10 Legendary Rock Bands That Got Darker Over Time

Pop punk isn't really a genre that takes too kindly to the darker side of life. Since that normally gets put into the emo category with acts like My Chemical Romance, Blink 182 didn't really fit the mold for going heavy, especially since their last songs like What's My Age Again were as bubblegum pop as they come. As the band started to fall apart though, they ended up creating one of the most emotionally frayed albums in their catalog.

While the self titled Blink record has a lot of the hallmarks that you'd expect from the band, there are a lot of wild left turns that most wouldn't have seen coming, like when Mark Hoppus talks about his childhood issues on Go or the cost of being in love on songs like Always or I Miss You. For the back half of this project, the band basically drop the pop from their pop punk label altogether on songs like Easy Target or Here's Your Letter, both of which feel more in line with straight up alt rock.

Even though the band fractured around this time, their reunion wasn't finished with the heavy subject matter, like the tribute to fallen friends like Ghost on the Dance Floor off of Neighborhoods. Now without Tom DeLonge in the band, Mark and Matt Skiba are taking a more introspective approach when it comes to lyrics, like writing songs about morbid topics like Heaven and Black Rain. It's not necessarily goth rock or anything, but we're a long ways away from Dysentery Gary these days.