003 - Online Songs

"Do we have any comments about how I was starting things, by the way? Or is the sort of shitty intro super good?"

## Episode Summary

### Housekeeping

* Within 15 minutes of episode 001 - Dumpweed being released, Mark Hoppus was tweeting about the pod account (thanks to friend of the pod Anne), requesting to be included in the discussion. Josiah did the 'thirsty' move of unfollowing and then re-following Mark in an attempt at friendship, but was unsuccessful. Both Sam and Josiah decide it is far too early on in the pod for Mark to come on as a guest anyways.
* Sam notes his fear of insulting members of the band in case they refuse to come on the pod.
* Through googling, Josiah learned that there are other blink-182 podcasts out there.

### Initial Thoughts

* Sam thinks this is one of the best straight-up Mark Hoppus punk songs.

### Main Discussion

* The story of this song is that they never played it live and people are really upset about it. Requesting that Mark not listen to this part of the pod, Josiah theorizes this is because the song is too technically complicated for them to play live, especially Tom's guitar parts.
* Aside from the ideal blink-182 line up that would include Josiah, Sam, Yelawolf, and Robert Smith, Josiah wonders what it would be like if Tom rejoined the band and Matt stayed and they became a quartet. This might help them play Online Songs live.
* Josiah discovered what he called 'the world's saddest Twitter account' dedicated to convincing blink to play Online Songs. @182onlinesongs has three followers and last tweeted on May 10th, 2016. Sam and Josiah decide to use their white male privilege and blue checks to signal boost Taylor and Maria of @182onlinesongs.
* On reddit, there is a truther movement about whether or not blink has actually played Online Songs live. Twitter user @daveyhavok819, what they believe is the real Davy Havok, claimed he was at a Long Beach show one and a half weeks after 9/11 where blink played it. Someone else suggested a guitarist from New Found Glory joined them onstage to play it.
* Sam feels that some of the 'na's' have a slight I Miss You enunciation so wonders if Tom sang them or sang them with Mark. This is also apparently a large subreddit debate.
* Sam likes the mention of 'Josie' right off the top because it implies there is a universe within blink songs.
* A Genius annotations suggests that Mark was referencing 20th century erotic literature with the line "please don't remind me, put your past behind me." Genius also suggests that the song title is a reference to AOL instant messaging, which never took off in Canada and therefore, neither Sam or Josiah really understood it. This is the danger of naming a song after technology of the day. Josiah thinks this could have been avoided if they just called the song "Online" which will always be relevant.
* Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone very confusingly called this song "strained" and "pompous" with "arty, metal breakdowns" and also called it "Online Song."
* Sam ran a twitter poll during the recording of the episode to ask who sings the Na's and it received 36 votes in 45 min. 39% of people think it's Tom, 61% think its Mark.

### List of Covers

1. Reset, close to Josiah's favourite genre: inept suburban pop punk. Kind of charming but sounds like the singing is happening on a different time signature
2. Youtuber garrettbass1 "CRAZY FINGER SNAPPING GUY - blink-182 Online Songs Cover", acapella split screen. Has some ASMR quality to it.
3. Piano cover, emphasizes how complicated the song is, definitely arty metal. Accompanied by stills, including the guy wearing an Atticus shirt and holding a hand bag, then a troubling photo of blink-182 playing live, with four little people.

### Final Thoughts

* Josiah thinks it is a sick punk song, which Mark can write really well when he wants to. Mark is good at not overthinking things and it sits nicely between some more complicated Tom songs. Josiah then begs Mark to follow him on Twitter one last time.
* Sam also thinks its a sick song and also wants Mark to follow him on Twitter.

## Bands/People/Places Mentioned

* Mike Cernovich - Josiah claims the only things he knows are MRAs, gamergate and blink-182 and suggests getting Cernovich as a guest on the pod.
* Green Day/Pinhead Gunpowder - Green Day use an extra guitarist, their friend from Pinhead Gunpowder, when playing live. They also discuss how embarrassing it is for Green Day to play shows at Gilman now, "you can never go home again."
* Hold Steady/Craig Finn - mention of 'Josie' in the song is similar to Hold Steady song characters
* Tool/Dream Theater/Opeth - Bands Sam and Josiah site as inspiration for the "arty, metal breakdowns"
* Joel Madden - Follows Josiah on twitter
* Simple Plan - formerly known as Reset, employed Mark Hoppus to sing some na's and ripped off the guitar part of the bridge of Apple Shampoo

## Other Notable Items

* Sam and Josiah discussing 'negging' Mark to get him on the pod
* They question the presence of overdubs on the Mark, Tom, and Travis Show live album because it sounds too good.
* Sam mentions 'the lawns' at the Molson Amphitheatre.
* Sam is in the process of emailing someone at twitter to get the @blink155 handle because it is not active. They are currently stuck with @blink155pod. Sam and Josiah ask if anyone knows Ryan Walker, the owner of the account.
* Josiah states he's gone 'no-fap' and completely stopped listening blink-182 while Sam is now listening to them more.
* Frequent discussion of whether the blink-182 subreddit like the pod.
* Sam found all the covers