Take Off Your Pants and Jacket

As their new disc kicks off with Tom DeLonge lamenting, “Everything has fallen to pieces/Earth is dying. Help me, Jesus,” you might wonder if pop-punk brats blink-182 have finally gotten over their famously arrested adolescence. But by the time you hit bonus tracks like “Fuck a Dog,” with its country-fried sing-along of “I wanna fuck a dog in the ass,” it’s clear that rock’n’roll’s answer to the Lost Boys still don’t wanna grow up. Sticking with the same three-chord hooks that launched Enema of the State to quadruple-platinum status, the group tackles such weighty issues as first dates (the aptly named “First Date”), playing hooky (“Give Me One Good Reason”), and evil adults (“Anthem Part Two,” on which DeLonge sings, “If we’re fucked up, you’re to blame”). They don’t do much to advance punk beyond the point it’s been at for, oh, the last 20 years, but at least the band keeps the melodies bright and the rhythms tight. Though no one was asking to return to junior high, Jacket will put you so closely back in touch with your inner teenager, you’ll wonder if you have time to listen again before homeroom.