Blink-182
Happy Days
Columbia/Sony
At first listen, the opening sequence to this song inspires great hope and optimism. My 15-year old self stirs somewhere inside as the first few notes evoke old bangers like Adam’s Song. Unfortunately, these positive feelings don’t survive into the first verse as the lyrics arrive undignified like an ageing old codger dressed in his grandson’s clothing, complete with backwards-facing baseball cap, attempting to fit in with an aesthetic that he’s generations too old for.
I want to be kind to Blink-182 in my sheer gratitude for Dude Ranch and Enema of the State, as well as for being the bridge to other punk which they offered me as a youngster… but sadly this song feels so incredibly contrived and over-produced, with lyrics espousing messages trying to get at what they used to be about but falling horrendously flat. It plays like a song that’s been created to a formula they know works because they perfected it years ago, and as such, it comes across uninspired, rather than inspirational in the way their old tunes felt important to a generation of baby punks.
If it wasn’t for the need to review the song, I don’t think I’d even have made it to the end. Sorry, 15-year old me.
MELISSA KRUGER
