Blink-182

Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)

MrChainsaw

Well, this is an easy one… this is without a doubt one of the best pop-punk records I've bought in an extremly long time. all i can say to all you people who brand Blink with being 'sell-outs' is "get a fucking life". Surely that term means changing your musical style to sell more records? That's not the case on this album. this album proves all the cynics wrong in every single way possible. There's a lot less toilet humour on here than the last offerings exept on 'Happy Holidays You Bastard' and the aptly named 'Fuck a Dog' but in the most part it shows a more mature Blink 182 with songs about divorced parents, mis-judged youth, false 'punks' and a host of other topics. On some of the songs here Blink wear their (dare I say it?) emo influences with pride especially on 'Stay Together for the Kids' and 'Shut Up'. Now dont get me wrong here. I'm not saying that they've written emo songs, just that you can tell the influence. Within 2 or 3 days of buying this album I was already singing along because there's absolutely no doubt that this album is catchy as fuck. The guitars sound crisp, the vocals are near-perfect and the production is 100% knob on. Travis' drums are as original as the genre will let him be and I can't see how any fans of pop-punk would be dissapointed with this offering. As always though; there's one minor let down: the dodgy cardboard case that wouldnt stand up to a fight with a pissed up hamster.