On Blink 182’s “Anthem Part Two”

Why the song is the band’s microcosm, and why it matters

“You used to read me stories, as if my dreams were boring
We all know conspiracies are dumb”
– Blink 182, “Aliens Exist”

Blink 182 is usually treated by the American culturati as mischievous suburban man-children singing punk-inflected nursery rhymes to teenagers in the late 90’s and early aughts. All serious people know they are not serious people, nor writers of serious music, nor performers of any meaningful esteem. In fact their live shows are so notoriously bereft of tempo – what some might call “the only job” of a drummer, especially one of such middle-class regard as Travis Barker – that it’s a wonder that even now, in 2024, they’ve capitalized on their nostalgic fans to the tune of $8.8 million and 43,600 tickets per night during the two LA shows of their World Tour 2023/2024.

Any reasonable person who missed the Blink 182 train in their youth, and who listens to the drivel they’re putting out now, and who knows their music exclusively as the obliterated-by-radio “All The Small Things,” could probably be forgiven for asking maybe the dumbest question of all time: Why do people like Blink 182 so much?

For that, we turn to: “Anthem Part 2.”

There’s a reason Blink’s latest comeback album starts off with “Anthem Part 3.” The reason is that “Anthem Part 2” permanently seared itself into the souls of a generation of youth. And despite being relentlessly mockable for its so-called pandering lyrics, the song itself – which is more than lyrics – is a tremendous song.

Before unpacking the Blink 182 phenomenon at length, I’ll pocket the cheekiness and skip to my actual thoughts on all this:

• I think “Anthem Part 2” is when Blink 182 stepped into the fullness of their prior album’s new direction

• I think the story of “Anthem Part 2” is really the story of Blink 182 in a microcosm

• And I think that all the shit that Blink 182 took for its dumb lyrics actually are the listeners’ fault and not Blink 182’s fault – and that an exegesis of “Anthem Part 2” will demonstrate that they were prescient and right about everything, to an unusual degree.

But let’s first take a step back.

“Where [What] Are You?”

Blink 182’s a pop punk band. But what’s pop punk, anyway?

Here’s definitions for pop music and, thereby, pop punk music as delivered by Anthropic’s Claude:

“Pop music:

A genre of popular music characterized by catchy melodies, simple chord progressions, and a strong emphasis on vocal performance. It often incorporates elements from various other genres and is designed to have broad commercial appeal.

Pop punk music:

A fusion genre that combines elements of pop music with punk rock. It typically features fast tempos, power chords, simple song structures, and melodic vocals. Pop punk often has a more polished production style than traditional punk, with lyrics often focusing on themes of youth, relationships, and angst.”

To my eye those definitions seem almost identical, but no one would mistake Ariana Grande for Good Charlotte (or Britney Spears for Blink 182 for that matter). Without clear definitions I think a simpler definition of pop punk is: whatever Blink 182 started doing on their album Enema of the State. Everything to come for pop punk in the early aughts was downstream of that.

But the question is, where did that sound come from?

Becoming Blink

A big part of Blink 182’s eventual appeal is the sheer energetic transfer between the band and the listener. Obviously punk music writ large could be credited on the same merit. But Blink 182 did it better and differently than other punk acts. Which is evident even within the band’s own discography, which markedly changes from “punk as usual” to “Blink as we know it” between Dude Ranch and Enema of the State.

Usually when a musician cites a major influence, the influence will sound somewhat like the protégé. For example, Andrew Bird’s advice to aspiring songwriters was basically to copy their top influences, output bad versions of those influences, but eventually output good versions of those influences by honing the ways they’re naturally different than those influences.

Not so with Blink 182.

For example, Tom Delonge credits Fugazi as a major early influence on Blink 182. Which is interesting, because eventually they sound nothing alike. The blender of Tom, Mark, and Travis apparently input Fugazi and output Enema of the State. Which is the first remarkable fact about the musical style that coalesced as the band, and which again presents the question: where then did their sound come from? What happened between 1997 (Dude Ranch) and 1999 (Enema of the State)?

The answer is drummer Travis Barker.

