#cynical blink 182

[decemberthe7th]

😭

[verdantglow]

Fuck it, posts my SmallEtho playlist.

Part-Time Soulmate, Full-Time Problem: A SmallEtho/Boat Boys Playlist

(Best listened to on shuffle.)

This is a kinda long playlist (28 tracks), so if you only have time for a few songs, check out: ‘Pyrokenesis’; ‘I Am Fred Astaire’; & ‘Built To Burn.’

Full track list & selected lyrics under cut.

1. Son of a Gun - Motion City Soundtrack

Have you had enough? Are you tough? Are you broken?/Hit me where it hurts, don’t just curtsey & sulk/I know I deserve every elegant word that you’re hurling at me

2. Pyrokenesis - 7chariot

When you say the things you say, they start a little spark/Ignite this small but also highly flammable heart

You’re setting me on fire, I don’t wanna fight it/You don’t need a lighter, you’re a flame/Drowning myself in water only makes it harder/Hard for me to keep myself away

3. Just One Yesterday - Fall Out Boy

I want to teach you a lesson in the worst kind of way/Still I’d trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday

4. Violently Alive - I Hate Kate

I hate that you’re there/And I’m here/In the same room/Miles from me to you/We’re so distant/But close enough to touch

5. Tiger Teeth - Walk The Moon

Give in, give in, I want you back/One heart, one too many to stomach/Love bites so deep and we got tiger teeth

6. It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A Deathwish - My Chemical Romance

Hip-hip-hooray for me, you talk to me/But would you kill me in my sleep?/Lay still like the dead/From the razor to the rosary, we could lose ourselves/And paint these walls in pitchfork red

7. True Romance - Motion City Soundtrack

I’m a screwup of epic proportions/A walking hand grenade/Hyper-manic, a dime store dramatic/A conduit for pain

She said “Don’t speak, don’t think,/Just take it off, take it off”/I said “Don’t speak, don’t think,/Just mess me up, mess me up”

8. Violence - blink-182

Like violence, you have me, forever and after/Like violence, you kill me, forever and after

9. I Am Fred Astaire - Taking Back Sunday

I’m under the assumption that I’m gonna be the one that’s leaving you/Tonight, oh, tonight/Well I flipped every switch that I could find on my way out/Just to upset you more/Just to keep you busy/Just to make you angry/Just because you were right

I’m stuttering through it, but I hear it/Well I-I I hear it’s good t-t-to stick to what you know

10. The Wolf - The Crane Wives

I am not a tempest/I light torches in my sleep/I have gasoline in my veins/I am always burning, burning burning

11. Crave - Waterparks

I’m cravin’ a getaway from the/Smooth talk that’s keeping me grounded/To the carpet in my room/My quiet blue tomb of you

I wish I could forget you

12. Hold Me Like A Grudge - Fall Out Boy

Hold me, hold me like a grudge/The world is always spinning and I can’t keep up/Faster and faster, can’t do it on my own/Part-time soulmate, full-time problem yeah/Hold me like a grudge

13. Formidable - Twenty One Pilots

You are formidable to me/‘Cause you seem to know it, where you wanna go/Yeah yeah yeah I’ll follow you/But you should know/I might be cynical towards you/But I just can’t believe that I’m for you/Yeah yeah yeah I can die with you/Just let me know

14. Play With Fire - Sam Tinnesz feat Yacht Money

I ride the edge/My speed goes in the red/Hot blood, these veins/My pleasure is their pain/I love to watch the castles burn/These golden ashes turn to dirt/I’ve always liked to play with fire

15. Bulletproof Heart - My Chemical Romance

I’ve got a bulletproof heart/You’ve got a hollow point smile/Me and your runaway scars/Got photographed dream on the getaway mile/Let’s blow a hole in this town/And do our talking with a laser beam/Gunnin’ out of this place in a bullet’s embrace/Then we’ll do it again

16. The Truth Is, You Should Lie With Me - Say Anything

You’re a pretty face, you should like me/I want to get used by you/‘Cause I’m full of hate, just excite me/I want to get bruised by you

17. Red - Pale Waves

Oh no baby, are we gonna make it this time?/I always take hearts that shouldn’t be mine, be mine/Slow down baby, are we gonna make it alive?/You’ve got a face that I always recognize/Always recognize

18. Kill V. Maim - Grimes

I did something bad, maybe I was wrong/Sometimes people says that I’m a big time bomb/But I’m only a man/And I do what I can

19. FUNERAL GREY - Waterparks

I said that you can call me, beep me/If you want my skin/She rolled her eyes and then she said/“I know your dying wish is to be baptized in my spit”

20. Shiver - Motion City Soundtrack

Shiver away, I thought the action was real/Somewhere I know that’s just the way you are/it’s hard to believe that you’re a part of me/And I can’t believe when you carry on and on

21. Kiss With A Fist - Florence + The Machine

My black eye casts no shadow/Your red eye sees nothing/Your slaps don’t stick, your kicks don’t hit/So we remain the same/Love sticks, sweat drips/Break the lock if it don’t fit/A kick to the teeth is good for some/A kiss with a fist is better than none

