I originally told myself that I was going to take a well-deserved week off, what with writing an insane amount the last two weeks of October (including a Patreon-exclusive newsletter about horror in music and classism and Juggalos which is in my opinion very very good and you should definitely subscribe to my Patreon and read it) and also being kind of depressed which ended up probably being due to a lack of sun and also what the fuck the election? And I know I’ve written a lot about politics in the past but everyone is/was so goddamn loud and everything I would say has already been said and rebutted and validated and on and on and on in a million different directions. And oh yeah my friends in Record Setter and Soul Glo put out one of the best records of the year and perhaps the best EP of the year respectively? It all just feels so goddamn overwhelming and I’ve felt so much that I’ve been sinking in quicksand over the last several weeks and although my brain chemistry is finally resettling and seeing a light beaming in from under the water there’s also still the fact that even though Trump has been voted out we all definitely still lost and I worry that passion is going to take a huge hit over the next several months and there’s so many conversations about class and identity politics and I’ve been doomscrolling 24/7 and I just can’t fucking engage with it anymore and
blink-155 released their last episodes today. The true finale of the podcast was today’s episode covering “Dammit,” although they also released a bonus episode on their Patreon feed going over the co-host’s respective top 5 blink-182 songs. If you’re unaware, blink-155 is a Canadian podcast, run by Sam Sutherland (of This Exists and Junior Battles fame) and Josiah Hughes (of Exclaim and Twitter notoriety) that ran for three and a half years. Every episode covered one song by the San Diego pop-punk band blink-182, although they also released a run of Patreon-exclusive episodes (sclusies) that cover a wide array of topics. It is, in theory, deeply stupid. And I am devastated that it is over.
I was not overly-involved in the insanely active and unhealthily (in a good way) devoted Twitter fanbase— the naysh— that sprouted up around this podcast, and there are other people who can and will tell that story better than I can. I also was not a fan from day one, so I can’t speak to the pod’s arc in that sense. But over the last two years, blink-155 has become a part of my soul in a way that I can’t articulate but I will still try to here.
I was introduced to blink-155 in October of 2018 by my friend Erin, who makes phenomenally sad music under the moniker of Ketamine Cat. They told me the premise of the pod and also informed me that the episodes often stretched into two or three hour territory, which was not a hurdle for me given that my own podcast often stretches into mammoth territory itself. I am a longtime blink-182 obsessive (you can read my take on the band itself here) and so the concept appealed to me immediately on those grounds alone. Starting from the beginning, with their episode on the song “Dumpweed,” I had no idea that this podcast was going to become both one of the most addictive listening experiences of my life as well as something I looked forward to every single week.
At the end of October, my fiancee went out of town for a few days, and I was left with not much to do aside from going to work. I filled up most of my free time by listening to blink-155 and this is about the point that the podcast started to become something truly special to me. Most people who listen to a lot of podcasts will tell you that it’s because they’re kinda lonely and they enjoy listening to the conversations. I actually don’t really listen to many podcasts aside from Axe to Grind and Chapo Trap House/TrueAnon, so blink-155 was my first real experience with the way that podcasts can combat loneliness, and I still have not discovered one that can accomplish this feat in quite the same way as the blink-155 boys.
Sam and Josiah have an utterly unique chemistry and dynamic, one that is playfully combative and yet earnestly intimate, that pretty much perfectly represents how I feel when I have a really good conversation with one of my close friends. The funniest part of this, of course, is that Sam and Josiah weren’t super-close when they started the podcast— one of the recurring themes and lampshaded arcs of the pod is that it’s essentially about Sam and Josiah becoming close friends. But their banter, equal parts absurdist and infectious, stuck with me and kept me coming back week after week. There are very few episodes of any podcast that I would recommend listening to more than once, even my own, but I could probably listen to all of blink-155 in its entirety again and still feel like I could come back for years to come.
