" Adam 's Song " is generally considered one of the band 's more serious songs , one " that hints at the emotional maturity they 'd show on later releases , " particularly their eponymous 2003 release . Richard Harrington of '' The Washington Post '' deemed the song " a powerful exploration of exhaustion and depression . " Alex Pappademas , writing for '' Spin '' , compared the song to the music of Weezer . Katy Kroll of '' Billboard '' recognized it among her top 10 singles of 2000 , calling it " a good old-fashioned depressing song with mainstream flair . " Geoff Boucher , writing for the '' Los Angeles Times '' , called it " a poignant essay on a teen mulling over suicide " ; conversely , Steve Appleford of the '' Los Angeles Times '' dubbed it a " moving if unremarkable examination . " Scott Mervis of the '' Pittsburgh Post-Gazette '' called it a " rare departure from the usual Blink fare . " Writers for '' The A.V. Club '' listed it among other suicide-related songs in 2009 , describing it as " surprisingly affecting , especially when the band reaches the bombastic chorus , and when the song describes suicide 's crushing aftermath . " In a retrospective review , Chris Payne of '' Billboard '' wrote , " Stylistically , it 's also a Blink breakthrough : rather than putting their heads down and plowing through at breakneck speed , the band dials back the verses and interludes to let them breathe a bit . The resulting chorus achieves an arena-worthy feel not achieved anywhere else on '' Enema of the State '' . " The song caused a controversy in 2000 when it was set to replay indefinitely on a nearby stereo as 17-year-old Greg Barnes , a teenager who attended Columbine High School and had lost one of his best friends in the massacre the previous year , hanged himself in the garage of his family 's home . Both Hoppus and DeLonge were sympathetic but stressed the song 's meaning during an MTV News interview in 2001 : Hoppus also told interviewers that he received fan mail following the song 's release from fans that had contemplated suicide , but decided not to go through with it after hearing the song . '' Rolling Stone '' compared the controversy to that of Ozzy Osbourne 's " Suicide Solution " , which similarly was playing as a teen committed suicide
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Adam's Song