22. Mr. Brightside- The Killers

It started out with a kiss/How did it end up like this/It was only a kiss/It was only a kiss

23. Tear You Apart - She Wants Revenge

Escape was just a nod and a casual wave/Obsess about it heavy for the next two days/It’s only just a crush, it’ll go away/It’s just like all the others, it’ll go away/Or maybe this is danger and he just don’t know/You pray it all away, but it continues to grow

24. Can You Feel My Heart (Remix) - Bring Me The Horizon, Jeris Johnson

I’m scared to get close/And I hate being alone/I long for that feeling to not feel at all

Holding on, bring me close, feel my heart/Can you feel my heart?

25. Built To Burn - Shaffer James

We’ll build a world/And burn it down/Everything is pretty/When we burn it to the ground

26. Hatef—k - The Bravery

There will be no tenderness, no tenderness/I will show no mercy for you/You had no mercy for me/The only thing that I ask/Love me mercilessly

27. Stupid For You - Waterparks

You’re playing ring around my head/I’ll wear you like a halo/You’re a symphony/I’m just a sour note/I’ll take what I can get/The best is hard to grip when everybody wants you/And everybody wants you

28. My Obsession - Pale Waves

I’m stood still, I can barely breathe/You’re such a mess but you’re always beautiful to me/Run your fingers across my mouth/I’m not prepared to stay here without you

[nurbsfirby]

ChaoticSimlish's Chaos CAS Shuffle (aka the CCC Shuffle)

Rules:

Take a playlist of your choosing OR your liked songs on Spotify and shuffle it! (It’s best if it has some good variety on it)

Use those songs to craft a sim in CAS! They decide what kind of sim you make based of the vibes, lyrics, etc

Post your five songs along with your sim!

Feel free to tag others!

Thanks to @druidberries for tagging me I really enjoyed this and I loved seeing your sim too. ♥ I also chose my liked songs thinking it would give me more variety (spoiler - it didn't).

Cynical - Blink 182

I'm Not Okay - My Chemical Romance

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

Pity Party - Melanie Martinez

Without You - Kid LAROI & Miley Cyrus

Ash Smith - Did someone say emo? Teen sim, she's a loner and chronically gloomy. I absolutely love her!! (look how cute her little socks and shoes are!?!) & isn't her shirt giving off major Melanie Martinez vibes?

[tomblinkies]

NOT SORRY, NOT SORRY, NOT SORRY IM NOT SORRY.

this song is about tom. source? just trust me bro

[kadebronson]

oh christ-mas

01. december is for cynics - the matches

02. i won't be home for christmas - blink-182

03. silent night - the dickies

04. merry christmas - the ramones

05. there ain't no sanity clause - the damned

06. christmas wrapping - the waitresses

07. fairtyale of new york - the pogues ft. kirsty maccoll

08. forget december - something corporate

09. all i want for christmas is you - mariah carey

10. rudolph the manic reindeer - los lobos

11. merry axe-mas - ice nine kills

12. christmas every day - simple plan

13. santa has a mullet - nerf herder

14. yule shoot your eye out - fall out boy

15. what's this - from the nightmare before christmas

16. this time of year - the mighty mighty bosstones

17. skank for christmas - reel big fish

18. snoopy's christmas - smash mouth

19. all i want for christmas is you - my chemical romance

20. the corner store on christmas - bowling for soup

21. you're a mean one, mr. grinch - misfits

22. the snow miser song - 45 grave

23. alone this holiday - the used

24. ex-miss - new found glorey

25. where did my xmas tree go? - vengaboys

26. i want an alien for christmas - fountains of wayne

27. one christmas catalogue - VH X RR, logan

28. do you hear what i hear? - william beckett

29. thank god it's christmas - queen

30. christmas at the zoo - the flaming lips

31. don't shoot me santa - the killers ft. ryan perdy

32. christmas vacation - descendents

33. xmas has been X'ed - NOFX

34. father christmas - the kinks

35. bad guy's christmas - harley poe

36. oi to the world - the vandals

37. christmas day - squeeze

38. it doesn't often snow at christmas - pet shop boys

39. last christmas - wham!

40. 2000 miles - the pretenders

41. home on christmas day - cyndi lauper

42. santa claus - throwing muses

43. santa's beard - they might be giants

44. skank 'til christmas - the selecter

45. all i want for christmas (is world peace) - timbuk 3

46. shouldn't have given him a gun for christmas - wall of voodoo

47. homo christmas - pansy division

48. sympathy 4 the grinch - 100 gecs

49. one more sleep 'til christmas - from a muppet christmas carol

you can listen to the playlist here!

