RECORD STORE ROMANCE

It's true when they say you learn something new each day.

One of my best pals Michael rattled me a couple weeks back after serving up some serious knowledge.

The strongest connection Michael and I have is the shared passion for music. We grew up listening to a lot of the same stuff so we often reminisce on 'the good 'ol days', particularly the music we listened to in high school. The band that resulted in us gazing into each other's eyes and holding hands spiritually was the one and only Blink-182.

I'm a DeLonge-time fan (get it?) of Blink. I distinctly remember buying Enema Of The State on cassette from a Sam Goody in the Fairmont, MN mall when I was in middle school. It being my first exposure to pop-punk, fun lyrics and essentially the soundtrack to American Pie I was hooked. But what started as a goofy admiration eventually turned into a full-blown relationship. 

I had listened to Blink's self-titled album when it came out in 2003 but it wasn't until 2009/2010 that I became really attached to it. I was going through a really tough time in my life and luckily I rediscovered this album and it acted as a form of therapy. This album paired with ADTR's For Those Who Have Heart and Homesick spoke and guided me through the hardest year of my life. They were sad when I was sad, angry when I was angry and gave me strength when I was ready to move on. For that, I am forever thankful of these two bands. I'm not going to say they saved my life, but they had an enormous impact on it. 

With that said, I was always curious who the guest vocalist on Blink's "All Of This" track was. It was eerily beautiful. You could hear heartbreak, struggle and desperation in the voice. It synced up perfectly with the tone of the album and the current stage I was in. For the longest time I thought it must be Mark contorting his vocals. If only I had any idea...

Cut to: 6 years later.

Near the end of 2016 I started dabbling here and there, exploring new artists and old. One band I came across that I really took a liking to was the forefathers of emo, The Cure. A mixture of pop, goth rock and atmospheric experimental I quickly became a fan. A movie I recently saw called Sing Street described The Cure as a Happy/Sad band, which I would say is pretty spot-on. A problem I have with discovering new or new-to-me music is I can't shut up about it. Share it on social media, sing it aloud wherever I go and ask every person I run into if they've heard it or not. So, of course I ask Michael if he's ever listened to The Cure. Of course he has, he has a phenomenal taste in music. 

Cut to: 2 weeks ago.

While flipping through albums at Cheapo Records on Record Store Day, I mention to Michael I'm looking for a used copy of The Cure's Disintegration album. He then asks me if I ever read the interview Cure's frontman Robert Smith did about working with Blink-182. My immediate response was "Wait, what?"
"Dude. He does the vocals for a track on Blink's self-titled album" he responded. 
It took us a moment to look up the track but when we found it everything clicked and made complete sense. I had one of those "Holy Shit" moments and then immediately felt silly for not recognizing it myself. It left me dumfounded that a song I adored deeply 7 years ago ties directly into a band I recently discovered and became obsessed with. Some weird type of foreshadowing. Is M. Night Shyamalan behind this?

Blink-182's self-titled album is one of those rare albums that is phenomenal from beginning to end. The type of album you won't find yourself skipping to the next track. I recommend listening to this album while lying down in bed at night. Close your eyes, listen to the instrumentation and decipher the lyrics. It truly is a beautiful arrangement of music. 

Check out Michael's ever-increasing catalogue of stellar albums here.