No Selling Out For Blink 182′s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
If you’re one of those music lovers who dig fun, funky, feel-good music and likes to have their serving of green humor as well, then you would like Blink 182′s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket album.
This is their fourth studio album, released on June 12, 2001. Following the success of Enema of the State and The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show, the American pop-punk band has once again hit gold with this record.
It has spawned hit singles like The Rock Show, First Date, and Stay Together for the Kids. There were about 4.5 million copies sold worldwide and went double platinum in the United States. This was also Blink 182′s only album that debuted at the top spot of the Billboard 200 and sold more than 350,000 copies during the first week of release.
In everything that we do, one must always strive for something different, if not better. And this is what Blink 182 has managed to do with this record. Though it still has the same pop-punk sound they were famous for, listeners of the CD will see that the band has exerted more effort to come up with more relevant songs that has more than obscenities in their lyrics. The tracks Stay Together for the Kids, Reckless Abandon, and Shut Up prove this point.
Personally, the band has been able to come out of their shell in this album. The melodies sound good. Each track has very interesting and admirable rifts, and the lyrics have more depth. This is great for a band that has been on the music scene for quite some time. The ability to be able to give your audience something new (and better) will help make you stay longer and keep you interesting.
However, there is always the issue of selling out. For some hard core punk fans, Blink 182 has sold out on their fans with coming up with ballad-type songs, which is really unfair on the band’s part. Writing and composing new songs unlike most of their previous works should not be seen as selling out on fans. If anything, it should be seen as an innovation and coming of age.
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is a testament to the band’s musicality. If you take the time to really listen to the tracks, you will see that Blink 182 has not abandoned the type of music that made them likeable and famous. There are still songs that are loaded with obscenities and good-natured humor (Happy Holidays, You Bastard and Mother’s Day)-something that original Blink 182 fans will truly enjoy.
Most noticeable in the album are the new songs that talks about relationships and feature interesting musical technicalities and powerful and passionate vocals. Anthem Pt. 2 is a very well-written song, way better than Anthem Pt. 1 from the third album. This goes to show that Blink 182 has the chops to write songs that have depth and meaning. Story of a Lonely Guy will surprise you. Aside from the deep emotion you will hear from Tom’s vocals, the lyrics are unlike the band has come up before.
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