[heatwavering]

when-harry-met-sally-ification of hangster is genius!!!! i would love to hear more about that if you don't mind sharing!

also - what's on your bradley bradshaw playlist? what's genre do you associate w/ him the most?

oh god. oh you don’t even know man. hangster being harry met sally (1989) is one of those things that only makes sense in my head or with a lot of background context, because if i were to just come out and say “rooster is like sally because he’s a chronic perfectionist and an emotional powder keg that lets everything pile up until the last moment (plus his mom is meg ryan), and hangman’s like harry because he’s an cynical asshole who’s actually gooey on the inside and doesn’t speak before he thinks and chooses to push peoples buttons and yearns more than he lets on” to someone who’s only seen both movies in passing, i’m going to get a lot of blank stares and nervous laughter. "isn't that every romcom couple ever?" yes. but i mean--

BAR. FOR BAR. I have wayyy more examples and comparisons but my computer explodes every time I try to add a picture or god forbid a gif. mostly, the "we've met before and it went terrible both times, but the third time we met it stuck and we managed to finally find equal footing and fall in love," is sooooo special to me. and since when harry met sally is an 80s movie (derogatory) and people bog down on the "men and women can't be friends" thing it gets a lot of flack, but by the end of the movie the whole dynamic shifts and becomes more like "why are we putting such big expectations on a relationship when I just love you. plain and simple. no wishy-washy philosophy applies because we've outgrown it and now know each other as equals." (plus that whole first "idea" is brought up by a cynical twenty-something who changes his entire worldview by the end of the movie bc he's fallen in love. why stick to your guns about an idea that's outdated when (a) people are too complicated to fall into your boxes and (b) uhhh who cares. you're in love. I always thought the change in harry's character is supposed to reverse his previous claim in the beginning of the movie and make fun of it for being kind of elementary. but maybe I'm thinking too hard about it.) I'm definitely glossing over some plot points and nuance and whatever but again, this dynamic is something that came directly out of my mind and basically only applies to how I've sandcastled hangster into what I want to see. plus I watched WHMS at like nine years old and it might've had some debilitating side effects. enjoy with an entire pile of salt.

about music now. I'm one of those people that is the ugly kind of pretentious about character playlists (his ass would NOT listen to hayloft by mother mother, shit like that) but also spends net zero time actually building a playlist that follows a timeline or theme. so I just sort everything into two separate playlists/categories: songs that [insert character] would listen to "canonically" and songs [insert character] is aligned with in my own opinion. sometimes there's overlap!!! and sometimes I'm forcing myself to decide if Bradley listens to third eye blind or is the kind of guy who makes fun of people who listen to third eye blind. I still can't decide. I wasn't alive when he was in high school. and you know you're up a creek without a paddle when American Pie (1999) becomes reliable historical material. anyway here's the best way I can describe the difference in the two:

Bradley's own playlist: teenage boy from SoCal in the late 90s early 2000s. in my mind he was always kinda quiet in school and did partake in band so he could play the piano (yes, in jazz band. if I hear a Whiplash joke I'm airing the room out) and spent a lot of time listening to anything and everything that wasn't uhhh Britney Spears adjacent. but lots of blink-182, foo fighters, Pearl Jam, nirvana. probably some early Coldplay. maybe some of The Killers when he got to college, and Radiohead but in secret and when Maverick wouldn't bully him for listening to so much "sad ass (unspoken: gay) music." and of course he's Goose's son, soooo: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Jim Croce, Billy Joel, Allman Brother's Band, Hall & Oates, CCR, Eagles, etc. From Maverick (and Ice): U2, Pearl Jam, The Cars, more dad yacht rock, maybe Metallica (??) depends on if you think Maverick would ever mess around with something hair metal adjacent. of course he prays at the alter of Bruce Springsteen like his fathers before him. and his mom filled in everything else: Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Paul Simon, Wham! (George Michael being outed....hoo boy. #1 topic NOT discussed at the Bradshaw-Mitchell-Kazansky dinner table.), George Strait, Hootie & The Blowfish, miscellaneous female country music from the 90s like Faith Hill and Shania Twain. Alison Krauss & Union Station! Alanis Morissette! The Goo Goo Dolls? now I'm just listing things but you get the picture.

my playlist about Bradley: anything about hating your dad or your hometown with lyrics that apply. see photo below and you'll get the vibe.

[also, that ONE specific photo of miles teller in project x is the photo that sailed a thousand fics. i love that photo. i wrote this entire fucking fic around that photo. it’s so bradley nicolas bradshaw to me.]

but overall my biggest examples of songs that apply to him (for me) are Little Giant by Roo Panes, Release by Pearl Jam, and The Long Way Around by the Chicks. Seventeen by Sharon Van Etten bc of how it makes me feel about Maverick and him (sick in the head.) souvenir by boygenius. faith by bon iver. Hot & Heavy by Lucy Dacus and The Steps by HAIM for hangster vibes. too much Taylor Swift and Maggie Rogers that I don't know how to explain without having a published fic. I have a ton more and I want to pick like 10 songs from each section and go into heavier detail, but I should probably put something out before I dig myself a hole pffft.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 28/10/2023 (The Kid LAROI/Central Cee, blink-182's 'ONE MORE TIME...')

