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Dumpweed

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"Dumpweed"
Song by Blink-182
from the album Enema of the State
ReleasedJune 1, 1999
GenreSkate punk
Length2:23
LabelMCA
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Jerry Finn
"Dumpweed (Live)"
Promotional single by Blink-182
from the album The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back)
ReleasedNovember 2000
RecordedNovember 4, 1999 at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, California
November 5, 1999 at Universal Amphitheatre, Universal City, California
Length2:50
LabelMCA
Producer(s)Jerry Finn

"Dumpweed" is a song by American rock band Blink-182. It is the opening track from their third studio album, Enema of the State (1999). A live version of the song was released as a promotional single in November 2000 supporting the band's live album The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back). The song explores frustration in relationships.

Background

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Though credited to both guitarist Tom DeLonge and bassist Mark Hoppus, the song was written and sung by DeLonge. The song originated as a collection of unrelated guitar riffs, which he considered "catchy and intricate but simple", bridged with what he felt was a "very nursery rhyme" riff to augment the verse. The song opens Enema of the State; DeLonge, in the 2016 documentary The Pursuit of Tone, felt it was a good indication of the direction the band was heading in, and called it "probably the best opener we've ever had."[1]

"Dumpweed" explores frustration with women.[2] Gavin Edwards of Rolling Stone summarized the song as "about an ambivalent guy imagining the pain and the freedom of breaking up with his girlfriend, set to an unstoppable staccato rhythm."[3] It has been described "callow complaint about girls not always doing exactly what you wish they would" by New York's Nitsuh Abebe.[4] The song is based around the hook "I need a girl that I can train," as in dog training. DeLonge explains the song in a 2000 tour booklet: "Girls are so much smarter than guys and can see the future as well as never forget the past. So that leaves the dog as the only thing men are smarter than."[5] In an interview with MTV News the previous year, he clarified that the line did not refer to his girlfriend: "I got a lot of shit from her for that one."[6]

The promo single prepends a masturbation joke from The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back) to the beginning of the track.[7]

Reception

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Michael Paoletta, in a review of the promotional live single in 2000 for Billboard, wrote that "stylistically, [the song] represents frantic, manic ska at its adolescent best."[7] Chris Payne, reviewing the album fifteen years later in Billboard, felt the track "serves as scintillating sample of the bubblegum angst to come — yelped hooks, pogo riffs and drums from Travis Barker that go off like popcorn in the microwave."[8] Kelefa Sanneh, writing for the New Yorker in 2016, describes it as a "downright giddy farewell to a "nightmare" girlfriend."[9]

The song's central dog training metaphor has been the subject of criticism. "It's a nasty idea but the rest of the song makes it obvious he is the one at heel," wrote Ann Powers in her original review of the album for the New York Times.[10]

Legacy

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Four Year Strong performed a cover of the song for the tribute album A Tribute to Blink 182: Pacific Ridge Records Heroes of Pop Punk (2005).[11] All Time Low frontman Alex Gaskarth included the song as part of a playlist of "songs that changed your life" for Alternative Press in 2009.[12]

Track listing

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  1. "Dumpweed" (Live) – 2:50
  2. "Interview With Blink-182" (Hosted By Michael Halloran)
  3. "Interview With Blink-182" (Answers Only -- No Host)

References

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  1. ^ DeLonge, Tom (2016). The Pursuit of Tone: Tom DeLonge (television). Audience Music. Event occurs at 22:50–24:32.
  2. ^ Chonin, Neva (July 8, 1999). "Enema of the State". Rolling Stone. No. 816. New York City: Wenner Media LLC. ISSN 0035-791X. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  3. ^ Edwards, Gavin (January 20, 2000). "Punk Guitar + Fart Jokes = Blink-182". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  4. ^ Abebe, Nitsuh (September 25, 2011). "Sentimental Education". New York. Archived from the original on December 12, 2011. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  5. ^ DeLonge, Tom (2000). Blink-182: The Mark Tom and Travis Show 2000 Official Program. MCA Records. p. 14.
  6. ^ Wallace, Brian (June 21, 1999). "Blink-182 Clean Up Their Act on New LP". MTV News. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  7. ^ a b Michael Paoletta, ed. (November 11, 2000). "Reviews & Previews: Rock Tracks: Blink-182 – "Dumpweed"". Billboard. Vol. 112, no. 46. p. 31. ISSN 0006-2510.
  8. ^ Payne, Chris (May 30, 2014). "Blink-182's 'Enema of the State' at 15: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  9. ^ Sanneh, Kelefa (July 25, 2016). "Blink-182: Punk for All Ages". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  10. ^ Powers, Ann (June 18, 1999). "Album of the Week". The New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  11. ^ Crane, Matt (September 17, 2014). "13 pop-punk bands covering other pop-punk bands". Alternative Press. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  12. ^ "The Songs That Changed My Life: 24 Special Playlist". Alternative Press. June 1, 2009. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
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