Happy 20th Birthday To The Love Of My Life, Enema Of The State
If one album changed the trajectory of my life, it is without a doubt Enema of the State. I remember getting it in 1999 at 11 years old (thankfully before they slapped the “Parental Advisory” sticker on it, otherwise my parents wouldn’t have bought it for me) and being mesmerized. What was this that I was hearing, and how do I get more of it? I remember putting it into my CD player and just being so captivated by what I was hearing. And then of course, Blink blew up. All The Small Things and What’s My Age Again were TRL staples. Then about a year later they released the live album “The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show” and it was OVER for me. There was no turning back. The jokes they say on TMTATS blew my 13 year old mind.
Enema of the State is an all time classic for a generation. They sang about things that related to every teenager from chasing girls, to being lonely, to spilling cups of apple juice, and everything in between. Oh, and aliens. Then as you got older you realized how much you related to other songs like Going Away To College (my favorite on the album) and Party Song.
And now 20 years later, I still have Enema heavy in my rotation. It’s timeless…and it also gives us things like this!
Blink might not be what they used to be anymore, the reckless, wild, partying, singing about being angsty teenagers (ok I guess they still do that last one), but 20 years after it’s release, you can still listen to Enema straight through and feel the same things you did before.
PS: Miss you Tom, please come back.