Content warning: Cynicism and brief masturbation

For a third week, Kenya Grace’s “Strangers” is at the top of the UK Singles Chart, and welcome back to a quieter, later episode of REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

Now the Official Charts Company was so delayed in posting the chart this week that I am so incredibly late in actually getting the chance to write this rundown section. Alas, let’s do a speedrun here - firstly we always start with the notable dropouts, songs exiting the UK Top 75 - which is what I cover - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40, you know it, yadda-yadda-yadda. This week we bid adieu to: “DArkSide” by Bring Me the Horizon, “I Do” by Nines featuring who the Hell cares, “Hide and Seek” by 163Margs featuring Digga D, “PARK CHINOIS” by Headie One and K-Trap, “Rich Men North of Richmond” by Oliver Anthony Music, “Hell n Back” by Bakar and finally, “So Much in Love” by D.O.D. It had a good run.

As for our gains and returns, we see re-entries for bottom-feeders like “Riptide” by Vance Joy at #75 and “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac at #66, as well as the new Rolling Stones album letting “Angry” slip back at #73, “Lil Boo Thang” by Paul Russell sprouting legs at #65 and “bad idea right?” by Olivia Rodrigo doing weird three-song-rule shenanigans at #46 because of course. And as for our gains, we see boosts for - bear with me - “Style” by Taylor Swift at #62 (watch that space), “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac at #56, “Party All the Time” by Hannah Laing and HVRR at #53, “ONE MORE TIME” by blink-182 at #42 thanks to the album, “Calm Down” by Rema at #39, “Me & U” by Tems at #36, “On My Love” by Zara Larsson and David Guetta at #29, “Agora Hills” by Doja Cat at #28, “Pompeii” by Bastille at #26, “One of Your Girls” by Troye Sivan and finally, Noah Kahan grabs his first top 10 with “Stick Season” at #9.

As for our top five, it’s pretty expected - “Water” by Tyla is at #5, which I’m never going to complain about, and then we have “greedy” by Tate McRae at #4, “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift at #3  gaining off of the back of a re-release featuring a live version and a remix - more of her to come next week - and then “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe at #2 with of course, “Strangers” at #1. Now to see what this smaller week may have to offer in its pattering of shoddy new entries.

NEW ARRIVALS

#63 - “Sensational” - Chris Brown featuring Davido and Lojay

Produced by DJ Hardwerk, BigRagee, Krazytunez and XQ

Davido and Lojay are Nigerian singers so it seems like Chris Brown’s latest ploy is to slot himself within Afrobeats, a genre wherein he… honestly fits pretty well. A lot of male Afrobeats singers have nasal, Auto-Tuned voices saved by their potent, earnest delivery. That’s Breezy’s vocal default in a nutshell… so why is he trying to be cool here? He plays off the wavy, tropical shuffling with a level of restraint and subtlety you rarely hear from the guy ever, I guess to match the sample-esque murky backing vocals from Lojay. It’s not a bad groove either, but it honestly kind of disappoints me that he didn’t go full-out with the classic Chris Brown approach, even if he does do some obnoxious “na-na-na”s and those staccato harmonies as usual. It doesn’t help that this song doesn’t have a good hook, despite Sean Kingston being behind the writing of all people. There’s just nothing catchy about this song, which seems to focus much more on atmosphere… which makes no sense! It’s a club dance song where the girl’s body is described as sensational, where’s the sensation? Davido tries, bless him, but as a result of the song’s misplaced “coolness” pretence, he just sounds out of place. And Lojay’s verse is embarrassing - “booty wider than the Internet”? Really? Sigh, given it’s Chris Brown, it could be a lot worse.

#57 - “IT GIRL” - Aliyah’s Interlude

Produced by Lxnely Beats

It’s been a while since we got a straight-up TikTok viral song, it feels, but rising star Aliyah’s Interlude - what made you go with that name? - seems to have cultivated a pretty loyal fanbase and specific terminology, some of which is mentioned in the song, already so this could either be the start of a big deal or a complete meme fluke. And God, I hope this is a fluke because this is insufferable. It’s not even insufferable in a moral or boring way, it’s just annoying. The Eurodance throwback synth is obnoxious, the plodding percussion is lazy, and whilst Aliyah’s Interlude herself is clearly full of passion and character, it is actually to the detriment of an already minimal, annoying song. It seems the intent was either to be primal or overwhelming, but that synth is so distracting that I can’t fully understand the cult of personality with borderline comedy-rap verses and an admittedly very good use of spelling out the title in chorus. I believe that this is what one could claim as “slaying”, and I kind of get it, but it’s just too much of a stressful listen for me. That synth, it just never stops. I’m sure Aliyah’s Interlude would shine on more polished production as her performance here is close to salvaging something but that may come years down the line. For now, God, please don’t make this a hit.

