A lot has changed in 11 years for Blink-182. They hired Alkaline Trio’s frontman Matt Skiba to fill the void of Tom DeLonge after he left the band for a second time to finally prove that aliens exist (which he did). Mark Hoppus courageously defeated a stage 4 cancer diagnosis and Travis Barker became a Kardashian. With One More Time…, Blink-182 are once again releasing music with the classic line up of Mark, Tom, and Travis. Since their 2012 EP, ‘Dogs Eating Dogs’, Blink-182 released two albums without Tom, and apart from the odd standout moment, these weren’t exactly well received or particularly enjoyable to listen to. With this in mind, it is understandable that this new release has been widely anticipated.
It has certainly felt like a long wait for fans. The first single for the album, ‘Edging’, was released a year ago, in October 2022. Despite the lyrics being rather cliche and juvenile for a bunch of 50 year old men, the punk shuffle and tight fills on the drums combined with the anthemic chorus are infectious enough to make it an enjoyable comeback. After dropping a few stronger singles in the month running up to the album release, One More Time… was FINALLY unleashed in October 2023.
The album kicks off with ‘The Anthem Pt. 3’, making Blink’s first trilogy of tracks. It is familiar, fearsome, and full of energy. This is followed by the single ‘Dance With Me’, yet another fist-punching, upbeat track with a chorus of “Olé, Olé, Olé” and the opening by Tom, “When I teach masturbation, I'm always just like, have fun with it”, suggesting that the song could be an innuendo for masturbation. Trademark Blink-182. But once the third song on the album, ‘Fell In Love’, comes along, the cracks in it start to show. A roaring, singalong single is followed up by one of the most watered down, Disney Channel, pop punk songs Blink-182 may have ever written. What makes it worse is that co-writer credits go to a previously successful collaborator, Robert Smith of The Cure. Despite it’s shameless resemblance to The Cure’s ’Close to Me’, it is not a song worthy of an album by The Cure, let alone Blink-182. Robert Smith is not the only iconic figure to feature amongst the album’s credits. Rancid’s Tim Armstrong is also involved on the track ‘Fuck Face’, a relentless 27 second punk song which arguably could have been developed into something more cohesive and fully formed. It seems that in recent years, Blink-182 have a habit of including somewhat underwhelming 30 second songs on their albums. Also included on this new release is the track ‘Turn This Off!’, a 23 second song that includes lyrics in which the narrator blames a date for their premature ejaculation, a complete change in tone from the serious nature of the previous song, ‘More Than You Know’.
It is this inconsistency in tone that really lets the album down. One More Time… feels much more like a greatest hits album than a new body of work. Apart from a few stand out tracks that show development and a sense of growth from the band (‘More Than You Know’, ‘You Don’t Know What You’ve Got’ and ‘Turpentine’), the rest of the track list sounds like the members of Blink-182 are simply trying to parody different eras within their respective careers. Though it is one of the more enjoyable songs on the album, ‘Terrified’ is literally an unreleased Box Car Racer song that Tom and Travis had sitting on a memory stick for over 20 years. Despite the tearjerker lyrics, the title track ‘One More Time’ is a shameless rip off of Blink’s most famous hit, ‘I Miss You’, with the actual title to this previous song appearing on multiple occasions throughout the track within the lyrics. ‘Blink Wave’ is another fairly enjoyable cut from the album, but it wouldn’t be misplaced if it ended up on an album by Tom’s other band, Angels & Airwaves. Since he started AvA after his first split from Blink-182 back in 2005, spacey new wave influences have seeped into his songwriting for Blink-182, and quite frankly, the band is better for it. ‘Hurt’, is yet another example of this on the album.
In a recent interview with Zane Lowe, Mark discussed the band's mission statement going into the album. He discussed how they were now approaching the band with much more of a DIY ethos, noting bands such as the Beastie Boys, The Ramones (who they honoured in the ‘Dance With Me’ music video), and Fugazi. Granted, it is the first time Travis has solely produced one of their albums, putting one of their members in direct responsibility for the sound of the band, and they claim to have more agency over choosing interviews, gigs they play, and photoshoots they want to do. But on the other hand, they are still signed to a major label, and they have worked with multiple pop writers who have co-written for Justin Bieber (Aldae, Brian Lee & Michael Pollack) and for the Disney Corporation (Dan Book). Mark said that when making decisions for the album, he would ask, what would the Beastie Boys do, what would the Ramones do, what would Fugazi do? Depending on your moral and ethical code, there is nothing particularly wrong with being on a major label, and there is also nothing wrong with working with individuals in the pop realm. However, would a band like Fugazi – who didn’t even produce merchandise as a direct response to their disdain for commercialism and capitalism – collaborate with people who work with Justin Bieber or work for Disney? Highly unlikely.
Regardless of any double-standards, shortcomings, or inconsistencies, One More Time… is still the best album released by Blink-182 in the 20 years since their untitled album back in 2003. As the classic lineup reformed in direct response to Mark’s cancer diagnosis and miraculous survival, it is understandable that this album sounds like a celebration of everything that makes Blink-182 themselves. Hopefully One More Time… isn’t the final time either, as multiple songs on the album truly point to a return to form for the band. With a little more time and a little more thought, we could truly see a renaissance for the band – as things stand, it looks like this may well happen. Overall, what seems like the most important thing is that three best friends have reconciled their differences and are genuinely enjoying making music together again. I have no doubt that this is what truly matters to the band right now and their millions of fans across the globe. Olé, Olé, Olé!!!
