Blink 182-Greatest Hits (2005) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	44:00 (Case: 40)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Various
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Tom De Longe Mark Hoppus Scott Raynor Travis Barker
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	?	Music	blink 182

    In 1999 blink 182 hit the big time. From a band that once played pop punk interspersed with puerile humour to college kids, they became fully fledged punk superstars playing pop punk interspersed with puerile humour to a much wider audience.

    1999 was the year of Enema of the State, a blast of melody and punk which sold almost 8 million copies worldwide and spawned two monster hits - All The Small Things and What’s My Age Again?

    It’s somehow fitting that a DVD of blink 182's video clips becomes a swan song for the band, which went on extended “hiatus” last year, for it was video that helped launch the band into stardom. To be precise it was the video for What’s My Age Again? featuring the band running naked through the streets of Los Angeles that became a sensation in itself. When this was followed up with the video for All The Small Things where the boys parodied the crop of boy bands around at the time the world got the joke. For the first time it became cool for heavily tattooed men to wear shorts.

    Blink 182 started life in Southern California in 1992. Comprised of Tom De Longe on guitar, Mark Hoppus on bass (both did vocals) and Scott Raynor on drums (replaced in 1999 with Travis Barker) they garnered a reputation for fast catchy songs with great guitar riffs as well as a stage act full of toilet humour. Two studio albums, Cheshire Cat and Dude Ranch, were released to growing success before Enema of the State.

    The videos on the Greatest Hits Collection span the era from Dude Ranch to the last album simply titled blink 182 or Untitled, taking tracks from all their five studio albums (although only the extra track from their live album). As much as anything they also reflect the growing maturity of the band as artists despite an irrepressible desire to have fun.

    Apart from the two videos above there are the goofy blasts of Dammit and Josie intermixed with the serious videos for Adam's Song, dealing with teen suicide, and Stay Together for the Kids which deals with divorce.

    Thankfully it is a varied collection, blending low brow with high invention. Take one look at the video for Man Overboard with dwarf look-alikes recreating several of their previous videos to get an idea of the level of both humour (albeit politically incorrect) and artistry. For high profile artists they didn‘t miss any chance to mock themselves, giving the videos a warmth and sense of fun often missing from other such collections and showing that it is possible to bop and smile at the same time.

    In 2004 the band released their self titled/untitled album and moved to a grander and more mature punk sound and outlook which is matched by the four final videos in the collection. From the Orwellian Feeling This to the Gothic-meets-Weimar of I Miss You, the variety keeps things enjoyable and fresh.

    For fans of the band this is essential although many will wish for more at the end. For a band that was so famous live it is a disappointment that they never released a live DVD.

Video

     These videos were made for television in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio in NTSC and that’s exactly how we get them in this collection.

    No attempt has been made to spruce up the source material so the quality of the transfer varies according to time and money. The early videos were made on the cheap and it shows with some minor aliasing and video artefacts. The colours are slightly overbright but otherwise acceptable.

    By the time Enema of the State came around the band had more money to spend, and it shows with a vast improvement in the image quality. The exceptions to this are deliberate such as First Date which was shot to give it a 1974 feel right down to the pool-boy moustaches. I Miss You is also given a deliberate scratchy look to evoke the 1920s.

    I won’t spoil what the boys do with the $250,000 given to them by the record company to make the video for Rock Show.

    Bearing in mind the points above it must be said that overall, the quality of the videos is good.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

    The sound is rendered in Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kbs). Again the quality of the audio is in keeping with the time at which the songs were recorded although it must be said that blink 182 always had a pretty good sound for pop punksters. Dammit is gloriously raw but by the time we reach Always the sound is complex and rich.

    The overall sound quality for the videos cannot be faulted with clear stereo separation and lots of subwoofer assistance for the driving bass lines.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Main Menu Audio & Animation

    There are no other extras.

    As mentioned above, the lack of extras is a crying shame for fans of the band who need some sort of closure. In particular it would have been nice to have the videos introduced by the band telling us a little bit about how some of the wacky ideas came about. For example, how did the band get Florence Henderson and Alyssa Milano to appear in the video for Josie?

    There must also be some extensive live footage of the band around which could have been put onto the DVD as an extra.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    This is an all region release and is identically specified worldwide.

    blink 182 are sadly gone (barring reunions). Their legacy of videos is represented in this enjoyable if sparse collection. The variety of videos both in terms of production ideas and tone lift them above a number of other collections where sameness makes for increasing boredom. No effort has been expended to improve the videos or to extend the experience past about 40 minutes. Still, if you are a fan this DVD should already be on heavy rotation in your house, turned up loud and annoying the neighbours – just like blink 182 would have wanted!

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