#55 - “DANCE WITH ME” - blink-182

Produced by Travis Barker

This is such a dry week that I could aptly describe it as being victim to a blink-182 album bomb, or at least as much as the UK Singles Chart will allow. At least they debuted some songs from their #2 album ONE MORE TIME… unlike the Rolling Stones at #1. Anyway, this was a pre-release single only charting now thanks to the album, and it has a music video that mimics that of the Ramones’ “I Wanna be Sedated”, which the track also interpolates. The 1978 track was never released as an A-side single in the UK so failed to chart, but has been set in stone as one of the classic punk outfit’s most iconic songs. I assume that as a result we have a pretty straightforward punk throwback from blink, and for the most part we do, but it’s not really a good one. I love Travis Barker’s cavernous drumming and production of course, and it will always will give a certain base level of quality to these songs, but blink aren’t doing anything new here, or doing something they’ve already done particularly well. There’s a weird bitter venom in Tom DeLonge’s delivery and an apathetic disinterest in Mark Hoppus’ voice that both miss the mark for a song about dancing - or masturbating, if the awkward intro is to be believed - all night long. The chorus is basic but somehow not even catchy, it’s just expected and predictable. At this point with blink, maybe that’s all we should settle for? It just sucks that I know how interesting they can be.

#48 - “ANTHEM PART 3” - blink-182

Produced by Travis Barker

This is the opening track on the record and one that follows in the footsteps of their older “Anthem” tracks, signaling their big comeback. The original “Anthem” from 1999’s Enema of the State is actually the outro to the album, and is fittingly out of fuel considering the rest of the album’s energy that this track seems desperate to grab onto, which sounds like a complaint but considering the fantastic drumming, atrocious vocal delivery and mixing, incredibly cathartic post-chorus, I’d say it sums up the aftermath of a reckless party pretty damn well. The issue here is that “Anthem” plays a lot into the idea that parents - probably a further analogy for authority in general - possess a lot of power behind what fun can actually be had, with “Anthem Part Two”, the opener of 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, playing even further into that by basically making it a protest against how the youth are having their futures ruined by those in power who are from generations prior. It sums up pop punk’s teenage rebellion side pretty well - it’s not good, it’s formulaic and surprisingly dull, but I can understand why it is held up as the anthem it claims out the gate to be. Now here’s the real problem: blink-182 are now the parents. What do they rebel against this time around? Life, in general. Actual adult life in fact. It’s an uplifting track with rapid, awkwardly-mixed drums and a seemingly constant crescendo of guitars that merges into a muddy, gross stretch of noise under Tom DeLonge, but an uplifting track nonetheless, an anthem for people who have been played with by the nine-to-five and tedious career. The really resonant bridge from Mark Hoppus, who recently came out of his struggle with cancer, ends with a line about no-one caring for the eventuality of him dying… but it gets cut short, taken away by the chorus. This could be a pretty effective decision, if it weren’t the only part of the song that I actually liked or moved me in any way, with even the classic pop punk drop-into-half-time trick just coming off as tired. Whilst all of these “Anthem” tracks are tired, exhausted last bursts of anger, this one is tired in a particularly sad way. It’s a pathetic song, one that can’t really be called “ANTHEM”… and that’s fine. In fact, it’s slightly endearing and not even really a slight towards the song. It’s just kind of sad to hear.

#41 - “In the City” - Charli XCX and Sam Smith

Produced by A.G. Cook, Charli XCX, George Daniel, ILYA and Omer Fedi

I have no idea what either of these artists are doing career-wise at this very moment. It seems like both Charli and Sam are struggling to hold onto the balance between mass appeal and niche novelty, and Sam may be in a similar spot to where Charli was back in the mid-2010s, or at least appears to have some kind of dissatisfaction with pop stardom as a fact rather than how they viewed it when it was a promise. Basically, it makes complete sense for the two to collaborate, and it also makes complete sense that the song is… just bad. A.G. Cook is on the boards here but his style is so washed out by the pop songwriters also involved that even Charli sounds disinterested. It’s hyperpop lite, with some interesting lyrics about finding your true self after meeting a partner in New York City’s sprawling nightlife, but over some particularly dull four-on-the-floor percussion and with vocal effects - particularly on Sam Smith’s voice - that overwhelm the actual performance, making it feel programmed and somehow so professional it breaches back onto amateur, in a cyclical motion I didn’t think could even happen. I know Charli fans will defend her continuing to experiment whilst also spreading out to mainstream pop tracks but let’s be real, how far is this really from a Joel Corry song? A.G. Cook could have had nothing to do with this and it’d sound the same. Everyone here just seems tired and confused with what to do with themselves, in an awkwardly passionless single that seemingly isn’t connected to an album yet and doesn’t have a video. Sam Smith is nowhere to be seen in the cover art or even the picture used for the YouTube audio video. This is just… nothing.

