Age Again?’ is GOLD! Pure gold I tell you. Because seriously, no one likes you when you’re 23. Life is too short to be completely focused 100% of the time. Yes, school is important and you need money for school and fun, so work is definitely a must too, but we are still young. And even though we may be growing up…let’s face it, that child in us is still very much alive.
10. “We really need to see this through, we never wanted to be abused, we’ll never give up, it’s no use, if were [f-ed] up, you’re to blame” (Anthem Part 2) Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, 2001
The Anthem Part 2 is my anthem, and should be yours too! Regardless of how messed up or painful growing up in the troubles of your life may be, we are stronger than that. We have to be because we have so much more to see and do ahead of us. And heck, if you have a problem with our generation, well where did we come from?
