Monday, August 3, 2009

I Miss You 182 - An Analysis of I Miss You by Blink 182

We know that Blink 182 has always been considered the fun-loving, silly, pop rock boys in the mainstream charts, but with the release of their self-titled album, a new side of Blink 182 was revealed. The song I Miss You expresses most of this dark feeling that are consistent for the entire album. Even the music videos from this album were no longer bright and full of slapstick comedy, but raw, intense, and dismal.
The lyrics ofI Miss You are quite simple to understand, but it's this simplicity that creates such a powerful connection between the band and its listeners. And even though the emotions are predictable when someone hears I Miss You , the metaphorical imagery isn't. After analyzing a lot of Blink 182's work, I've found that Mark Hoppus has a better grip on creating witty phrases with high relevance to the subject matter as opposed to Tom Delonge. Of course, Delonge has shown quite a bit of his more poetic side since playing with Angels and Airwaves.
I Miss You 182 Lyrics
Blink 182's words set a very dismal mood for I Miss You right from the beginning. When Hoppus sings "Hello there, the angel from my nightmare. The shadow in the background of the morgue" he's trying to express the feeling of being alone and having his mind terrorized by this ghostly image. Most likely, this image is a female from a broken relationship. He continues with "The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley. We can live like Jack and Sally if we want, where you can always find me and we'll have Halloween on Christmas..." relating his strange forgotten love to the characters Jack Skellington and Sally from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.
I really believe adding that movie relation was a risky movie. Personally, when I hear lyrics that make obvious references to movie characters, I start to think twice about that particular band. I start analyzing how well their lyrical skills are and most of the time I realize that most of their material, musical or lyrical, sometimes isn't as original as I had once thought. Of course Blink 182 isn't in an danger of losing their powerful status as pop rock legends. It was risky business to make that connection, but I Miss You really uses that metaphor well.
Tom Delonge's verse from I Miss You is not as charming in its emotional references. His verse reflects the horrible pain one feels from everyday occurrences that never had meaning until their mate was gone. When Delonge says "This sick strange darkness comes creeping on so haunting every time" he's mentioning how odd and frightening it is to feel alone. One could assume that this song might be about the termination of a long relationship. Blink 182
Honestly, I don't understand how the "indecision to call" can be related to spiders catching things and eating their insides. I guess that's why I sometimes feel that continues with "...And as I stared I counted webs from all the spiders, catching things and eating their insides like indecision to call you and hear your voice of treason" which is a really great bit of imagery there.Blink 182 uses imagery and comparisons purely for the surface layer. I mean really, it's difficult to have an entirely different concept for ever song a band decides to write. Eventually bands double up on content, or use phrases and words for the quick appeal. I think that's what's happening in that line of I Miss You.
The rest of the song's interpretation can be subjugated, but I think the lyric's intentions are obvious when Blink 182 repeats "I Miss You" more than a dozen times. Overall, this song is simple, but oozes substance much like the rest of Blink 182's works. And it's a very strong representation of the style used throughout their self-titled album.

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