#10 - “TOO MUCH” - The Kid LAROI, Jung Kook and Central Cee

Produced by Blake Slatkin, Jasper Harris, Emile Haynie and Omer Fedi

You know, this is kind of refreshing. For once, there is no discourse. It is just a simple idea that this top 10 hit by three big-name artists, including a BTS member, with a stacked production list, Scooter Braun single push is a bad song, and that’s fine. There is nothing immoral about the song’s badness, there’s nothing particularly annoying or sad about the song’s badness, there’s nothing even all that boring about the song’s badness. It’s just bad, sometimes comically, and I’m honestly okay with that. The vocal sample is filtered to crap and placed against a similarly weightless, chippy snap and ladders of gross, inhuman leads and sounds, none of which actually seem like they actually want your attention. The chorus has too much empty space punctuated by… bilingual breathing, The Kid LAROI’s verse goes for a desperate and annoying delivery which doesn’t last too long but is still overly whiny, Central Cee is in full rent-a-rapper mode and despite having a completely fine, on-beat flow, he still somehow sounds awkward with his typically toxic, sexual lyrics that don’t go too far to be immoral, just more weird and overly wordy and detailed, maybe manipulative at times. The Kid LAROI’s second attempt at a pre-chorus is actually pretty good, he sounds great, especially on the backing vocals, right before the final chorus, wherein I couldn’t tell where he ends and Jung Kook begins. In fact, Mr. Kook has jack to do in this song. The song just seems to reflect how all three of these guys are at least slightly complacent, facing slightly less favourable results than they expected commercially but still doing well enough and is a piece of apathetic male pop music no one is actually seeking out too much anymore - and apparently Justin Bieber was supposed to be on this at some point and still has a writing credit, so that rings extra true. But that’s all it reflects. It’s just bad, and if anything sums up this week of new arrivals, it’s that: just bad.

Conclusion

And yeah, that wasn’t really hyperbole in any way. I liked none of what little the charts had to offer this week. I can barely give a sincere Best of the Week and really, Chris Brown is a runner-up for the most quality song here, which is a depressing state of affairs. He’s not getting it though, at least blink-182 gave me a lot to say with “ANTHEM PART 3”. As for the worst, I mean, pick any of them but I think I’ll give to “In the City” by Charli XCX and Sam Smith for making me feel absolutely nothing, with Aliyah’s Interlude as the Dishonourable Mention with “IT GIRL” for making me feel a pounding headache. Taylor’s next and then we’re in the holiday dregs for the next two months. Thank you for reading, sorry for the delay - genuinely out of my control, complain to the Official Charts Company - and I’ll see you next week!

[cerulli]

i’m pretty sure i just ran into angelina 'angel' cerulli ! you know them, they’re the twenty four year old music teacher / musician that’s been here for two years. they can be pretty endearing, but on the d.l., they’re also flippant. i have their ringtone set as i miss you by blink-182 in my cell. next time you’re around brooklyn, tell them to give me a call ! 

THE BASICS

full name: angelina marie cerulli

nickname(s): angel, lina, gia

gender: cis woman

pronouns: she / her

sexuality: she views herself as bisexual with a heavy preference towards women, but she’s actually a lesbian -she just hasn’t discovered that about herself yet.

sign: sagittarius sun, cancer moon, gemini rising

occupation: aspiring musician and part time guitar teacher

TLDR

angel cerulli was born on the 8th of december, 1979, the only child of two lower to middle class parents who often struggled to make ends meet, but never let her want for anything. with both her parents working long hours, angel was often left to her own devices to do whatever she wanted. days were spent wandering around the brooklyn aimlessly. she was twelve when she first laid eyes on an electric guitar, in the window of a newly opened secondhand store. immediately smitten, she scrimped and saved for several months so she could buy it. time after school was no longer spent fluttering about, but instead on learning how to play the guitar by playing along to songs on MTV.

she started her first band at the age of fourteen, inspired heavily by then-popular grunge brands such as nirvana, pearl jam, and hole. they were about as good as you would expect a band full of middle schoolers to be, but the entire experience put stars in her eyes and made her all the more determined to actually make it. and so with a kiss and a hug goodbye, angel left new york city for los angeles on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, with the absolute bare bones of a plan beyond getting signed to a label — somehow.

it's really no surprise that things went pear shaped almost straight away. turns out that people rarely ever made it in los angeles without having connections or slogging for years. and it turns out the whole starving artist thing? it's stressful. so after four long, gruelling years of exhausting all her savings and getting absolutely nowhere, despite submitting demo after demo and performing show after show for pennies, angel moved back home to brooklyn.

you'd think the whole experience would have made her more cynical, but it's only made her all the more determined to work even harder and try again and again. writing songs and making demos still takes up the large majority of her time, although she's picked up a part time job as a guitar teacher for a couple of rich kids to help pay the bills around the house.

PERSONALITY

angel is a true optimist, a glass half full type of person through and through — it definitely tends to get more than a little annoying from time to time. she's a chatterbox who will absolutely talk your ear off if given the chance, loves making new friends and learning about people and what makes them click. she doesn't take life or herself too seriously, so can come off as facetious from time to time. will absolutely not give up on anything she's set her heart on — annoying but in a donkey from shrek (2001) kind of way <333

WANTED CONNECTIONS

to be added !

