NOVEMBER 18th. Happy Birthday to Blink-182's UNTITLED (2003).

Also known as the era where loyal listeners would freak that the band went “mature”. Rewind to October 2003 when lead single “Feeling This” dropped. While it covered a topic Blink had written about countless times before, (sex), sonically, it was an evident shift from their previous work. And the change didn’t stop there. The guys traded in skateboards, distortion pedals, and potty humour for black ties, a double bass, and introspection in a haunting video for "I Miss You".

Gone was the goofiness the world had come to love of the band. A moody darkness spanned the entirety of their eponymous album with apparent themes of isolation and desperation. The work gave us one proggy interlude and another that longed for a loved one during times of war. A feature of Robert Smith from The Cure slowburns on "All Of This". Such obscurity for the band at the time could have only be concluded with a 6 minute ballad and Travis drum solo.

UNTITLED was everything prior Blink-182 albums were not.

Whether you loved or hated the new direction, Mark, Tom, & Travis undoubtedly did exactly what they wanted on this effort.

My stance is the following:

Lucky us.

Lucky us that got to hear what happens when 3 people take a trusted formula, and say;

“Fuck it. Let’s experiment with something new.”

This album made 'growing up' sound cool.

To experiment, grow up, and be cool is one thing.

To do so, and come out the other end of said experiment an edgy progressive band that still somehow managed to sound undoubtedly "Blink-182" is outright punk rock.

Their self-titled effort is more than emo whines at their finest, a mastery in production, and the 1st 'concept' album I gave a sh*t about. It's arguably the... (oh yeah, I'm going there)... best Blink record to ever caress and abuse my eardrums.

CHECK OUT: The entire album.... But if you're making me choose: Always, Obvious, Here's Your Letter, All Of This, Easy Target, Violence, Down... *sigh*, yeah all of it.