Rather than a band taking reprieve from their mature sensibilities, this song is a testament to the throbbing nihilism of the late 20s. “I got no dick,” the song rings out on, but with these far wiser, far more cultured ears, ‘My First Punk Song’ hits different. Upon its release, our cotton-wrapped ears heard ‘My First Punk Song’ as the whole wise-older-cousin façade breaking. Lost in crowds, riddled with self-doubt and the fact that despite how much you may want someone, despite how much you both may really like the same bands, sometimes things just aren’t meant to be. Perhaps an unofficial follow up to ‘The Rock Show’, ‘And I’ is a far more realistic story of dating in your late 20s. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it fellow former youths? “Tiny voices make things harder,” DeLonge tried to explain to us 20 years ago. Gone are the days where we can blindly trust our intuition, informed only by the confidence of youth. With the passing of the sands of time comes the degradation of self-assurance. ‘Tiny Voices’ was another glib glimpse into the future that in 2001/2002 seemed an eternity away. On Box Car Racer’s ‘All Systems Go’, what DeLonge may have previously held back came out swinging (“When will this be over/This cold and bitter season/The government is lying/The truth is found with reason”), bringing in even more wise-older-cousin energy than its spiritual precursor, the tongue-in-cheek ‘Aliens Exist’.
Songs like ‘Anthem Part Two’ or ‘Shut Up’ gave us a light sketch of the scene, but it was a picture that Box Car Racer filled with depression-tinged technicolour. To be fair, they hadn’t totally shied away from the perils that await at the pointy end of youth. blink-182 certainly left those descriptors out. Opening track ‘I Feel So’ is nothing if not an ode to all the bad feelings that seem to be part and parcel of exiting the halcyon days of youth: Mad, angry, calloused, confused, as well as a yearning for more more bravery, more strength, more youth – more time. At that time, it was 9/11 that irrevocably marked a change in the global zeitgeist from sustained puppy-dog eyed, youthful optimism to steel-eyed existential cynicism.īox Car Racer didn’t waste a second in addressing this general malaise. With some reported tension between himself and Mark Hoppus, it doesn’t look like it took too much for him to dive headfirst into the passion project, which was made all the more dark by a generation-defining event that would take place between Take Off… and Box Car Racer’s 2002 self titled debut: 9/11. It was also the year that blink-182 key ingredients Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker would shack up with guitarist David Kennedy to begin fleshing out the song ideas that DeLonge deemed too dark for blink-182’s wheelhouse. blink-182 had just released Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and were therefore neck deep in their dick joke phase. In celebration of Box Car Racer’s 20th anniversary since their formation, a mere 12 months before the release of their self-titled debut, we look back at the talismanic release and re-clock some of the bigger truths buried so deep within, that none of us really knew what we were holding at the time. But you know what? That’s fine.Ģ0 years ago we were introduced to blink-182’s older, far more jaded cousin who quickly assumed the role of life mentor dishing out some hard to swallow home truths such as that the government will lie to you, or that growing up doesn’t suck, everything kinda does but that’s, like, what brings us together, man. This may come as a shock, but the lessons doled out to us by blink-182 weren’t necessarily applicable to life in your late 20s and beyond. And you’ve realized that after 23, everyone still hates you. So, it didn’t work out with the guy or girl you met at The Rock Show.
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