Parking Lot (Blink-182 song)

"Parking Lot" was among the last songs the group developed when working on a deluxe reissue for California. Upon listening to the set, the trio decided it was lacking in high-energy, upbeat songs. Bassist Mark Hoppus came up with the idea for the song reminiscing on his youth, and conceptually centered the song around parking lots, viewing them as a quintessentially suburban spot. "Whether it's your first kiss or break-up with a girl, or you hang out with your friends, or even receive a phone call with the best or worst news of your life [...] Some of the most important moments in your life can happen in a parking lot."[1]

Former guitarist Tom DeLonge performing a slappy in Target parking lot in the early 1990s. Bassist Mark Hoppus specifically references these memories.

Musically, the song is a pop punk anthem[2] using power chords predominantly. Alex Robert Ross from Vice compared its guitar line to the band's work on Enema of the State, their 1999 breakthrough LP.[3] Barker drums in a fast[4] and syncopated pattern,[3] accompanied by "frenetic" drum fills.[5] The track later moves to a "heavy"-sounding breakdown. Its chorus has been described as very catchy; Jon Blistein from Rolling Stone likened it to a "giddy sugar rush."[6]

In the first verse, Skiba recalls drinking on a train to Chicago,[7] spending ten dollars to see the punk group Naked Raygun perform at the Metro,[6] a famed music venue in the city. Skiba refers to it by its former name, the Cabaret Metro. Hoppus begins his verse recounting times spent with friends skateboarding in the parking lot of a Target retail store.[5] He then moves to a narrative of sneaking into a lover's home to spend time together, referencing the groups Violent Femmes and the Smiths as bands they enjoy.[8]

In the chorus, Hoppus and Skiba put themselves in the place of "forgotten young" suburban kids, aimlessly wandering Californian streets.[2] Thematically, this connects to subject matter the trio frequently explored in their early work.[8] At the end of each chorus, the band repeat the hook "na na na".[3] Its hook of "fuck this place, let's put a parking lot" has been compared to Joni Mitchell's 1970 single "Big Yellow Taxi", which uses a similar lyric in a close key and melody.[4][7]

Jon Blistein of Rolling Stone commended the "blistering" anthem that celebrates "the most adolescent activity: petty loitering".[6] Alex Robert Ross from Vice praised the song and Skiba's contribution: "The key is that Skiba's voice works better here than it did almost anywhere else on California, crackling a little in the middle range."[3] Brandon Friederich, staff writer for Maxim, called it a "rollicking return to form" for the trio.[5]

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[9]

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics