001 - Dumpweed

"Let's not burn too much of our good California b-sides material on an episode that's about the opening song from Enema of the State. Of course folks, we're talkin about Dumpweed. And then I'll put Dumpweed in here or something."

## Episode Summary

### Initial Thoughts

Sam remembers hating the shit out of it and everything about Enema of the State

Josiah remembers his dad hating blink-182 and wanting him to listen to cooler things, like prog rock. He also remembers missing Scott the first time he listened to it and that Enema sounded too produced.

Both really like the song. s

### Main Discussion

* Homework for this episode: all listeners must read Can I Say, the Travis Barker autobiography
* Dumpweed brings up a lot of nostalgia
* The lyrics are, as the kids say, "problematic." Tom now tries to put a more woke take on it. In a 2000 tour booklet he said girls are smarter than guys and can see the future and never forget the past, so that leaves the dog as the only thing men are smarter than. The most offensive line is "I need a girl that I can train." Sam and Josiah suggest that Tom sees all living things in the world as either two genders or dogs.
* Anne Powers reviewed the record for the New York Times and said it sounds misogynistic but ultimately Tom is the asshole in the song. Josiah suggests that the misogyny in emo songs and in Weezer songs is so disguised that you don't even noticed that you're getting indoctrinated by "sad, white masturbators." But in Dumpweed, the misogyny is right in the chorus and is maybe a way of Tom admitting he's an asshole. In addition to the misogyny, Tom is also admitting to not wanting to stay to help someone who may be having mental health issues.
* Although we could excuse the lyrical content as being created in the 90s, there are similar lyrical themes on California. Sam and Josiah plan to confront Mark about his ableism when he comes on the pod.
* Sam attempts to pivot the lyrics to actually be about Josiah's relationship to his father and his addiction to Red and Stimpy.
* According to Urban Dictionary "Dumpweed" is someone who is dumped and can't get over their past relationship.
* After listening to the Dumpweed demo, recorded on cassette, both Sam and Josiah wish Enema actually sounded like that and reminds Sam of every band he loved from Etobicoke growing up.
* It's easy to forget that Enema has fast punk songs on it because you become accustomed to just hearing the radio singles like Adam's Song and All the Small Things

### List of Covers

* Jake Mai - "Achingly, achingly sincere cover."
* Nikolas Kamren - Metal
* digitilut - Chiptune influenced synth-y pop rock

### Final Thoughts

* Josiah was able to see the central joke of the song as just a joke because his dad gave him a well-rounded perspective and made him listen to cool things. This helped him contexualize the song as just something stupid. However, if you don't have that context at a young age, the misogyny in the song can become a little more dangerous and embedded.
* Sam thinks Dumpweed captures what initially repelled him from contemporary blink but also has allowed him to appreciate how fun and inventive they can be. And also how sexist they can be.

## Bands/People/Places Mentioned

* MxPx - The first punk band Josiah listened to
* Discharge - Compared to the slick California production, Enema of the State sounds like a Discharge record.
* Molson Amphitheatre - Sam was given floor seats to a blink show and they opened with Dumpweed.
* Fugazi - Josiah got into Fugazi because he paid $20 for Red Medicine and forced himself to like the band. Sam says they will do a sclusie going through Fugazi discography and then Josiah suggests that Guy Picciotto is Tom DeLonge and Ian MacKaye is Mark Hoppus
* Norm MacDonald - 90s era Warped Tour fashion is basically Norm MacDonald from Dirty Work and Norm reminds Josiah of Mark.
* Jessica Hopper - wrote an early 2000s essay about the misogyny of mainstream emo.
* Ludacris - has attempted to adapt his back catalogue to a more woke cultural landscape.

## Other Notable Items

* Josiah's childhood home in Abbotsford BC had a complicated stereo set up, with speakers in different floors/rooms of the house
* Josiah mentions the last book he read was Travis Barker's autobiography, rebelling against his dad's attempts to get him to read Noam Chomsky
* Ranking Enema, Josiah says its tied for first and Sam says its maybe fourth for him, but also they can't rank the albums until three years from now when they've collected all the data.
* Sam accidentally refers to future sclusies as "sclusives"
* Sam and Josiah both claim All The Small Things is the worst blink song.
* Sam notes that he has heavily edited the episode (actual recording time over 1 hour and 38 min).
* Josiah claims he is going to fly to San Diego to interview Scott Raynor.