Blink-182 reviewed

Blink-182 Geffen 2003 reviewed by mim3@mim.org July 12, 2004 This is one band where many of the bourgeois reviewers basically did get it right. In this reviewer's opinion, Blink-182 has a good sound and this album plays well over time, so these are musicians with talent, but the reviewers were still right to pummel them. Of their playing in Los Angeles in June, the word was that Blink-182 offered its "usual mix of punk-pop silliness and goofing around."(1) Newt Briggs writing in Nevada said this: "With albums titled Use Your Erection I and II and songs dubbed "Dysentery Gary" and "Dick Lips," guitarist Tom DeLonge, bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker have built a career out of fart jokes and references to their genitalia. At the same time, they've amassed a devoted following of young women who throw their panties on stage at Blink-182 shows. While the source of this adoration remains a cosmic mystery, the moral of the story is clear: Dumb guys get all the girls."(2) The Blink-182 hires pornography stars for self-promotion--which would be OK if they had anything to say. "Asthenia" has some punk to it along with some real NASA transmissions from space. In the album jacket, the band tells us about all the work that went into things like NASA transmissions. "We worked on this song for about six months," they say of "I'm lost without you." Tom DeLonge says he twisted the guitar for that song "like an acrobat on drugs." The point is that there is a whole lot of artistry going into nothing, except for maybe one slow sentimental song about missing somebody. They really need to hook up with some lyricists. If they can go to the trouble of all the effects they create and if they can dig up some sounds from NASA, they can go to the trouble of finding someone with something to say that they like. In a step forward along these lines, we have to thank George W. Bush for politicizing some people who might not be otherwise. Blink-182 has donated music for an upcoming album whose profits go to moveon.org and other pro-Democratic Party organizations.(3) Buy This CD Notes: 1. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reviewsNews&storyID=5535104 2. http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2004/MERC-Jun-17-Thu-2004/24107281.html 3. http://www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?id=30815 MIM has explained that one might even "like" this music while knowing rationally that there is something wrong with it, maybe even profoundly wrong and evil. Being a Maoist means being a revolutionary scientist and that means having the ability to question everything that we like. See MIM Theory on feminism and gender issues. Read Mao on politics in all literature and art