Blink-182 Enema of the State

This album means a lot to me. I learned so much about playing guitar through the riffs, and songwriting listening to the compositions. Enema of the State is timeless and captures everything that makes Pop Punk great. Today I'm gonna write about some of my favorite songs off of the album.

Aliens Exist

This song starts out with a heavy drum fill on the toms, and a small palm muted guitar line that leads into the verse. What's cool about the palm muted guitar is that it stays on one note, while the bass rises in pitch. One chord is strum for the verse, and then the vocals are harmonized by the bass line. The first line of the vocals is a catchy melody, "Hey Mom, there's something in the back room". After the first verse there's an awesome guitar slide, and then a break with a power chord riff at 0:20. I love the drums during the part, it's a classic Travis Barker style of almost a standard drum beat but with complex fills to add flavor. As the second verse begins the bass line is layered with a palm muted guitar. I love the tone on the palm muting, it sticks out in the mix but it isn't too much. As the chorus begins, the drums again follow a fill like rhythm. The bell hits at 0:58 add so much to that part of the song, especially with how it lines up to the rhythm of the guitar. The third verse follows the same palm muted guitar and bass harmony, but there's also an added lead guitar riff with dissonance. I love the way the ending of the last line leads into the chorus, "My best friend thinks I've been telling lies... alright". The last line of the chorus is perfect, especially with how it ties together the theme of the song.

At 2:04 the song explodes into a break, the rhythm guitar holds an octave chord while the bass harmonizes it. At 2:14 another guitar layers the octave with a riff. All of this leads into my favorite part of the song in the final break. At 2:24 the drums switch to half time, the snare falls on 3 instead of 2 and 4, and the guitar plays a riff that leads the song down. The melody sung matches everything perfectly, it gets stuck in my head. The song ends with the final chorus, you can hear the delay on the vocals in the very last seconds of the song.

Dysentery Gary

Ah man this riff, I seriously remember learning this song for the first time. The drum fill that builds up into the first part at 0:04 is perfect, and the rhythm that comes after at 0:08 is so unique. The open hi hats add so much bounce to the song. This continues into the verse at 0:18, where the first half follows a full band rhythm built around the fill on the drums and muted strings on guitar. I love the added fill at 0:24 that throws off the established rhythm. At 0:26 the drums play a straight rhythm which keeps the beat while the guitar follows the same muted string rhythm, I love how the kick drum compliments it. The break before the chorus at 0:35 is made interesting by the bell hits and snare taps. The chorus is comprised of two different parts. The first half at 0:44 is built around the rhythm guitar and the power chord progression it follows, the guitar is very loud. The second half at 0:53 sees the guitar move way up in pitch, to a riff that compliments the vocals. The space that the rhythm guitar filled is replaced by the bass, which follows an awesome line that starts high in pitch and then falls down. I love the actual rhythm of the lead guitar riff. "Da Da Da Bababa" The verse that follows the chorus is pretty much the same, but the break before the second chorus features vocals from Mark Hoppus. During this part you can hear a second take on the vocals down an octave. The song seems to end at 2:10 with a soothing harmony formed between the bass and guitar complimented by a rhythm on the ride cymbal, then the song explodes into the final chorus at 2:28. "I hate you all, your mom's a whore" This songs cool because by the end it seems like Tom Delonge shows he's self aware with how dramatic the song is being. At the same time, it's compelling enough that you can relate. A lot of the lines are funny, like "Tried to grow his hair out, friends were listening to Slayer", but then there's the emotion Tom puts in a line like "Fuck this place, I lost the war."

