Summary

The article reflects on the author's realization that music from their youth, specifically pop punk bands like Blink-182, Green Day, and Bowling for Soup, is now considered classic rock, signifying the passage of time and the author's own aging.

Abstract

The author of the article expresses a personal sense of aging as they recognize that pop punk music from the late 1990s and early 2000s, which they once considered current, is now deemed classic rock. This revelation comes with the understanding that Blink-182's hit "All the Small Things," released in 1999, is old enough to be considered a classic, much like Huey Lewis and the News was for the previous generation. The article also touches on the author's experiences with their children, noting the generational shift in music recognition and appreciation. The author humorously laments the aging of the musicians and themselves, with members of Blink-182, Green Day, and Bowling for Soup all turning 51, and reflects on the lasting impact of these bands' music. The piece concludes with a nod to the theme song of "Scooby-Doo," performed by Simple Plan, inviting readers to rate the songs mentioned in the article.

Opinions

The author feels a sense of disbelief at how quickly time has passed, as evidenced by pop punk music now being classified as classic rock.
There is a humorous tone used to discuss the generational differences in music appreciation, such as younger audiences knowing musicians from their personal lives rather than their music careers.
The author implies that parents are to blame for their children's lack of historical music knowledge, suggesting a cycle of cultural inheritance.
The article conveys a sense of nostalgia for the music of the author's youth, particularly for the albums "Dookie" by Green Day and "American Idiot," which will turn 30 and 20 years old in the near future, respectively.
The author expresses a personal connection to the music, referencing their daughter's familiarity with Bowling for Soup and the band's recognition of her at live shows.
There is an acknowledgment of the musicians' aging, with the author noting that the frontmen of the mentioned bands are now in their 50s, which contrasts with their punk rock images from the past.
The author uses the article to reminisce about their own past, reflecting on their experiences with music and how it has shaped their identity over time.

In Yet Another Sign That I Am Ancient, Blink-182 is Now Considered Classic Rock

Where did the time go?

In most states, for both registration and insurance purposes an automobile is classified as a “classic” at 20 years old. As I learned in the early 2000s, the same is true of music; when I turned on the oldies radio station I was shocked to hear them playing Huey Lewis and the News (that one hurt, didn’t it Buddy Gott?). And even though I still firmly believe that 1990 was ten years ago, time continues its ceaseless march forward.

The reason I bring this up now is not because November is the month in the Catholic Church when we’re all supposed to contemplate our own death (or at least not totally because of this). It’s also not because my last article on Martin Scorsese’s underrated film, Silence, threw me into an existential crisis (though it did). While searching for a Rate-A-Record topic this week, I stumbled upon a pop punk playlist and noticed the date one of the songs was released and was sure it had to be wrong.

It wasn’t. God help me, it wasn’t. Just like it wasn’t just a couple of years ago that I first went to Warped Tour with my daughter; it was ten years ago next summer. Damn it.

Thus, for this edition of Rate-A-Record, I have chosen three pop punk songs that are 20 years old or older this year. You’ll probably know at least two of them regardless of your age, as they were hugely popular when they were released and remain so today. If not, and if you’re a Gen Xer, it is likely that you once screamed at your kids for playing one of these songs at full volume before realizing you had become your parents. And if you liked your angst a bit harder, Linkin Park’s “Somewhere I Belong” and Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life” both turned 20 this year, too.

As always, let’s rate them using the Terry Barr/American Bandstand scale of 35 to 98. And since I have mentioned both pop punk and prayer, do me a favor: pray that Mike Ness never Googles “pop punk bands 90s.” If he does, he will find his band Social Distortion listed in that angsty teen genre alongside Green Day and Taking Back Sunday, and he’s entirely too old to go to jail again.

Let’s get started with the song whose release date triggered this whole thing (you’ll quickly notice that they made some strange videos two decades ago):

“All the Small Things” — Blink-182

1999. That’s the year that Blink’s most famous song was released. An entire generation has been born, grown up, and graduated from college since then. There is an entire generation who know Travis Barker not as the drummer of this seminal pop punk band but as Kourtney Kardashian’s husband. I blame their parents for that, though, just like I blame myself that my daughters first knew Keith Richards not as the guitarist for the Rolling Stones but as Johnny Depp’s dad in The Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. Maybe I focused a little too much on Springsteen and The Smiths during their formative years.

“Basket Case” — Green Day

I have to confess that I really wanted to cheat by a few months and include my favorite Green Day song, “Jesus of Suburbia,” but that can’t be officially called a classic (age-wise) until 2024; that’s right, my friends, the American Idiot album turns 20 next year.

Formed in 1987 (the same year The Smiths broke up), Green Day has the oldest song in this installment of Rate-A-Record. It’s almost impossible for me to grasp, but this song and the rest of 1994’s amazing Dookie album will be 30 years old in 2024. Wow.

“Girl All the Bad Guys Want” — Bowling for Soup

This band of hooligans from Wichita Falls, Texas, formed in 1994 but didn’t have their first hit until eight years later in 2002 when college and alternative radio stations began playing “Girl All the Bad Guys Want” in heavy rotation. I wasn’t sure at first if they would be considered pop punk or not, but my daughter assures me they are, and she has seen them live so many times in clubs around Dallas/Fort Worth that they know her by name.

If you’ve never heard of them but they sound oddly familiar, it’s because lead singer Jaret Reddick wrote and sang the theme song for the animated television series Phineas and Ferb and also appeared as the frontman of the show’s fictional band, Love Händel.

Just in case I wasn’t feeling ancient already, I discovered an odd fact while researching this piece (yes, researching): Blink-182 bassist/singer Mark Hoppus, Green Day frontman Billy Joe Armstrong, and Bowling for Soup’s Jaret Reddick all turned 51 years old this year. They’re not punk kids anymore, yet somehow they are still younger than me.

I cannot end on that depressing note, so I’m throwing in a bonus from 2002. This one has Canadian pop punk band Simple Plan (they cross multiple genres but today we’re calling them pop punk) performing the theme song to the greatest animated series ever. Remember to rate all the songs in the comments.

You can find my entire rate-A-Record series here:

Rate-A-Record

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