Pros: Great songs, often fun and bleak lyrics, and some genuine moments of emotion.
Cons: There are three limited edition CDs and a couple duds.
The Bottom Line: If you think Blink 182 have sold out, so be it. They stick the the old time Ramones attitude. A crass yet emotional album.
Recommended: Yes

Punk rock has gone from underground to commercial on the backs Green Day and Blink 182. They have adopted that old time feel of punk rock, which came before Sonic Youth, before Suicidal Tendencies, before Circle Jerks, and before The Sex Pistols. It was in the sound of The Ramones. Dubbed as punk rock forefathers, they simply made angry, fast-paced bubble gum music (i.e. "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend"). A lot of "punk purists" will obviously view Blink 182 and Green Day as the men who made pop sell-outs. But if they made punk rock popular from conveying adolescence, love, disillusion, boredom and kooky humor, could we call the early sound of The Ramones p*ssy punk rock. I honestly love The Ramones and all the hardcore punk thereafter.

I do admit that a couple of the new punk acts are derivative, cases in point Sum 41 and New Found Glory. Their sound is somewhat the mirror image of early Blink and Green Day. But as the latter band grew up and strayed went towards a more melodic rock music, Blink 182 still seem totally lost in a adolescent world even though they are grown men. But they somehow survive it. The sound and lyrics are old time punk, just like The Ramones.

"The Rock Show" is the lead single from TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS AND JACKET (let your inner brat snicker at the dopey title) and features a three-chord riff opening which sticks just like the one from "Blitzkrieg Bop" and relates to falling in love with a girl from The Warped Tour. In "Oh Oh I Love Her So" from The Ramones' LEAVE HOME, Joey Ramone found love over at Burger King soda machine. With "The Rock Show", Blink 182 have made a fun throwback to the innocent vintage years of punk.

Blink 182 (Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker) write songs about kids and the private life of an adolescent male. A couple of moments recall the great "Adam's Song" from their previous album ENEMA OF THE STATE. You can relate to the "Story Of A Lonely Guy", in which a shy, lonely boy is fed "worthless answers from friends of mine" and gets "nervous on days like this, like the prom". Guitarist Tom DeLonge's nasal voice does compliment the song. "Stay Together For The Kids" follows a couple's bitter divorce through the eyes of the son and/or daughter. In the verses, bassist Mark Hoppus slowly sings the despair:

"Their anger hurts my ears
Been running strong for seven years
Rather than fix the problems, they never solve them
It makes no sense at all..."

The chorus gives way to DeLonge's angry screaming towards the parents shaming them for their position:

"So here's your holiday
Hope you enjoy it this time
You gave it all away, it was mine
So when you're dead and gone
Will you remember this night, twenty years now lost
It's not right"

Even at their most heartfelt, they still rip into the crude snotiness of their most juvenile yet funny numbers. The song "Family Reunion" featured a simple onslaught of dirty words (the first seven made famous by George Carlin as the "Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say On Television"). On T.O.Y.P.J., you get "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" and its rudely hilarious chorus:

"I'll never talk to you again
Unless your dad will suck me off
I'll never talk to you again
Unless you mom will touch my c*ck
I'll never talk to you again
Ejaculate into a sock
I'll never talk to you again"

Blink 182 do share the rebellious spirit of punk on "Anthem Part II", as they outlash at the rules and restrictions of life at sixteen:

"We'll never give up, it's no use
If we're f*cked up, you're to blame"

On "Give Me One Good Reason", they proclaim their belief in rebellion against the trends, although it feels it could've been the ultimate anthem if it was written in the 1980s:

"All the kids they laugh as if they planned it
Why do girls want to pierce their nose
And walk around in torn pantyhose...
I like the kids who fight against how they were brought up
They hate the trends and think it's f*cked to care...
Hate the jocks, the preps, the hippie-f*ckin' scumbags
Heavy metalers with their awful p*ssy hairbands..."

The titles of songs such as "First Date" and "Reckless Abandon" explain all and manage to continue on explaining the life and times of a young boy, and only a couple of songs seem unamazing: the less-inspired "Online Songs" and the overly profane rant of "Shut Up". "Everytime I Look For You" and "Roller Coaster" channel the true angst of adolescent love. And "Please Take Me Home" is a plea for forgiveness which results from a bad relationship.

There were three CD limited editions of the album, each one coordinated with one of the three logos which charade the album title together (airplane taking off in red, pants in yellow, jacket in green). The CDs contain two different bonus tracks, one an actual song which compliments the album's themes before and the other a goofy exercise in bad taste often related to crazy sex fetishes. You'd have to be a big time collector/fan to own all three of them. Sadly, I only bought the yellow pants CD and it came with these tracks:

"What Went Wrong" is an acoustic track by Tom as he expresses his disillusion with sappy love songs, sad love songs and what his antagonist said was right when he can't forget what went wrong.

BT 2: "F*ck A Dog" features Tom picking an acoustic and singing how he wants to do strange things with a pooch. Note the looney Mexican pirate impression Mark does
midway.

I've heard a couple of the other bonus tracks, such as another acoustic track called "When You F*cked Grandpa" (all vocals by Mark) and the more electric and regretful "Time To Break Up (Now I Miss Her So)", a song which fits the teenage love troubles which are displayed in mild amounts on the album.

As much as Blink 182 have made a mainstream following on the heels of ENEMA, here they aren't singing entirely to the young girls. Instead, on TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS AND JACKET, they come close to making a practical concept album about the life and times of a high school boy, with crude humor and a sense of seriousness to boot. As dumbass and immature as they're branded, they have the ability to write some real good old time punk songs.

TRACK LISTING:
1. ANTHEM PART II
2. ONLINE SONGS
3. FIRST DATE
4. HAPPY HOLIDAYS, YOU BASTARD
5. STORY OF A LONELY GUY
6. THE ROCK SHOW
7. STAY TOGETHER FOR THE KIDS
8. ROLLER COASTER
9. RECKLESS ABANDON
10. EVERYTIME I LOOK FOR YOU
11. GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON
12. SHUT UP
13. PLEASE TAKE ME HOME
14. LIMITED EDITION BONUS SONG (varied)
15. LIMITED EDITION JUVENILE BONUS TRACK (varied)