2001: A Pop Punk Odyssey -- Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of blink-182's "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket"

When I attempt to parse the idea that 2001 was a mere 20 years ago, I am met with the crunch and twang of a dial up modem painstakingly beaming me through the waves of time and teenage trauma where soon I awaken on a beach shaded under a bed of rocks. Four quick snare hits and a tingling of guitar like a beacon draw me to my feet and towards the monolith, an onyx pillar with distinct markings in colors I recognize but can't quite recall. Three circles were etched into the stone, and I traced my dirty fingers along these symbols of the past: an airplane, a pair of pants, and a jacket. I think, "What kind of rebus puzzle is this?"

"Everything has fallen to pieces..."

In 2001, home wasn't necessarily where my heart was. I wouldn't yet become a teenager until later that fall, I was overly anxious and forever uncomfortable in my ever-changing body, but there was nothing in the world that made me feel more at home, more safe, than punk rock and the internet. I realize how ridiculous that sounds knowing what we know about the internet (and pop punk) now, but the Internet-of-Then allowed me to become someone else when I wasn't exactly sure yet who "me" was, and it allowed me to walk in the digital shoes of a limitless avatar without any intent for harm or consequence thereafter. Punk rock was more like a china shop downtown where I could be the brazen bull, or the delicate china, or the shelves built to support such a heavy metaphor. 

Blink-182's 1999 release Enema of the State marked a pivotal turning point for mainstream pop punk to come. In the coming years, the radio would be dominated by singles spun by studio crafted pop-punk one-offs like SR-71's "Right Now" or American Hi-Fi's "Flavor of the Week," all trying to recreate the goon-like magic and irreverence captured by Mark, Tom, and Travis. The final track on Enema..., "Anthem" leaves the listener with the same defiance found in most other blink records, the failing narcissist's disregard for advice or candor, "I, timebomb..." and he doesn't care who loses a limb in its wake. 

Take Off Your Pants and Jacket marked the first real change in blink-182 as a band coping with growing pains. The first track, "Anthem Part 2," carries a totally different tone from where the anthem on Enema... left off. Did Tom just call out to Jesus? There's pleading in this track; Tom's looking and reaching outward when he says, "We really need to see this through," perhaps a nod at punk's noted constant call to action without any real plan for maneuvers (See The Vandals - Go). It's an incredible opening track, unlike anything heard on a blink record maybe since "Carousel" from their 1995 release Chesire Cat. The second track "Online Songs" wastes no time coming in with blink's signature punchy bass and Mark Hoppus's McCartney-like hook-and-sinker lyric writing that makes you resent how fun it is to sing along. 

TOYPAJ and the band's disjointed effort to suddenly "adult" blink-182 reads very similarly to the Beatles' evolution in songwriting and the interpersonal struggles between Lennon and McCartney (stay with me here). Tom Delonge was visibly trying (and maybe a little too hard) to write songs with meaning, songs that would touch the listener somewhere other than their yet-to-be-touched boners meanwhile Mark Hoppus was bitten by the same radioactive spider as Paul McCartney and was gifted with the ability to churn out catchy song after catchy song, releasing thousands upon thousands of ear worms to infest and burrow themselves deep within the folds of our mind. I say this, but then you get to songs like "First Date," a drop in the bucket pop rock song for the masses of young, horny, and unsure adults written by Delonge which then leads into "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" penned by Hoppus, a total throwaway punk rock jimmy JAM that to this day I wish had actual lyrics. 

The album's other radio hits, "The Rock Show" and "Stay Together For the Kids" showcase this dichotomy in songwriting, the old fighting against the new, the strive to say something serious while still remaining accessible to the under 20 crowd. Looking back, this album is of the least masturbatory (both metaphorical and musical) projects ever released by blink-182, but as a whole, it reads like a bunch of songs just kinda stuck together, as the mood is constantly shifting between Delonge's attempts at reaching somewhere deeper and Hoppus' shuffle-ball-change along to Barker's syncopated beats keeping the mood light. As the second album featuring Travis Barker, it was obvious that Barker's style of drumming forced the group to rework their once perfected formula and the albums that would follow would only exacerbate this. It's gotta be tough to be professional aging teenagers fighting against the natural urge to progress to something bigger, better, and more meaningful while existing within the framework that not only you have built, but one a label has curated as well. But everyone likes you when you're perpetually 23.

TOYPAJ wouldn't make it as a new album released in 2021, I don't think, but for an ever evolving audience of 12-26 who is looking to discover the roots of MGK's schtick and figure out who this "featuring Travis Barker" guy is, this album withstands the tests of time and is the perfect toe-dip into blink-182's career. As a life long blink-182 fan, the older that I got, the more I started appreciating them as actual musicians and the growth that came with not only playing music for 20+ years, but the freedom that comes with knowing more than one way to play to and with a d-beat. This album would go on to launch the careers of hundreds of bands (including my own) who were sick of their hometown and wished someone of age would buy them a beer and get them the hell out of there. Sure, some of the lyrics aren't platitudes worth upholding, but they were the stepping stones that balanced our footing across the river of uncertainty that is adolescence to the ocean of ambiguity where we are buoyed now.