[broke-bruce-wayne]

Tagged by @puzzle-paradigm to put my On Repeat playlist on shuffle and post the first 10 songs that pop up...but I'm not doing that because its just all songs from the classic rock playlist I listen to while sleeping. So you're getting my liked songs shuffled instead lol

Sleepyhead - Passion Pit

We Saw the Sun - Lil Yachty

Dangerous Liaisons - black midi

Armatage Shanks - Green Day

Try Again - Aaliyah

And I Smoke - Hot Mulligan

Alone Down There - Modest Mouse

Cynical - blink 182

Jesus, etc. - Wilco

We Begged 2 Explode - Jeff Rosenstock

I'll tag @pendulum-north @shoesofthefishermanswife @antiquaries @nananananananabatfam and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it

[bananxious]

god the absolutely genius of giving Sam and Max a grungy cynical uggo 1990s kid ... you cannot convince me The Geek doesn't listen to Soundgarden or Hole or The Distillers and sways like a jaded teen at a Smashing Pumpkins concert. Smokes behind the bike shed and calls Blink 182 a bunch of posers. Avril Lavigne hater. ilu uggo Gen X child

[byrnt-out-music]

Review 1: Blink-182 - California (Deluxe)

I have a.... complicated relationship with California by Blink-182. I got into Blink around 2015. Just after Tom left for the second time and Matt Skiba was announced to replace him. I remember Bored To Death coming out and losing my mind. I was so excited for this album, sharing the singles on Facebook as they came out and hyping the album up to be a "masterpiece", much to my mother's chagrin. She liked them, but had called me out on a post doubtful of the "masterpiece" comment. And, as time has gone on, I realized something: She was right.

Now, don't get me wrong, this is a good record. But upon my first revisit of the album post-NINE (their followup record), the cracks started to show. I'd bought the album on CD upon release and then ordered the deluxe vinyl the moment it was announced, so that is gonna be the album I cover, as I believe the bonus tracks deserve to be included. If I posted this review as soon as I'd gotten the album at the naive age of 17, I would've given this a glowing review. However, I'm 24 now. And unfortunately for this album, my opinions have started to sour towards it. Then warmed up again. But still. Hopefully that makes sense. Let's get this goin' then, shall we? Track 1 - Cynical: A great opener, I absolutely adore screaming the outro along with Matt. I still love this song, one of my favourites on the album.

Track 2 - Bored To Death: First single. I still love this song as well, still feels the same as it did 8 years ago (fuck I'm old). The chorus on this is great, honestly for most of this album, even the stinkers have great hooks.

Track 3 - She's Out Of Her Mind: Overall decent song. Hated the music video from the start. Not so much from a "this is problematic" perspective, moreso the fact that it showed something that I've realised more and more in the years since: These guys are desperately trying to remind you that they are, in fact, Blink-182. It feels very tryhard, as if they're holding a sign the entire video that says "Hey! Remember how much you liked What's My Age Again? Remember?? Yeah that was us!!". It just feels... fake, I guess. Sorry I have more to say about the things I dislike.

Track 4 - Sober: Honestly, this used to be my least favorite song on the album. As a young elitist idiot, I hated the "going pop" aspect of it, it reminded me of 5SOS, and I did NOT like them. It's grown on me though. I like it a whole lot more, mostly for the fact that it sounds different. That's rare for the album in my opinion.

Track 5 - Los Angeles: Remember how I said I didn't like Sober cause of how different it sounded compared to normal Blink? Remember how I then said that I now love the "different" sounding tracks? Yeah, this is an exception. So experimental it sounds more tryhard than natural to me. It sounds interesting but nothing to really grab me.

Track 6 - Built This Pool: The first joke track of the album, and unfortunately the only good one. The joke isn't exactly funny to me (haha get it it's funny cuz gay), but it's short, catchy, and Travis' little remark at the end of it? Makes it worth it.

Track 7 - No Future: My biggest regret in my initial assessment of this album. This song is what made me think "masterpiece". In case you can't tell, I don't think that anymore. It's a largely forgettable song to me now, the only thing I remember is the hook. And even that is just "meh" to me. It's repetitive and not in a way that works for me. It just gets annoying and falls flat.

Track 8 - Home Is Such A Lonely Place: A nice little slow ballad. It's a very sweet song, and I love playing it on guitar and singing it. Blink has always done great ballads in my opinion, and this song is further proof that even at their worst (to me), they can still hit.

Track 9 - Kings Of The Weekend: Now here's the worst part of the album for me. Not this song, it's a nice little fun song but from this point till maybe track 13, just feels too "Blink-By-The-Numbers". Like I said earlier, this album feels less like a "Hey, we're still around and even without Tom, we can still make good shit", and more like a "Hey, Tom's gone but don't worry here's more of the same". For the songs in this stretch, it just feels like each song was done better in an earlier Blink song, or even worse, just generic. Not that I expect every Blink song to reinvent the wheel, but it at least shouldn't sound like the most average song imaginable. The next few tracks will probably be much shorter as I share these same opinions.

