blink-182 -- Enema of the State

8/10

 I have a few friends who swear blink-182 sold out when they signed to MCA. Like most of my peers, the first time I heard blink-182 was the song, "Dammit," on the soundtrack of the overrated film, Can't Hardly Wait, so I can't vouch for that first sentence. I can say that blink-182's 1999 debut for MCA, Enema of the State, is insanely catchy, fast-paced fun.
This is the tape you steal from your sister when she isn't around and jam out to it in your car when you are seventeen and...what, they don't have tapes anymore? Kids don't jam out in their cars anymore? Rock music is dead? Well, crap. Nevermind.
Maturity isn't the name of the game here and shouldn't be. "What's My Age Again?" is the perfect anthem for a seventeen year old, or at least for me as a seventeen year old (This song was gleefully blaring at so many functions I attended in 1999, I can't fit half of them here). Six years later, co-singer Mark Hoppus's assertion that "nobody likes you when you're 23" sadly turned out to be correct for me, too. But at 23 or...GASP!...30, this album is still enjoyable, even if you've only got a little youth left in you. When I don't like this anymore, I'll know I'm officially old.

John Henson, come back!!!

1999 MCA
1. Dumpweed 2:23
2. Don't Leave Me 2:23
3. Aliens Exist 3:13
4. Going Away to College 2:59
5. What's My Age Again? 2:28
6. Dysentery Gary 2:45
7. Adam's Song 4:09
8. All the Small Things 2:48
9. The Party Song 2:19
10. Mutt 3:23
11. Wendy Clear 2:50
12. Anthem 6:09