As podcast hosts go, Sam and Josiah seem on the surface to fit into comfortable categories— Sam is the more straight-laced of the two, playing the deadpan foil and coming off as a sort of everyman, while Josiah’s bizarre obsessions with minute details and self-professed love for irritating people would naturally be the source of much of the show’s humor. But as you keep listening to the episodes, it becomes clear that both Sam and Josiah are wonderfully idiosyncratic people who share a unique outlook on music and, really, the world at large— a kind of inversion of the disaffected, ironically detached tone that has defined a lot of Internet discourse over the past decade, the show has always been anchored by the genuine, earnest love the two have for blink-182 even as they engage with the songs (and, over the course of the show, their fanbase) in a characteristically sardonic way. It never feels like the two are engaging in a snobby, post-ironic appreciation for trashy pop culture— arguably, that would have been both a much easier and less interesting podcast to do— but rather, that they revel in a mixture of self-deprecation and unabashed love that feels all their own.
The discussions on blink-155 ranged from absurdly esoteric in-jokes (“Vampire Weekend is a NYHC band” is maybe my favorite bit of all time) to some of the most insightful cultural commentary I’ve ever heard (their episode on “I Miss You” contains a discussion on that song’s place in pop culture that’s both effortlessly funny and oddly heartfelt). Peppered throughout are wonderfully banal conversations about the hosts’ lives that feel downright Seinfeldian in nature— hyper-focused on the mundanities of everyday goings-on but filtered through the hosts’ unique perspective until the discussions become surreal in their specificity— and tangential digressions that could either peter out after minutes or take up the bulk of the episodes. Despite the comforting nature of the show, it maintained a low-key unpredictability that made it worth tuning in every single Friday (and the diversity of topics discussed on the sclusies made those appointment listening as well).
Ultimately, what made Sam and Josiah’s approach so clever— and what, I think, caused the show to connect with its niche fanbase— was the fact that they refused to look down on either blink-182 or themselves for loving blink-182. Both hosts displayed a working knowledge of much broader and more subterranean musical interests— from Sam’s adoration of orgcore and indie rock to Josiah’s love for shorts-and-snapbacks hardcore and obscure sass and skramz bands— that, in conjunction with their own background in various bands, gave them a unique perspective on pop songwriting and made discussions on how and why so many blink songs work so well particularly compelling and validating. Additionally, the two were also subtly insightful cultural critics, breaking down the ins and outs of things like blink’s mid-90s fashion sense (Instagram skater sadbois wish their fits went as hard) and the generally bizarre world of pop culture with a wit, dexterity, and depth that firmly established them as working within a fascinating cross-section of “high” and “low” culture (while simultaneously spitting in the face of such arbitrary distinctions). Their casual tone makes toss-off one-liners (on Mark’s bass line in “Marlboro Man,” Sam says “Doesn’t it just make you wanna take that thing on a walk?” and it’s delivered with such a disarming directness and charm that it made me laugh out loud in public) land hard and made me feel, in a weird way, seen.
blink-155 was, for three and a half years, the most perplexing and fascinating phenomenon in the world of podcasts. I listened to it on breaks from work and while taking unbearably long public transit trips back and forth from my job. I listened to it while it was freezing outside and I listened to it while sweating my ass off in the unbearably humid central Texas heat. It shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, but not only did it transcend the sum of its parts, it became irreplaceable. I’ve referenced it enough on the E Word that I’m completely unafraid to admit its influence on the way Kyle and I conduct ourselves on air— Kyle effortlessly slotting into Sam’s relatable bemusement and myself both consciously and unconsciously absorbing Josiah’s offbeat nose-tweaking. Knowing that Sam and Josiah will continue to be friends lightens the load of the show’s end, but it will never cease to bum me out that I’ll never be able to experience the show for the first time again.
I didn’t intend to write a piece at all this week, so this missive is going to be a bit shorter than most of my unbearably self-indulgent newsletters. Still, if you’ve never listened to blink-155, or even if you’re a diehard fan, I’d like to leave you with some of my favorite episodes and sclusies. This is by no means a comprehensive list of the best episodes, just the ones that made me feel less alone. From October 2018 to November 2020, blink-155 laid out the most contradictory aspects of my psyche bare for everyone to see, and the two hosts are barely aware of my existence. Sam and Josiah have said goodbye, and this is my way of doing the same. I guess this is growing up.
(For the record, “Dammit” is objectively the best episode of the entire show, but it is only to be listened to after listening to every single other episode. Sorry, that’s the way it’s gotta be.)
