Idolator: tom delonge

Mark Hoppus Cranks The Blink-182 Rumor Mill

Kate Richardson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST

It's been four years since Blink-182 petered out after their peculiar Robert Smith phase (which was not terrible, but just something of a death rattle). In the interim Mark Hoppus has been blogging heavily and producing generic pop-punk, while Tom DeLonge has dedicated himself to exploring the deepest depths of nauseating self-importance. It seemed for a while that the once fantastically crude duo would never reconcile their divergent life paths. But! According to Hoppus' latest blog post there may actually be a glimmer of hope for a second Belle Époque of fart jokes.

in the midst of everything else that has happened lately, tom, travis, and i have all spoken together. first through a number of phone calls, and then a couple of weeks ago we all hung out for a few hours. they’ve all been great, very positive conversations. we’re just reconnecting as friends after four years of not talking. it’s a good thing. obviously the first question for a lot of people will be “does this mean a blink-182 reunion?” the answer is none of us know. we haven’t talked about it at all. right now it’s just good for the three of us to see one another, reconnect, and let the past be the past. the events of the past two months supersede everything that happened before. life is too short.

There's no telling what they'll come out with if they actually do get back together, but here's sincerely hoping that the re-formed Blink-182 is a little more "Dammit" and a little less "Down."

Hello Again. [himynameismark]

It's Been Three Years Since Tom DeLonge Was The Least Bit Tolerable

Kate Richardson — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:30:41 EST

Three years ago today Blink 182 officially announced their indefinite hiatus, thus ending a golden era of genuinely fun pop music. Commercial rock has been tragically devoid of dick jokes and scatological humor since their departure, and the new wave of punky pop bands (aka emo aka Those Dudes) just doesn't have the same kind of sarcastic swagger that Blink 182 possessed in such abundance. They were by no means great musicians, but if you were 13 years old in 2000 and too misanthropic for boy bands, yet still immature enough to enjoy sodomy jokes, they were pitch perfect. Let's examine some of their finer moments.

This song was on their 1994 EP Cheshire Cat . It's not a bad little song, and was always one of those "this is for the people who knew us before Enema of the State" moments at concerts.

In my early teen days I always thought this song was really romantic. I still kind of think so! And Tom DeLonge's ratty voice in the chorus is a brilliant addition to the song.

Probably the best single they ever put out, if not their best song ever. You better believe it was exciting at concerts when the drums kicked in after the opening guitar riff. Right at that moment in the song on their live album Tom DeLonge screams "Take your pants off!" My best friend and I still say it every time we listen to the song.

People talk a big game about Nickelback's alleged "sense of humor" with that "Rockstar" song, but it's just not good enough for me. I want nudity and black dress socks. Now that's commitment.

What on earth can compete with this song? It's like Cheap Trick and The Monkees had a baby and it fell in a barrel of nuclear waste to become the ultimate mutant-powerful pop song.

And then they started taking themselves too seriously and things went steadily downhill...

I hear shades of Angels and Airwaves in the leaden chorus.

And then they started hanging out with Robert Smith and writing lyrics like "Hello there the angel from my nightmare, the shadow in the background of the morgue."

And since you can't sink any further than that, they had to call it quits. But where are they now? We all know what horror Tom DeLonge moved on to. Travis Barker now plays drums in his closet. And Mark Hoppus has a blog. I would say that it's sad they're not together anymore, but considering that they reached their peak in about 1999 with three chords and a handful of fart jokes, it's probably best to just leave the past behind us in this case.

"Billboard" Asks Musicians For Their Favorite Records Of 2007 With Hilarious/Confusing Results

jharv — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:30:16 EST

From Pitchfork to Artforum, publications love to pad out their year-end coverage with Top Ten lists from musicians, whether world-famous or positively subterranean, but perhaps only Billboard could bring together Greg Dulli and Katharine McPhee. Instead of reprinting them all—there are many, and do you really care that the dudes from Vampire Weekend also liked that Panda Bear record an awful lot?—we've included our "Top Three Lists From Billboards's Top Tens" after the jump, along with our "The Good," "The Bad," and "The Whaaaa?" wrap-up, so as not to spoil the fun.

