Dude Ranch (album) - Music

Music

"Pathetic" is a tale of "abject self-pity in the face of collapsed relationship." The distinctive riff of "Dammit" was created when Hoppus was forced to skip over the missing two strings on an acoustic guitar. The song's themes include maturity and the refrain, "Well I guess this is growing up." "Dick Lips" was named after an insult bandied around at Big Fish during recording. It was written about DeLonge's experience when he was kicked out of Poway High School for showing up to a basketball game drunk. "Untitled" is inspired by the emerging ska punk scene, and "Emo" by its namesake, which is partly a tribute to DeLonge's favorite band, Jimmy Eat World. "Josie" features references to Unwritten Law and Dance Hall Crashers ("My girlfriend likes UL and DHC"). "A New Hope" takes the standard rock subject matter of a hopeless crush and rewrites it with details of the Star Wars series. The original Star Wars trilogy were popular during Hoppus' childhood into the late 1970s and early 1980s, and reflected a new interest in the late 1990s when the series was re-released in theaters. "Degenerate" is a re-recording of a track that first appeared on the band's demo cassette Buddha. "Lemmings" is another re-recorded track, which had previously only been available on a 7-inch. The band felt the song was strong enough that it should not be limited to those owning record players.