Blink-182′s Neighborhoods: Death And All His Friends

 
We review Blink’s long-awaited, decidedly dark comeback album, in Bigger Than the Sound.

By James Montgomery

Sometime around 2003, Blink-182 decided it was time to tack their dirty joke doctorates to the wall (presumably in their respective offices, which is where everyone’s degree eventually ends up) and press on as a more serious-minded outfit. The reasons behind that decision were many — the new perspective that comes with fatherhood, a decade spent on the road, recording with Robert Smith — though, truth be told, their somber new suits never seemed to fit, mostly because, at that point, they were best known for putting porn stars in their videos and giving their albums titles like Take off Your Pants and Jacket and Enema of the State.

Of course, in the eight years since their last album, a whole lot has changed. Blink-182 splintered in 2005, subsequently sparred in the press, attempted to conquer the world with non-Blink projects, endured the deaths of longtime producer Jerry Finnand close friend Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein, and in late 2008, drummer Travis Barker was seriously injured in a plane crash that killed four, including two of his associates.

Needless to say, they’ve earned the right to be serious. And on their long-awaited Neighborhoods album (due September 27), they take full advantage, cramming the past 96 months of doubt, darkness and death into just 49 minutes — that’s the running time of the deluxe edition — and doing so quite convincingly. For the first time in their career, Blink seem comfortable in those somber suits. Sadly, it’s because they’ve worn them to so many funerals.