Mutt

This song starts out with an impressive drum fill, and then the intro has the bass and drums build into the guitar. What sticks out to me about the drums, is the reverb on the snare. You can hear the snare hit and then a split second after there's higher pitched snare. I think this was probably two different mics, one processed specifically to record the reverb of the snare. The guitar follows a single power chord being held while another take plucks a riff deriving from a major chord. The kick drum compliments the rhythm of the bass. At 0:28 the song transitions into the verse, this is another riff I can remember learning the first time. I love the hammer ons and the melody the palm muted notes follow. What I never understood until now, is how important the bass is during this part with the way it harmonizes the melody. At 0:38 the guitar breaks away from the riff and aligns with the bass to follow a power chord progression. This leads into the chorus of the song at 0:51, which actually pulls everything back. The drums follow the same rhythm as the verse, but the guitar is less distorted and the bass carries the melody with the sliding notes. I haven't mentioned it yet, but the hi hat work on this song is insane especially a lot of the open hits. The song more or less follows the same thing for the next verse and then chorus, but I always loved the breakdown at 2:26. It's both the rhythm and melody of the guitar, but also how the drums at first compliment it on the hi hat and then go onto the rest of the kit at 2:31.

Don't Leave Me

This song starts out with a distinct rhythm formed between the snare and the muted strings on guitar, similar to the part on Dysentery Gary. The fill at 0:11 comes out of no where but adds so much and is awesome. This goes into the first verse, which is just the vocals being complimented by the bass while the kick drum stomps. This builds into the chorus which explodes at 0:26, this part is so punk. The harmony between the rhythm guitar and the vocal melody match so well. The intro riff plays again as it leads the chorus into the second verse, which uses the same bass vocal harmony while the drums play a faster rhythm. At 1:01 there is really cool guitar feedback that leads into the second chorus. The song breaks at 1:20 into a simple bass line that is driven by the fast drums. Looking at this song on paper, there really isn't a lot going on in the guitar. It's the vocals and the drums that carry it.

Going Away to College

The intro to this song is just the guitar with a bit of a modulation effect. I remember learning this riff too, I was fascinated with the way it stays on the open strings. The full song comes in at 0:18, with the iconic Blink 1 + 2 3 + 4 rhythm on the guitar riff. The verse begins at 0:27 with just the bass and drums to compliment the vocals. I love the bass note that is played right before the next part at 0:36. This part is made distinct through the beat it comes in on, it comes in on the and of 1. This part seems like the chorus but is actually just the second half of the verse, the main riff plays again and the second verse repeats the first verse. At 1:04, where they fit the bass note right before the next part, you can instead hear guitar feedback with a dip in volume. The chorus begins at 1:13, I love how the guitar plays octave riffs and then goes to power chords, that's classic Blink. The main riff plays again, but for the third verse at 1:41 the guitar changes. It sounds like the guitar take was made mono and the palm muted notes are buried in the mix to make the repeating note cut through. To me, it sounds like the low end was cut off to remove the punch of the palm muted notes. The breakdown at 2:20 is staple Blink, but the snare really sets it apart. The bass notes that compliment the guitar are perfect. Something that's interesting to me is that even though the guitar sounds like it's using the same effects, it's processed differently than in the beginning. In the beginning, the guitar was panned to the left and made dull, here it's a lot more clear and panned to the right. This song is again driven by the vocals much more than the guitar.

Wendy Clear

I love the riff this song starts out with, and the note being held on the organ in the right channel when the full band comes in at 0:04. This leads into the first verse which follows an amazing power chord progression. This song is so much fun to play along to, with the way the drums push the rhythm of the guitar. I always loved the lines, "But I'd play with fire to break the ice, and I'd play with a nuclear device" and the part that follows. The second verse repeats the first, but there's no guitar. This lets the bass tone shine which is so impressive. The second chorus repeats but leads into the breakdown at 1:42 which follows a similar rhythm of the breakdown to Mutt. This part is so memorable with the way the vocals compliment the rhythm, I really love the vocal harmony at 1:53. My favorite part of this song comes at 2:13 with the rhythm played on the ride cymbal, the processing on the guitar, and then the way the organ comes in at 2:26. Finally, the very ending sticks out to me with the added notes held on the organ.

Those are a bunch of my favorite songs off of the album. The other six songs are all really great as well, even All the Small Things. I will always be massively influenced by Blink-182 and I thank them. Thank you for reading!