This transition from Old Blink to New Blink is fortunately-for-posterity captured in this documentary (from 24:40 minutes onward). Tom describes the precise moment where he empowered Travis to fully show up as a drummer (rather than just do the standard punk drumming of the time). It’s evident in retrospect that the energetic pulse of this next defining phase of Blink 182 comes from this one conversation and the subsequent creativity it unlocked among the three bandmates.

As a drummer Travis Barker deserves much more credit than he gets (and he actually gets a lot of credit). His unique gift isn’t progressive chops like Danny Carey, splashing improvisation like Carter Beauford, or even deep technical mastery like a Buddy Rich. Travis’ Barker’s gift is at once simpler yet more challenging to explain.

English professor Dr. Jeff Davis once wrote about the specific type of rhetorical skill that liberal arts educations ought to teach. One element of good rhetoric is “appropriateness,” he wrote. Appropriateness refers to the idea that effective communication should be tailored to the specific audience, context, and purpose. In other words, you wouldn’t speak like it’s the Gettysburg Address at a bar toast. This aligns with the classical rhetorical concept of “kairos,” which emphasizes the importance of timing and appropriateness in communication.

If Travis Barker’s drumming gift isn’t about chops, improvisation, or technique, what is it about? I’d argue it’s about creative appropriateness.

By that I mean this: across Barker’s drumming, there’s a sense in the listener that it fits the song ever-so-perfectly. It never feels like distractingly too much nor fleetingly too little. He’s often doing a lot – but it always serves the song. His live drum solos are weak, but his creativity when bounded by Tom’s guitars and Mark’s bass make each song what it ultimately is. And the idea of “drummer as songwriter” that Tom describes in the documentary is a total felt reality by the listener. Simple riffs and melodies become more than the sum of their parts when Travis’ drumming enters the mix.

And that ingredient is what transformed Blink 182 into what people came to love.

Enter “Anthem Part 2”

If you haven’t heard “Anthem Part 2” yet, it’s probably time to hear it. Here’s a link.

Now – I wrote prior that “Anthem Part 2” is a microcosm of Blink 182. What’s that actually mean?

By the time “Anthem Part 2” came out Blink 182 had already created the sound they’ve come to be known for. But “Anthem Part 2” is the first song on the next album that extended that direction and marked the new sound as here to stay (rather than the uncertain oscillations of their first few albums).

Another way to put it is this: the story of Blink 182 is essentially about the ex nihilo emergence of a new style into the punk landscape. That new style is primarily due to the splitting of the atom that was releasing Travis Barker as songwriter, not just drummer. And “Anthem Part 2” exemplifies of how Travis Barker’s songwriting generated that sound.

The outcome is that “Anthem Part 2” is a super fun song. Which usually isn’t a compliment in musical circles. Baby Shark is a fun song. Who wants to write music like Baby Shark?

But fun doesn’t have to signal “cheesy” or “rudimentary.” Consider a thought from Nick Kokonas, famous restauranteur and co-founder of the Alinea Group (owners of, among others, the restaurant Alinea, one of only 13 restaurants in the U.S. to earn the coveted Michelin 3-Star rating).

On the Invest like the Best podcast Kokonas said that when marketing their hyper-ambitious restaurant to the general public, they wanted two words to define the experience. Those words were “delicious” and “fun.”

Among many insights here, I think a central one is that the general public is rarely as snooty as those professional cultural-opinion-havers. They want food that tastes good (“delicious”), in a stimulating environment (“fun”), and they do not give a fuck whether those words were also probably used to describe Chuck-E-Cheese at some point.

Here I would submit to you: “Anthem Part 2” is the “fun and delicious” of pop punk songs. Which explains the dual effect of love by fans and mystification by critics who think good music can’t be merely fun.

And “Anthem Part 2” is fun for these reasons:

1. Because Tom wrote some super catchy guitar riffs and vocal melodies

2. Because Travis supercharged the song with great beats

3. And because Mark held down the fort with the bass that enabled such motion in his bandmates without the song losing itself

And you can say the same about basically every Blink 182 song since then.

But what about the lyrics, you say? Sure, the song’s super fun and catchy, but damn, the lyrics are for idiots. It’s soooo pandering, so faux rebellious, so straight-up whiny – how can anyone respect a band who writes lyrics like this?

And here is where I say, “Actually, you’re wrong.”

