San Diego

Album: California (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • On this track, blink-182 address the city in which they grew up. The band recall some of the good times they had there but they have now moved forward and come a long way since those days. Producer John Feldmann explained to Fuse: "The history of the song [is about] growing up in San Diego, having so many of their work partners being from San Diego and having a member (Tom DeLonge) who lives in San Diego who is no longer in the band."
  • Singer and bassist Mark Hoppus didn't want to write this song. Feldmann explained: "I brought up the idea that you have to write about s--t you don't want to write about. You have to write about s--t that's right there on the surface."

    "There's clearly a lot of feelings involved with having a best friend who is not in your band anymore, having a best friend with all that stuff that went down," he continued. "Every band has these issues. To write a song, now, in their minds, to go back to San Diego, playing shows and tipping their hat to the city that allowed them to be a band...to me, Blink put San Diego on the map. If you think of its geographic location, they're the band that made San Diego relevant as a city. I say that with the utmost respect to San Diego because I was born in San Diego, I grew up in San Diego but nobody gave a f--k about San Diego. It was just like a place and suddenly Blink happened and it was like Seattle."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

History Of Rock

History Of RockSong Writing

An interview with Dr. John Covach, music professor at the University of Rochester whose free online courses have become wildly popular.

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic FursSongwriter Interviews

Tim and his brother Richard are the Furs' foundation; Tim explains how they write and tells the story of "Pretty In Pink."

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.