Well, I guess this is growing up.
I wasn’t alive yet on April 20th, 1970. That was the day Paul McCartney announced that the Beatles had broken up. If I had been, it would have surely been an end of an era.
Yes, of course, bands come and go, form and reform, and most of the time the fans end up caring more about the former bands than the mates do themselves. When interviewed, Lennon made it perfectly clear he wasn’t going to join back up with Paul, George, and Ringo, but fans held their breath hoping, until John’s assassination in 1980 (ending yet another era in American music). I still dream of seeing Paul and Ringo playing together with John’s children (Julian & Sean) and with George’s son Dhani, and I wasn’t even alive for any of the Beatles run.
My own experience with band breakups certainly isn’t as profound as that of any of the myriad of Beatles fans then and now. It just couldn’t be. The Beatles were the greatest band of all time, bar none. I wasn’t alive for the Beatles though, I was born in 1986, missing out entirely on the greatest musical era of all time. The early 90’s had their gems as well, but when you’re 8 or 9 like I was, you don’t really obsess over music like you do once you get just a little older.
While the Beatles remain my favorite band of all time (yes, I’m not that interesting), my favorite band from the era I grew up in, was Blink 182.
I missed out on Blink’s first album Cheshire Cat, but acquired and over listened to every subsequent album they put out from Dude Ranch (1997) on. The music is crass, juvenile, full of swearing and potty jokes, and musically simple, yet it also is charming, fun, youthful, melodic, and well, rock n’ roll. They evolved from an incredibly simplistic Punk band in to a far more developed quirky group on their last album which pulled in all sorts of influences from past genres. A lot of fans thought they sold out, but fans always tend to think that when bands get good. I graduated high-school in 2004, and was all set to buy some concert seats for whenever they headed back to the northeast. When I heard the news on February 2nd, 2005 that Tom Delong had quit Blink, and that the band was on “indefinite hiatus”, that was my April 20, 1970. I guess this is growing up. Tom’s certainly not John Lennon, but he left the group to work on more artistic measures (his band Angels & Airwaves). The bassist and drummer: Marc Hoppus and Travis Barker formed their own offshoot band +44. In this blogger and music fan’s mind, both bands just sound like watered down Blinks.
Anyway, I figured “indefinite hiatus” was the end. While checking on MTVnews from time to time over the last four years, I’d seen nothing but bad news on the reforming front. Songs written by both groups about the other, news that they weren’t even friends anymore, and news of that nature.
This past September, the 19th to be exact, a plane went down in South Carolina with the drummer Travis Barker and a whole group of other musicians and music industry folks. Travis survived but was burned badly, and the crash left 4 dead. While the crash was nothing but tragic, it somehow brought the band back together, at least as friends. In the months after the crash, Marc Hoppus wrote in his blog about the their time together and how they were really enjoying eachother’s company again, and how he would be open to trying the band again.
This news obviously excited me, but was nothing definitive. That was until I flipped to the Grammy’s last night, a show which I had zero intent of watching, when the three came up to the stage together to give out the best rock song award, when they announced that Blink 182 was back with plans to record a new album and tour again.
Needless to say, I was incredibly excited, giddy even, as I learned that the number one band from my lifetime (of course, still opinion) was getting back together. This was the day (on a far far far smaller level) which fans were waiting for each year from 1970-1980. I know 100% that Blink 182 is not the Beatles, in terms of music, history, or popularity, but my experience with the band is certainly of the same sort.
This all got my wondering. What if when John Lennon was shot on that fateful day in December of 1980, he had survived? Would the Beatles have gotten back together? We’ll obviously never know.
I know that everything.
Know that everything.
Know that everything.
Everything’s gonna be alright.
UPDATE: I have tickets for both Hartford and Mansfield 