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It imagined a feeling of eternal puberty.
By the time they released their just-passable new albumOne More Time…in October, he sounded stiff.
His enunciation didnt twist and curl in the way it used to.
His lyrics no longer felt like inside jokes.
He was playing it straight.
I had been excited about DeLonge reuniting with Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker.
But after hearing the new album, Ive considered that maybe its best to remember them as they were.
DeLonge was drawing from a rich tradition of good-bad singers who prioritize emotion over technical skill.
And fans ate it up.
Im not even a good singer.
Im just a little punk kid.
The Descendents are an apt comparison; the Twang sounded like Milo Aukerman after taking a hit of helium.
and Is it kewwwl if I hohld yor hehh-nd?
onFirst Date with DeLonge reshaping words and stretching syllables until they suited him.
I suppose nothing good can Twang forever.
In 2015, DeLonge had changed his tune completely.
The TDT had already lost a glimmer of innocence on 2003s self-titled release and 2011sNeighborhood.
His voice was pitched up and modulated, the enunciation clearer.
Which came first, the degrading quality of a Blink-182 song or the disappearance of Toms Twang?
The jurys still out.
Perhaps the loss of the TDT was inevitable.
A crude, boyish charm is a lot to muster as a 47-year-old man.
Blink might put out another good album.
But until the old Twang is relegated to golden oldies radio, it will live on in myyeaad.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the year Neighborhood was released.
It was 2011 not 2012.