Track 10 - Teenage Satellites: Ugh. Do not like this song. The most "Hello, fellow kids" thing they'd done (up until Darkside's video, shudder). It's just... so tryhard. I can't. Even when I loved this album, this was one of the worst songs for me.

Track 11 - Left Alone: Good chorus. That's about all I can think of.

Track 12 - Rabbit Hole: Used to love this song so much. Probably the only one in this "stinker" stretch but still kinda mid honestly.

Track 13 - San Diego: Another good chorus. The best one of this stretch, probably the most memorable thing about it. It just sounds really good. The way Matt just slides into it ("I can't sleep/Cause what if I dream of/Going back to San Diego"). Honestly this is probably my favorite chorus on the standard edition.

Track 14 - The Only Thing That Matters: A more punky sounding track. I like to imagine this originated from the same sessions with Fat Mike that birthed Punk Rock Cliche (which Blink scrapped and NOFX later recorded), as it sounds vaguely NOFX-ish. I really enjoy this song.

Track 15 - California: Another "different" track, but I loved this one from the first time I heard it. Something about it just makes me feel good. A nice little closing track (shh) that feels like a neat credits sequence for the album.

Track 16 - Brohemian Rhapsody: Yeah. Another "joke" song. Musically it sounds good, but the joke of it? I still don't get what's funny about it. I get the joke. Haha it sounds like I'm talking about sex but I actually meant coffee haha get it haha sex funny. Yeah. It's not.

Track 17 - Parking Lot: And now the album is saved! The bonus tracks arrived and honestly, if you replaced tracks 8-12 with these, I would love the album so much more. It's a classic sounding Blink track, but without sounding too tryhard. Feels like they made these after they got Matt more settled in and it helps SO much.

Track 18 - Misery: Another absolute banger! Not much to say and I wanna try to keep the rest of these short I am so sorry. I love it so much though.

Track 19 - Good Old Days: Yet another banger, yet another chorus I love to belt at the top of my lungs.

Track 20 - Don't Mean Anything: This is probably the weakest chorus of the bonus tracks but the middle part saves it for me. I love the whole "It's a long way back from the middle of the road" part just feels so satisfying and makes it work so much better.

Track 21 - Hey I'm Sorry: This was from the Japanese version of the original album but I'm so glad they included it here. I love it so much, that chorus is up there with San Diego for one of my favorites on the album.

Track 22 - Last Train Home: A neat little more emotional track. That main guitar riff in the verses is so smooth-sounding, and the second part of the hook ("The only time I feel alive is when I find something I would die for") is my favorite lyric on the album.

Track 23 - Wildfire: Probably the most forgettable track of the bonuses. Still much better than any of the "stinker stretch" tracks by a MILE though.

Track 24 - 6/8: The heaviest Blink song??? Matt's screams on this are amazing, and I love the A Day To Remember energy they channel on this but I guarantee I am the only person who thinks that.

Track 25 - Long Lost Feeling: The ballad of the deluxe tracks, I love this one so so much. Another one I love singing and playing on guitar.

Track 26 - Bottom Of The Ocean: Whoa, it's like they finished Los Angeles and went "What if it was good?". Seriously though, this song is like a hint of the direction NINE would take, and what kickstarted my reevaluation of the album as a "masterpiece", as after I grew to like this, the album suddenly just felt so... bland.

Track 27 - Can't Get You More Pregnant: Of course it had to end with another "joke" track. The joke is masturbation, in case you couldn't tell. I wanna say I have no problem with jokes like the ones they make on this album, but these aren't funny to me. There's no "joke" to it, they're just going "haha gay, haha sexual innuendo, haha jacking off". The music is still good tho.

----

Overall, this is probably one of my least favorite Blink albums. Thankfully they followed this up with NINE, one of my favorite ones. I would give this album a 6.5/10, but only because of the bonus tracks. Standard edition would be a 4.5/10 honestly. Funny, considering this was a 10/10 at one point for me. Mom, I'm sorry. You were right.

----

Next album in my vinyl collection is The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me by Brand New, so get ready for a much more positive review when that comes.

[tomblinkies]

YAYYY TY!!

last song: cynical - blink 182

favorite color: red, green, and pink

currently watching: nothing really, waiting for heartstopper season 3 and stranger things season 5 to come out lol

spicy/savory/sweet: spicy and savory

relationship status: together but not together so idk

current obsession: music, crafts, and trying to get into college lol

no pressure tags!!

@antiquesintheattic @transmasctintin @hyyyperfixated @memesandmusicalss

Nine people i'd like to get to know better:

Tagged by: @bell-of-indecision, thank you so much for tagging me <3

Last Song: Gmfu by Odetari,6arelyhuman

Favourite colour: Dark red, violet, pink

Currently watching: Death note, ep6

Spicy/Savoury/Sweet: Spicy

Relationship status: Single

Current Obsession: Mbti types and cognitive functions.

Tagging: @somin-yin @a-cloud-for-dreams @axepen @hinsaa-paramo-dharma @basic-bitch-alkali @rhysaka @blackknight-100 @squishywizardd @reykalot