(Single from album, "Take Off Your Pants And Jacket")
Ok, so this is not only the next requested song, but it's also my first review in quite a long time - since January 7th I believe. Ugh, how GCSEs have impaired my ability to write about what I love - no matter - between exams and revision, whilst there wasn't time to blog much, I listened plenty and I've made some amazing musical discoveries this January, many of which will fill the gaps between this seemingly never-ending requests list...
This is actually a relatively quick one - both the song and the review. Blink-182 always seemed, to me, to be a Green Day rip-off, which I now understand to be a common consensus amongst Cali-punk fans. That simply isn't fair, to be quite honest. My brother got their greatest hits for Christmas on CD, and it's a pretty solid punk compilation, from start to finish, proving that this is band who are truly underestimated.
"The Rock Show" begins as any punk song should; loudly. The guitars crash straight in to the chorus chord sequence and the first verse opens with the romantic, teenage image of hanging out behind a club, and falling for a beautiful school drop-out at a rock show. In the emotional sense, it's American punk perfection; the angry verses tell of how '[they] don't owe anyone a fucking explanation!' and the overall aesthetic of this brash rock performance still retains it's sonic anarchist roots, managing still to glisten with the shiny Jerry Finn production finish that is universally recognisable across the work of all the producer's clients, from Green Day's "Dookie" to Morrissey's "You Are The Quarry".
The bass is great here as well. It's had the treble wound right up, and the bass knob's been nocked back to 0 and pulled right off. It's very Joy Division, but it works. Similarly, the drums have an awesome kick that sounds amazing through headphones. And the song even gets slightly eclectic, sonically, when the jangle of the electric guitar winds the bridge up and down at around 1:30.
The American accent is what truly carries this song however, and simultaneously, becomes responsible for making the true divide between Green Day and Blink-182. Billie Joe Armstrong's vocal is a unique one, and, tainted by what I would call a sarcastic snarl, it loses a lot of it's original accent in the process of sounding so snidey. Mark Hoppus (also the bassist here) retains all of the attitude and style composing the stereotypically lazy and kiddish American accent, and it gives his band's music a truly home-grown sound; one, which maybe sounds odd here, but stays true to it's roots in the process, representing, truly, the face of American punk music.
It just works - it's got a story, it's brimming with the anger, angst and brilliance of love, and it's danceable, just as good Cali-punk is. Give this is a listen; sure, like much of the genre's best songs, it's had the soul of punk's rawness sucked out of it by a studio recording glaze-over, but it's still a great testament to America's answer to the British musical revolution, the waves of which still rock us today...literally...
★★★
Versions of “The Rock Show”
Album/Single Version - 2:52