Forget the debate surrounding Blink 182's punk credibility. They blow past Green Day on their way to the sugar-sweet end of the punk-pop spectrum. All that matters is if they're any good, if they rock.

        The trio's show at Riverbend Monday night brings to mind the following adjectives: peppy (they favor tempos faster than those of the average boy band, but the melodies are just as confectionary); naughty (punk bands like the Sex Pistols actually made people ill at ease; when Blink opened the curtains to reveal giant letters aflame spelling out a four-letter word, it's a marketing ploy); and corny (singing the WKRP in Cincinnati theme in this town has been done before, fellas — luckily for you, your teen-age fans probably had not yet seen it done).

        Good? The teen-agers thought so. They stood for the entire 75-minute set, heavy on their breakthrough album Enema of the State and their latest, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. They sang the words to the proper songs and laughed heartily at bassist Mark Hoppus' and guitarist Tom DeLonge's little improvised dirty ditties and their back-and-forth insults.

        Rocking? At times, thanks to drummer Travis Barker, who constantly powered them forward and toyed with otherwise monotonous punk rhythms. More importantly, it was he who stepped in to count off the next song when the between-song jokes were falling flat.

        They had their better moments, mainly the catchy Enema hits. And in the lyrics of these songs — be it the angst of “Adam's Song” or the immaturity celebration of “What's My Age Again” — it's plain to hear what the kids like.

        But nobody should kid themselves. Blink is to whom boy-band fans graduate. It's catchy pop just the same, only with guitars and swear words.

        Give them credit for their taste in other people's music. They handpicked openers the Alkaline Trio, a Chicago punk band who worked a bunch of hard-edged tunes (and no jokes) into its half-hour set. They were sporting a replacement drummer, Pete Parada from the band Face to Face, and he played flawlessly.

        New Found Glory, second on the bill, were closer in nature to the comical spirit of the headliner. They did funny covers of soundtrack tunes from The Neverending Story and Karate Kid II, for those who find that sort of thing funny.

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