Dammit 182 – An analysis of Dammit by Blink 182

If anyone can claim to be a fan of Blink 182, then they can honestly say they are a fan of the song “Dammit” made famous by Blink’s 1997 album Dude Ranch. Even with four albums since, the band continues. performing this song over and over again at the request of millions of fans around the world. Personally, I’ve seen live footage of Blink 182 performing “Dammit” multiple times and the crowd goes completely nuts.

So what makes this song so popular? Another good question to ask is “Why are so many bands trying the same style as ‘Dammit’ and failing with the popularity of Blink 182 growing every day?”

First of all, always remember that the music industry is a cutthroat business, and in many cases, it’s just not fair. Many of the reasons why bands like Blink 182 make it or die have nothing to do with music.

Considering tons of pop rock bands have risen and died since the start of Blink 182, what makes “the blink” so much more dynamic than some of these other bands? Here are some reasons why Blink succeeds with extremely simple and similar songs.

1. When Blink 182 finds a good hook, they repeat it over and over again.

Blink 182 has a good talent for finding catchy hooks from simple, overused chord progressions, and once they discover that hook, it repeats. Let’s take “Damn” for example. If you notice in the verses, Mark Hoppus sings the same melody in almost every line! I mean, nobody really cares since that’s the hook of the verse and it works really well. The same goes for the choirs. When Blink 182 sings “And it happened once more. I’ll turn to a friend, one who understands, sees through the master plan…” those lines are all the same tune with just a slight variation.

2. Each phrase is played a comfortable number.

Some pop rock bands have trouble realizing that something is too long. After a while, you’ll start to realize that some riffs just can’t take being played four times without ruining the momentum of the song. Conversely, some riffs end too quickly, leaving the listener “hanging” so to speak. On “Dammit”, Tom Delonge wrote a very simple main riff that sets the mood for the rest of the tune. Blink 182’s intro riff turns out to be a very comfortable time period where the listener won’t get bored or feel like they’ve been slighted when the next phrase begins.

3. The topic is something that relates to the majority of the listeners.

This is pretty subjective as you could argue about popular bands that sing about death or violence or other things most of us have never been exposed to. However, Blink 182 sings about relationships with people. How often is the average person in a relationship? How about every day? “Damn” is no different either. He’s making fun of a breakup and how awkward it would be to see an “ex” with someone else. The next time you hear some of the major bands on the radio, pay attention to their subject matter. Most of the time, it’s too generic to apply to anyone. And a lot of that is decided by their record label contracts.

4. Each song is a progression.

I’m not talking about the chord progressions for each section of the song. I’m talking about the very subtle additions to songs that most people don’t even notice. Does anyone notice that in the final chorus of “Dammit”, Blink 182 has a second lead guitar riff? I don’t mean the guitar groove that follows Hoppus’s bass part or Delonge’s signature lead that begins the song, but another top part. Listen to it again and you will notice.

Dammit’s hidden guitar riff is only there for the purpose of creating an uphill progression in the song, because when something is different as the song continues, people want to keep listening. So for every band that thinks their song is done with intro/verse/chorus/intro/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus, you need to think again. Only the best songs add some subtlety to draw the listener in for longer and Blink has always been able to take advantage of that.

There are many other reasons why bands don’t make it in the pop rock genre and many of them don’t necessarily have anything to do with songwriting! It could just be the fact that a lot of them weren’t very original, good, or dedicated. Whatever the reason, these points could have a huge part in why Blink 182’s fame grew so fast, and why it may never go away.