WHY BLINK-182 HATES THE RANCHO SANTA FE ASSOCIATION

I guess it makes sense that rockers as rich as the guys in blink 182 can afford to deep discount. "I guess this is growing up..." and all that, dontcha know.

So it's kind of a hoot to discover that in 2007, three years before Tom DeLonge opted out of homeownership in Rancho Santa Fe, the debut album by +44 with Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker included a track dissing Hoppus' former neighbors in oh-so-upscale neighborhood.

His rage against the Rancho is mainly directed at the neighborhood's homeowners association. Hoppus told newstimeslive.com “There's a song called ‘Lillian’ on the record that's about people that try to control other people's lives...And there's a place in San Diego called Rancho Santa Fe, which is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. It's country sides, rolling hills, there's trees everywhere. It's this gorgeous place, and it's filled with some of the most backstabbing, evil, just bitter, bitter people in the world."

"The homeowners association is very strict and it's strange because everybody who lives there is very wealthy…They're just bitter and it's a sour, sour community. The woman who started the homeowners association there is a woman named Lillian. So it's kind of about people trying to control one another.”

Hoppus seems pretty bitter and sour himself, judging from the tune's lyrics:

"The place I used to live, made me feel like a tourist - I couldn't coexist with the cold and suspicious - When the last remaining left was starting to filter - It seemed the perfect time to step into the future

Your heart is no grave to be perfectly honest - Your mouth's a smoking gun -And you smile while your twisting the knife in my stomach - Until everything is gone - Take all you can from me I've got weak constitution - I'm led so easily So easily

I left it all behind, in the dead of last winter - I left it all behind, but the question still lingers - So long forgotten friends, no, you don't know the difference - Between love and submission, and I'm not that obedient...

--- Jay Allen Stanford