“I Miss You” by Blink-182

Blink-182’s “I Miss You” is a pessimistic love song. As noted later in this post, lyrically it relies partially on references from “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, a flick which is described as a “dark fantasy film”. 

And what we’re dealing with here is basically a case of the singer coming to grips with the fact that the relationship with the woman he loves is now over. That does not mean that he is taking such lying down nor easily. Rather the title points to his resolve to let her know that he’s been suffering in her absence. 

And the lyrics of the verses serve a similar function, where he basically likens what he is going through (as alluded to above) to a horror movie.

And taking such a grim approach is indicative of the overall depression he is experiencing. Indeed going back to his pessimistic outlook, even though he is still communicating with his sweetheart, letting her know that he does in fact “miss” her, in the back of his mind he perceives little true hope in terms of reconciliation. 

That’s the idea that the chorus, which is repeated at the conclusion of the song, is meant to indicate. Indeed a listener may find it a bit confusing that on one hand the singer is seemingly begging his lover to come back, and one the other he is telling her “don’t waste your time on me”. 

Well that latter statement is symbolic of his low self-esteem, so to speak, concerning the matter. That is, as mentioned earlier, he is by and large under the impression that she has already forsaken this relationship.

Conclusion

So this is yet another song, amongst many, in which we have a male singer devastated due to losing the hand of his significant other. 

It is not ever explicitly put forth that he and the addressee, i.e. the woman he loves, have actually broken up. But the wording does read as if in the least she has excommunicated, as in not entertaining his advances and pleads. In this particular case, like most others, the vocalist doesn’t come off as if this whole ordeal is his fault. 

Yet and still he is suffering from very low spirits as a result.  And apparently the situation won’t be rectified on his end until his baby returns.  But considering that he doesn’t believe she’s coming back in the first place, his remorse is only compounded.

Release Date of “I Miss You”

This track is from a project which itself is entitled Blink-182, the titular band’s fifth studio album. Geffen Records introduced “I Miss You” as the second single from said project on 1 February 2004.

More Facts about “I Miss You”

The song was co-written by Blink-182’s Travis Barker but primarily by his bandmates Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge. The latter two did so by coming up with a common theme and then writing verses pertaining to such in separate rooms. And it was Travis’s idea to introduce a reference to “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, a classic animated holiday film that came out in 1993.

Another major influence on the song is a track called “The Love Cats” which British band The Cure released in 1983. According to DeLonge, he is a huge fan of The Cure.

And speaking of “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, the music video to this track, as directed by Swedish filmographer Jonas Åkerlund, featured sort of a horror motif also

And speaking of inspirations, The Chainsmokers relied heavily on this very song to inspire their own track “Closer“, which was one of the biggest hits of 2016.

“I Miss You”, as produced by Jerry Finn, is acoustic instrumentally. 

And the song fared pretty well itself, reaching number one on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart. It also achieved platinum status in the UK and overall charted in over a dozen nations.

In 2020 this song experienced a newfound surge in popularity after it was parodied in a video. And in response to such Tom DeLonge, who sang the original (alongside Mark Hoppus) went on to further parody the song himself.

Blink-182

At the time of the release of this track, Blink-182 consisted of the following artists:

• Travis Barker (drummer)
• Tom DeLonge (guitarist and vocals)
• Mark Hoppus (bass guitarist and vocals) 

DeLonge left the group in 2005, upon which Blink-182 disbanded. They eventually got back together in 2009, with DeLonge in tow. But he left again in 2015 and that time around was replaced by Matt Skiba. So as of early-2021, the band consists of Barker, Hoppus and Skiba.

And out of the trio, Barker has proven to be the most-popular. This is largely due to the fact that throughout the years he has collaborated with a number of artists, including quite a few top-name rappers, outside of working with Blink-182. And some of the names on the list include Rihanna (2007), Eminem (2009), Lil Wayne (2011) and Machine Gun Kelly (2019).