The Exegesis

I didn’t feel like doing this exegesis myself so I ran the “Anthem Part 2” lyrics through Anthropic’s Claude AI model and asked it to connect the dots between the ideas in the lyrics and current events today, along with citations where relevant. Here’s the output.

1. Idea: Environmental crisis and societal breakdown

• “Everything has fallen to pieces / Earth is dying help me Jesus”

Evidence:

– Rising global temperatures and extreme weather events linked to climate change (NASA’s Global Climate Change website (climate.nasa.gov))

– Increasing rates of species extinction and biodiversity loss (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (iucnredlist.org))

2. Idea: Youth feeling misled and disenfranchised

• “We need guidance, we’ve been misled / Young and hostile, but not stupid”

• “Kids can’t vote, adults elect them”

Evidence:

– Voting age restrictions in most countries (typically 18+) (ACE Electoral Knowledge Network (aceproject.org))

– Surveys showing declining trust in institutions among younger generations (Pew Research Center surveys on trust in government (pewresearch.org))

3. Idea: Criticism of authority figures and power structures

• “Corporate leaders, politicians”

• “Laws that rule the school and workplace”

Evidence:

– Lobbying influence of corporations on political decisions (OpenSecrets.org (opensecrets.org))

– Strict policies in schools and workplaces that may feel restrictive to youth (https://paulgraham.com/nerds.html – this citation’s by me, not Claude)

4. Idea: Overprotection and restrictive rules for teenagers

• “Signs that caution, sixteen’s unsafe”

• “Drown our youth with useless warnings / Teenage rules they’re fucked and boring”

Evidence:

– Age restrictions on various activities (driving, working, etc.)

– Parental control technologies and monitoring systems for teenagers (Common Sense Media (commonsensemedia.org))

5. Idea: Resilience and determination of youth

• “We’ll never give up, it’s no use”

Evidence:

– Youth-led movements for social and environmental causes (e.g., climate strikes) (Fridays for Future (fridaysforfuture.org))

– Increasing youth engagement in activism and political discourse (Circle at Tufts University (circle.tufts.edu)

6. Idea: Blame directed at older generations

• “If we’re fucked up you’re to blame”

Evidence:

– Intergenerational tensions over issues like climate change and economic inequality (Pew Research Center generational studies (pewresearch.org))

– Concept of “OK Boomer” as a criticism of older generations’ perceived failures (New York Times article on the phrase (nytimes.com))

7. Idea: Victimization of youth

• “Kids are victims in this story”

Evidence:

– Higher rates of mental health issues among younger generations (World Health Organization (who.int)

– Economic challenges faced by youth (e.g., student debt, housing affordability) (Brookings Institution reports on millennials and Gen Z (brookings.edu)

A couple thoughts:

• Obviously Claude didn’t nail this. But it’s directionally relevant enough that you could probably find the right citations yourself relatively quickly. This alone actually speaks to the song’s prescience – its complaints have become at-arm’s-reach talking points twenty years later.

• Blink’s best album, in my opinion, was the self-titled album from 2003. That album is much more lyrically serious than prior albums (even when occasionally passing seriousness into farce with how serious they were trying to be). “Anthem Part 2” is one of the first songs that isn’t serious on a personal basis (that would be probably Stay Together For The Kids, or Adam’s Song) but rather on a political basis. This makes it noteworthy as well, in the Blink 182 oeuvre.

• Blink 182’s prescience on political issues isn’t just relegated to “Anthem Part 2.” Consider the fact that Tom Delonge was widely regarded as kooky for his adamant belief in the existence of aliens. Consider now that, twenty-five years after writing “Aliens Exist,” there’s an ongoing US Senate Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities (which is subordinate to the Senate Armed Services Committee) that addresses issues related to UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena). This subcommittee has been involved in legislative efforts aimed at increasing transparency regarding UAPs and facilitating scientific research into these phenomena, following the numerous reports by the US Navy of unusual sightings around the world. Another win for Blink 182’s prophetic powers.

I opened this essay with a line from the Blink 182 song “Aliens Exist.” Among the bigger political conversations of the past five years has been that of conspiracy theories. One of the biggest cultural conspiracy theories the last twenty years is that Blink 182 sucks. But it’s wrong.

Aliens are real.

Blink 182 rules.