SCLUSIES
Reviewing Other Blink-182 Podcasts
Most fans would probably point to the Loudness Wars or Short Music for Short People episodes as the sclusies at their best, but I think this is the boys at their peak— that combination of sarcasm and earnestness, and the way they can mock any and everything without it coming off mean-spirited or condescending in the least. Their riffs on other podcasts are so incisively accurate but there’s nothing here that would hurt anyone’s feelings; it’s equal parts lighthearted and sympathetic, but never toothless. It also introduced me to E1 and, correlatively, their Joe Biden episodes with Felix Biederman, so it’s got that going for them too.
How to Be Punk feat. Brace Belden
Wikihow articles are endlessly fascinating looks into the neuroses of insecure, terminally-online and yet basic-as-hell teenagers. The concept itself is immediately hilarious, but what makes this episode an all-timer for me is Brace Belden of PISSPIGGRANDDAD/TrueAnon fame, who might be one of the funniest people to ever walk this Earth. His background in punk (he wrote for Maximum Rocknroll and played in the satirically pro-Iraq-War band Warkrime) and his insane life experiences— from kicking heroin to unionizing his workplace to fighting in the YPG— are fascinating enough, but it’s his cracked-voice meanderings that make this episode shine. At one point he goes on a rant that slowly evolves into a description of the Columbine killers and it’s possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever heard on a podcast.
Rate Blink-182’s Fits feat. Sexual Jumanji
Listening to this episode requires you to follow along with a Google doc of images provided by Josiah, but it’s absolutely worth it. blink’s fashion sense is a common topic of discussion on the pod, but even as a streetwear novice (I’ve read Bobby Hundreds’ book, does that make me an expert?) this episode is both extremely interesting and absolutely hilarious. Obviously, it’s fun to look at how cool blink-182 used to look in the 90s, but it’s the ruthless takedowns of their modern, painfully unaware corniness that makes this episode a masterpiece.
Famous Stars & Straps Brand Analysis feat. Miles Grimmer
Mostly humor of the same kind as the Fits episode, but peppered with extremely engrossing Travis Barker history lessons. I listened to this after attempting (and failing) to read Travis Barker’s autobiography, which made this episode particularly special to me.
Tickets to Tickets to My Downfall.
“We listen to the new album from Machine Gun Kelly and experience an extreme wave of depression.”
PROPER EPISODES
“Online Songs” (episode 3)
The first two episodes— about “Dumpweed” and “Apple Shampoo”— are required listening for sure, but it’s in this episode that I think Sam and Josiah really start to gel into a cohesive unit and many of the podcast’s trademarks make their first appearance, including unnecessarily labored deep-dives into the world of obscure Twitter accounts. This episode is probably the reason that the naysh really began in earnest.
“My Pet Sally” feat. Ben Cook of No Warning & Young Guv (episode 35)
Skipping ahead a bit— and past some great episodes about “Reebok Commercial,” “Lemmings,” and the Josiah solo outing “All the Small Things”— we have this extremely weird episode about an extremely weird early blink-182 song. One of my favorite aspects about episodes that dissect pre-Cheshire Cat blink songs is Josiah pretending to half-assedly research and coming away with bizarrely extensive knowledge of long-forgotten 90s blink lore. Plus, this episode veers into extremely darkly comedic material when Josiah unearths videos with less than 10 views about dead pets named Sally.
“Josie” (episode 66)
This episode features some of the boys’ best lyrical analysis, and this is another of those episodes that features extensive talk about obscure early blink history and fawning over Cig Mark (Cig Mark!).
“Enthused” feat. James Cassar (episode 87)
Sometimes it’s just nice to hear the boys enthuse (no pun intended) about a great song, and this is one of the best and most posi examples of that. Not only is there extended talk about what makes this song such a good example of skate-punk, there’s also a really long section of them just watching videos of the band playing the song live, and besides the performances being sick, it’s just nice to hear them effuse over how fucking cool this band was/is.
“Wrecked Him” feat. Justin Pearson of Struggle, Swing Kids, the Locust, Holy Molar, Some Girls, Retox, Three One G, and a million other things (episode 105)
This is another episode that just features the boys gushing over a sick old-school blink track, but the really special thing about it is the interview with Justin Pearson, who provides a characteristically prickly but essentially good-natured look back at the 90s San Diego DIY scene. A fun history lesson that slides into personal-essential territory because of Justin’s candor and charisma.
“Time” feat. Jeremy Hunter of Skatune Network (episode 106)
And back-to-back with one classic, we have another that succeeds precisely because of how much the hosts dislike the song— I will never get tired of Josiah describing the “Walking On Sunshine” riff as “gross.” A reminder that the line between hating things and liking things is razor-thin.
