Rolling back the clock - Blink 182's What's My Age Again

Album Cover Art for Blink 182's "Enema of the State"

With the passing of another birthday, I can't help but to think back to the first song I ever learned how to play on guitar: What's My Age Again by Blink 182.  I was 13 years old and thought Tom DeLonge was the coolest guy ever.  If this seems strange to those of you that know me as a metal head, keep in mind this was a year or two shy of my indoctrination to metal and hard rock. Now that I'm twice the age that I was then, I've long passed the infamous age of "nobody likes you when you're 23."  Hopefully it's been long enough now that people like me again, haha.


At the time, I was on my high school's swim team and would practice in my friend's SUV on the way home from practice with his cheap Yamaha acoustic guitar.  I had to sit in the middle of the back bench seat and sit sort of sideways to get the guitar in a position where I could play it.  The opening riff took several weeks and it seemed "so hard" to fret the notes and do the alternate picking required.  Maybe I should have waited until I was off the bumpy roads to fine tune my motor skills and coordination.. lol.  Then again, maybe starting out by playing during bumpy car rides with a crappy guitar (with even crappier, super-high action) made it easier to see progress as a downhill battle after that.

Even though I don't listen to pop-punk as much as I used to as a pre-teen, I do still put some good ole' Cheshire Cat, Dude Ranch, and Enema of the State through my home system from time to time.  Blink's new stuff is alright, too, I suppose, but like a lot of people with a lot of bands, I like the earlier stuff best.  I've always liked their "don't give a ****" attitude, too. They do their own thing, they do it well (especially in the case of Travis Barker imo), and they aren't worried about whether or not people are super into it or not.  There's something to be said for following your heart and sticking to your guns.  I also met Mark Hoppus at Claim Jumper in Carlsbad, CA one time and he was really nice, which made a positive impression on me.

A look through the history of Blink 182's various album covers.

Something else I think is really cool about what they're doing now is recording in their own studios apart from one another.  This might seem a little unnatural or odd at first, but I see it as creative.  They have their own personal studios (Travis and Mark in Los Angeles, CA; Tom in San Diego, CA) and are able to carry on with their lives while still finding a way to push forward with the music.  Some bands might throw in the towel or scoff at doing things an untraditional way, whereas they turned it into a strength and kept their act together.  One day I hope to have a more built-up home studio of my own, and I can completely understand wanting to write and record in such a familiar environment.

As for what's to come, Blink 182 released their most recent EP Dogs Eating Dogs on December 18, 2012, and I'm not sure exactly what's next.  Maybe I can get Travis to start playing drums in my band seeing as how we have unfortunately lost our drummer for the time being.  If you're out there reading this, Travis, please do hit me up!

That's all I've got for now folks, but for anyone that spent part of their growing up years in the 90's, take a moment and relive one of the band's biggest hits: What's My Age Again.