JOHN DARNIELLE's picks for best albums of 2007

Lead singer, The Mountain Goats

1. Bowerbirds, "Songs for a Dark Horse" (Burly Time)

2. CocoRosie, "The Adventures of Ghosthorse & Stillborn" (Touch & Go)

3. Bloody Panda, "Pheromone" (Level Plane)

4. Pig Destroyer, "Phantom Limb" (Relapse)

5. Bottomless Pit, "Hammer of the Gods" (Comedy Minus One)

6. Various Artists, "The Kings of Reggae" (Rapster)

7. Babyshambles, "Shotters Nation" (Astralwerks)

8. Foetopsy, "In the Bathroom" (Barbarian)

9. Mayhem, "Ordo ad Chao" (Season of Mist)

10. Om, "Pilgrimage" (Southern Lord)

TOM DeLONGE's picks for best albums of 2007
Lead Singer, Angels & Airwaves
In no order:
Tegan & Sara, "The Con" (Sire)
I'm really blown away by them. I think they're amazing.
Bloc Party, "A Weekend in the City" (Vice)
We played with them at the Reading Festival. Seeing 60,000 people go off to Bloc Party was absolutely incredible.
Angels & Airwaves, "I-Empire" (Geffen)
Nobody's doing anything like the trailer for "I-Empire." It's on our web site, and I guarantee you every band's watching it going, "How the fuck did they pull it off?"
Spank Rock at the MTVU Awards
There's a kid who looks like Urkel who was dressed up as Run-DMC for Halloween. It was really cool and different.
The Police, Anaheim, CA, Honda Center, June 21, 2007
That was the most amazing thing ever. It was like U2's production but with a punk rock band. It just blew my mind.

JESSICA SIMPSON's picks for best albums of 2007
1. Colbie Callait, "Coco" (Universal Republic)
2. Justin Timberlake, "FutureSex/LoveSounds" (Jive)
3. James Morrison, "Undiscovered" (Interscope)
4. The Wreckers, "Stand Still, Look Pretty" (Maverick)
5. Sigur Ros, "Hvarf/Heim" (XL Recordings)
6. The White Stripes, "Icky Thump" (Warner Bros.)
7. Ray LaMontagne, "Till the Sun Turns Black" (RCA)
8. Keane, "Under the Iron Sea" (Interscope)
9. Mute Math, "Mute Math" (Teleprompt/Warner Bros.)

THE GOOD: John Darnielle's list has to be the first (and only) time comedy grindcorers Foetopsy (sample song titles: "Deformed Foetal Scrotal," "Scab In A Puddin' Cup") will rate a reference in the hallowed pages of Billboard. Unless America suddenly starts craving 10-second songs about forced rectal exams.
THE BAD: Sure, Maura and I both snickered at Tom DeLonge (positively!) comparing Spank Rock to Urkel after she sent me the former Blinker's list this morning. But any points for that unintended dis are deducted for including his own band in his Top 5. That's just bad form, Tom.
THE WHAAAA? Jessica Simpson sharing a tender moment with Tony Romo while listening to Sigur Ros. So wrong and yet so... no, it's just kinda wrong.

The Year In Music: Artists Picks [Billboard]

Liner Notes: Tom DeLonge Stirs Up Brandon Flowers' Beef Stew

mjohnston — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:25:02 EDT

- Angels and Airwaves/Blink 182 frontman Tom DeLonge takes a potshot at irritable Killers frontman Brandon Flowers, saying that he was actually the first person to say that his band's album would be "the best of the last 20 years." Expect Flowers' moustache to get into a snit within the next 24 hours. [MTV]
- Jay-Z has officially moved on from Cristal, endorsing Armand de Brignac in the "Show Me What You Got." Not for nothing, but how are we supposed to trust the beverage tastes of someone who's shilling for Budweiser Select? [AllHipHop]
- About 1% of fifth-generation iPods were shipped with Windows viruses; Apple runs with the opportunity to Microsoft-bash on its official site. [Apple, via Paper Thin Walls]