Blink-182's Tom DeLonge Finally Defines the Word "Punk" in New Video

Published Aug 16, 2016

Let's be honest with ourselves — there are a lot of ridiculous, borderline meaningless words thrown around in pop culture. One that has always been particularly hard to define is "punk." Is it a lifestyle? A style of music? A fashion descriptor? It has always been impossible to say for sure. Fortunately, former Blink-182 guitarist and current space explorer Tom DeLonge has finally taken some time to explain this whole punk thing in 2016.Sitting down in his multimillion dollar studio, wearing a Ford motor company hat and talking to a camera crew for a joint venture between AT&T and Ernie Ball, DeLonge offers up four minutes of punk talk. In the discussion, he explores everything from his youth as a potty-mouthed teen with nose piercings to life as an adult making pop rock anthems.He tells a long story about how Joe Strummer warned him to have an open-minded view of music, and how that conversation (and a run-in with Oasis' Liam Gallagher) made him realize that punk is not relegated to one style of music."The whole punk rock thing has nothing to do with music at all, and I think kids miss that point entirely," he says. "It has to do with the transformation of being one of the group to being an individual and having the balls to say what you want to say, do what you want to do and follow the path that seems fit."Watch Tom DeLonge clear up this whole punk debate once and for all below.