"Whether people are making fun of it or not, I think it's awesome either way." That’s what Hinder drummer Cody Hansen said about this project when he appeared on the Blink-155 podcast. Are we making fun? Or is this 267-minute, 65-track compilation of “Lips of an Angel” covers a monument to something larger than any of us could ever comprehend?

Yes, there’s something funny about Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel,” the slow-dance from your sweaty palmed prom that has since been relegated to a karaoke deep cut or an emotive power ballad that cuts through the sound of creaky shopping carts on the tinny speakers of your local Shoppers Drug Mart. But the things to mock about “Lips of an Angel” — that it’s overwrought, that it’s melodramatic, that it has a key change with a Slash-lite guitar solo — are no different than the things that can be mocked in any other area of human expression. Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel” is the sound of earnest yearning, the lament of a man whose current bliss is threatened by the vague notion that things might be better if his life were different. It’s the sound, then, of fallible human nature channelled into pure artistic expression.

Every week, Blink-155 discusses a different Blink-182 song. Part of this process involves listening to as many different covers of said song from as many different internet users as possible. More often than not, a song we think we hate at the start of the episode ends up redeeming itself by the end. This is likely due to our spineless, moth-to-a-light resolves surrounding pop culture, but it’s also a testament to the redemptive nature of exploring an idea from every possible angle.

Here, we have 65 covers of Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel,” all of which were initially recorded for Blink-155’s Twitch stream on a dare or a whim. The song is sometimes covered in earnest, other times deconstructed and reconstructed. It’s interpreted through the lens of myriad subcultures, including d-beat, black metal, internet-savvy electronic music, folk punk, third wave ska, Christian slowcore and transcendent neo-classical. It’s appropriated for use in inside jokes that stem from hundreds of hours of Blink-182 podcasting. But even when the interpreter intentionally attempts to destroy the song, such as admitted non-fan and podcast outsider Victoria Lucas's 24-minute harsh noise piece near the end of the compilation, “Lips”’s initial greatness transcends the trolling and the composition is still satisfying in its own right.

Once again, a multi-tiered inside joke birthed organically from the fandom of a podcast has resulted in something at once bewildering, life-affirming and profound. An international community banded together, each belting out the words in a defiant act against archaic notions of taste. They’ve cried out, loud and clear for all to hear, and their cry can only be met with one suitable response: It’s really good to hear your voice.

- Josiah Hughes