Blink-182 recently unleashed their latest single "Blame It on My Youth," and now frontman Mark Hoppus has responded to some of the more divisive reviews from fans.
The singer/bassist appeared on the Blink-155 podcast today and told co-host (and, in the interest of full disclosure, Exclaim! staffer) Josiah Hughes, "When people react strongly one way or the other on a song, I think it's better than something coming out and people being like, 'Meh.'"
He compared the pop-infused sound of the new song to the sonic leap made in 2003 by Blink-182's lead single "Feeling This."
"Blink always has done our best work when we keep our head down, write stuff that we love, that's important to us, and people have come on a journey with us," Hoppus said. "I remember when we first put out 'Feeling This,' and people were like, 'Oh my gosh what is this? It has weird drums in the beginning and it has screaming. And Mark is screaming 'I'm feeling this,' and does Mark think he's rapping in the bridge?' There was all of this negative feedback on 'Feeling This' and it's, I think, one of our best songs."
Elaborating on the pop sound, Hoppus denied the band were trying to implement any sort of algorithm in order to score a radio hit this time around.
"I wouldn't know what the algorithm is," he said. "I can't try and write a song to hit a moving target of what I think people are going to expect Blink is or should be or what they want Blink to be.... And we've never sat down with the intent of 'Let's write a radio single' because what is a radio single? I don't know what works with radio. I can't write a song for the radio."
As far as he's concerned, "Blame It on My Youth" isn't a reach to sound like anything else on the radio — it's a "quintessential Blink song."
"It's talking about growing up and feeling alienated and starting a band because of it," he said. "It's not that far removed from 'I guess this is growing up' from 1997. That was 22 years ago. We're still in the wheelhouse. And then I look online and people are like, 'This is not Blink! This is… bad pop music!' And I'm like… it has all of the elements of Blink."
He admitted the modern production might throw some people off, but he's not interested in writing "California 3" or "Enema of the State four times"
When "Blame It On My Youth" first dropped, a fan pleaded with Hoppus on Twitter to return to their old sound. Though he initially responded with a simple "no," he then expanded on his thoughts in the interview — particularly taking issue with the fan's notion that Blink-182 is "the Beatles of pop-punk."
"I don't think we're the Beatles, but let's take your example of the Beatles," he said, referring to the fan's initial tweet. "If you look at the Beatles going from Revolver to Yellow Submarine to Sgt. Pepper to the White Album, those records are vastly, vastly different from one another. And if you're saying that you want us to stay the same that we were 20 years ago the Beatles is not the example of a band staying the same over time."
Hoppus added that the band have moved beyond the notion of genre labels like "pop punk" or even "rock," opting instead to include "really aggressive stuff," "stuff that's probably even poppier than 'Blame It on My Youth'" and "weird stuff" on Blink-182's upcoming LP.
That said, Hoppus revealed that despite releasing its first single, the new album still doesn't have a name, a final tracklisting or even a final mix, but, "Touch wood, I feel like Blink is in a really good place right now."
Revisit the latest single, "Blame It on My Youth" below. You can also listen to Hoppus get interviewed on Blink-155 below at around the 2:30 mark.
As previously reported, Blink-182 have an upcoming joint tour with Lil Wayne, and you can see the band's dates here.
The singer/bassist appeared on the Blink-155 podcast today and told co-host (and, in the interest of full disclosure, Exclaim! staffer) Josiah Hughes, "When people react strongly one way or the other on a song, I think it's better than something coming out and people being like, 'Meh.'"
He compared the pop-infused sound of the new song to the sonic leap made in 2003 by Blink-182's lead single "Feeling This."
"Blink always has done our best work when we keep our head down, write stuff that we love, that's important to us, and people have come on a journey with us," Hoppus said. "I remember when we first put out 'Feeling This,' and people were like, 'Oh my gosh what is this? It has weird drums in the beginning and it has screaming. And Mark is screaming 'I'm feeling this,' and does Mark think he's rapping in the bridge?' There was all of this negative feedback on 'Feeling This' and it's, I think, one of our best songs."
Elaborating on the pop sound, Hoppus denied the band were trying to implement any sort of algorithm in order to score a radio hit this time around.
"I wouldn't know what the algorithm is," he said. "I can't try and write a song to hit a moving target of what I think people are going to expect Blink is or should be or what they want Blink to be.... And we've never sat down with the intent of 'Let's write a radio single' because what is a radio single? I don't know what works with radio. I can't write a song for the radio."
As far as he's concerned, "Blame It on My Youth" isn't a reach to sound like anything else on the radio — it's a "quintessential Blink song."
"It's talking about growing up and feeling alienated and starting a band because of it," he said. "It's not that far removed from 'I guess this is growing up' from 1997. That was 22 years ago. We're still in the wheelhouse. And then I look online and people are like, 'This is not Blink! This is… bad pop music!' And I'm like… it has all of the elements of Blink."
He admitted the modern production might throw some people off, but he's not interested in writing "California 3" or "Enema of the State four times"
When "Blame It On My Youth" first dropped, a fan pleaded with Hoppus on Twitter to return to their old sound. Though he initially responded with a simple "no," he then expanded on his thoughts in the interview — particularly taking issue with the fan's notion that Blink-182 is "the Beatles of pop-punk."
"I don't think we're the Beatles, but let's take your example of the Beatles," he said, referring to the fan's initial tweet. "If you look at the Beatles going from Revolver to Yellow Submarine to Sgt. Pepper to the White Album, those records are vastly, vastly different from one another. And if you're saying that you want us to stay the same that we were 20 years ago the Beatles is not the example of a band staying the same over time."
Hoppus added that the band have moved beyond the notion of genre labels like "pop punk" or even "rock," opting instead to include "really aggressive stuff," "stuff that's probably even poppier than 'Blame It on My Youth'" and "weird stuff" on Blink-182's upcoming LP.
That said, Hoppus revealed that despite releasing its first single, the new album still doesn't have a name, a final tracklisting or even a final mix, but, "Touch wood, I feel like Blink is in a really good place right now."
Revisit the latest single, "Blame It on My Youth" below. You can also listen to Hoppus get interviewed on Blink-155 below at around the 2:30 mark.
As previously reported, Blink-182 have an upcoming joint tour with Lil Wayne, and you can see the band's dates here.