10 Albums Turning 20 In 2019
1. Blink-182 - Enema Of The State
Things were looking up for Blink-182 in the late '90s. After having a huge hit on their last album with "Dammit," the band transitioned over to a major label for the follow-up. However, the band lost drummer Scott Raynor after touring, which left some fans skeptical. With losing one member and going to a major label, how would this new record fare?
After losing Raynor, Blink hit the jackpot with Travis Barker, a virtuoso drummer who gave the band a different perspective on songwriting. This let Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge stretch their songwriting muscles with their most hooky songs to date like "All the Small Things" and "What's My Age Again?."
The album toes the perfect line between emotional power and teenage adolescence. While songs like "Dumpweed" and "Dysentery Gary" are delightfully immature looks at teen romance, "Adam's Song" tells a sobering story of a teenager who took his own life. The lynchpin of the album is "Anthem," a song that sums up the confusion of what it's like to be an adolescent kid at the beginning of adulthood.
Above all, the album stays true to its ethos, and isn't that the most punk thing it could have done?