Having a Niche

It's important for any up and coming band or artist to have a niche, this is to separate them from any other band or artist around and give them a unique brand identity, which would be highly beneficial for any pre-signed artist whowants to get themselves heard.

Blink-182 is a great example of a band who created a niche/image which got them to where they are today. Today they are notorious for their use of humor in their work and that is what got them known in the first place. Their humorous stage antics is what made them stand out during a low profile gig and get signed by a record company.

Even today they are still including a variety of fresh gags in their live gigs, not only that but they also go as far as changing the speed of their songs and changing the lyrics for comic effect. In 2000 they released a live album titled 'The Mark, Tom and Travis show' which allows the listener to experience what Blink 182 are like live, also the album features all the skits involved in the show for the listeners amusement.

The bands famous humor isn't just shown in their live gigs, but they have also released goof songs that contain a lot of expletives and toilet humor. These songs include 'Family Reunion' and 'Happy Holidays, You Bastard' which only serve the purpose of making the listener laugh.

Another way in which Blink-182 have expressed their sense of humor is through their music videos. The majority of their music videos are of comedic value, their most notable music video would be 'All The Small Things' in which the band parody a typical boy band music video and variety of other artists and their music videos, these artists include: Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Other music videos of theirs include them parodying a previous (which included the members of the band jogging down a public street naked) music video of theirs by using dwarfs in the roles of themselves.

A few screenshots of Blink-182's 'All The Small Things' Music video

Music videos 'What's My Age Again' and it's parody 'Man Overboard'

Bands such as Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory, Paramore, Good Charlotte, All Time Low and many more have taken inspiration from Blink-182's attitude and image and used it to create their own work.

Links to music videos:

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ht5RZpzPqw&ob=av3e All The Small Things

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7l5ZeVVoCA&ob=av3e What's My Age Again

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u38TqU5rAyk&ob=av3e Man Overboard