“Freak Scene” feat. Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr and Sebadoh (episode 111)
The reason I love this episode is that the boys really go in on Dinosaur Jr and correlatively the place of indie rock vis-a-vis comparisons and contrasts with pop-punk culturally and musically. Their conversation about Meet Me In the Bathroom and the juxtaposition between Sam’s affection for indie rock and Josiah’s fundamental disconnect from it— the intersection of which really defines my own relationship with indie rock— turns into a jumping-off point for really interesting thoughts on the entire concept of “coolness” or “hipness” as it applies to music. I think this episode unintentionally winds up becoming the thesis statement of the entire show.
“Alone” feat. Ian Shelton of Regional Justice Center (episode 112)
Their brutally efficient cross-examination of this Flyswatter cut aside (“This is literally the first riff that any punk guitarist writes”) I love this episode primarily because of the section with Ian Shelton, which quickly made his podcast with Patrick Kindlon, I Don’t Care If This Ruins My Life, mandatory listening for me. Ian is even more disarmingly charming than Sam and Josiah, and as he talks about his experiences as a baby punk, he manages to make extremely specific and personal experiences into universal truths with the same effortless honesty that makes Regional Justice Center the best powerviolence band of the last decade.
“Man Overboard” feat., in some capacity, Scott Raynor (episode 130)
Although Sam and Josiah’s examination of the lyrics (spoiler: they come away with the completely warranted take that Mark and Tom are really shitty friends) is funny and compelling listening in itself, I think what makes this episode so special is the hilariously fumbled attempt at getting Scott Raynor on the podcast. Yes, he is there, but the build-up and total, utter lack of payoff reminds me of one of my favorite types of jokes to tell to people I hated in high school, the shaggy dog story. The anticlimax is, in that sense, far better than a proper climax ever could be. This probably comes off like a spoiler but even coming into it with some level of prior knowledge of the “twist,” the ending of the episode is extremely effective.
“I Miss You” feat. Phil Elverum of the Microphones and Mount Eerie (episode 136)
There are really no bad episodes of blink-155 (although there are certainly episodes that no one new to the pod should listen to, given that they wander off into sublimely weird and wonderfully inaccessible territory). I think everyone should start from the beginning and listen to the podcast in full, sclusies included, in order to really get the proper experience. But if you insist on only listening to one episode of the podcast, I would recommend this one. It is home to the most bizarrely artful and erudite discussion in the pod’s history, which I can’t really distill into a pithy summary, and it also represents a kind of heartening coming-of-age for the boys with the coup of getting Phil on— it feels like a long-awaited validation from hipster royalty that they never really needed, but always deserved. It’s also by far the most “seeker-friendly” episode of the pod, so you really get the best of both worlds.
AND OF COURSE, EVEN THOUGH YOU DIDN’T ASK, MY TOP 5 BLINK-182 SONGS FROM EACH PRE-HIATUS ALBUM (NOT INCLUDING “DAMMIT” BECAUSE IT’S A LITERALLY PERFECT SONG)
Pre-Cheshy
5. “The Longest Line” (NOFX cover)
4. “Freak Scene” (Dinosaur Jr cover)
3. “The Girl Next Door” (Screeching Weasel cover)
2. “Better Days”
1. “Point of View”
Cheshire Cat
5. “Toast & Bananas”
4. “Sometimes”
3. “Fentoozler”
2. “Carousel”
1. “Wasting Time”
They Came to Conquer Uranus
TIE: “Wrecked Him” & “Zulu”
Dude Ranch
5. “Emo”
4. “Pathetic”
3. “Enthused”
2. “Lemmings”
1. “Apple Shampoo”
Enema of the State
5. “Aliens Exist”
4. “What’s My Age Again?”
3. “Going Away to College”
2. “Wendy Clear”
1. “Don’t Leave Me”
Take Off Your Pants & Jacket
5. “Please Take Me Home”
4. “Shut Up”
3. “Roller Coaster”
2. “Everytime I Look for You”
1. “Online Songs”
Untitled
5. “Always”
4. “Stockholm Syndrome”
3. “All of This” (feat. Robert Smith)
2. “Feeling This”
1. “Go”
-xoxo, Ellie
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