blink 182

blink-182 was a punk rock band from San Diego, California, U.S. formed in 1992 by Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Scott Raynor in the northern San Diego suburb of Poway. Travis Barker replaced Raynor on drums in 1998, midway through blink-182's US tour. The group went on "indefinite hiatus" in 2005. In 2006, Mark Hoppus & Travis Barker conducted an interview with MTV and confirmed that the group is officially broken up.

The group was known for their catchy melodies, as well as for satirical, and sometimes profanity-laden, toilet humor. Musically, the band played up-tempo songs with prominent major-chord harmonies, often digitally mixed, to provide a much cleaner sound than typical punk/rock recordings, which generally exhibit distortion and analogue mixes to achieve the opposite effect. However, their last album showed a significant departure from their previous works and helped exhibit their more mature musical prowess while showcasing some advancement in the sophistication of their lyrical themes. The lyrical content of their songs, prior to their last album, was usually humorous and light hearted. blink-182 fans were predominantly teenagers; however, they managed to establish a more mature following with their latest offering.

Although the band is labeled as Blink 182 on albums prior to Raynor's departure, the official rendering of the band's name is blink-182. The numbers 182 were added to the band's name to prevent a trademark conflict with the Irish pop group Blink. However, fans frequently refer to the band informally as 'Blink'.

History

Early career (1992-1995)

The beginnings of the band can be traced back to the early '90s when DeLonge was reportedly expelled from Poway High School during junior year after being caught drunk at a school basketball game. After he transferred to another school, he met Anne Hoppus, sister of Mark Hoppus, who introduced DeLonge to her brother. The day the two future bandmates met, they were skateboarding with friends in a plaza parking lot and to impress DeLonge, Hoppus climbed a lamp post and jumped from the top, cracking both heels. The two hit it off and eventually came up with the name "Duck Tape" for the name of new band. Duck Tape soon transformed into Blink. In need of a drummer, DeLonge recruited 14-year-old Scott Raynor, whom he had seen playing at a "Battle of the Bands".

In May 1993, Blink released a demo tape entitled Flyswatter, recorded in drummer Scott Raynor's bedroom. It was their first album and a 4-track was used to record the material, resulting in poor sound quality and according to Hoppus, only around fifty copies were produced. Their first real show took place at a bar and since they were underage, they were only allowed to enter when it was time for their set. They bought 50 tickets to sell, but no one came to see them. After only one song Blink was kicked off the stage and out of the bar. Before the end of the year, the band released another demo tape known as Buddha. Around 1,000 copies were produced by Filter Records (owned by Hoppus' boss).

In early 1994, the success of the Buddha demo lead to Blink being signed with Cargo Records. Blink recorded their debut full-length album, Cheshire Cat in just three days. The album contained a number of updated versions of songs that had appeared on the Buddha demo.

Shortly after the release of Cheshire Cat, Blink was threatened with legal action by a techno band in Ireland of the same name. In order to avoid a lengthy lawsuit, Blink appended "-182" to the end of their name. There are several rumours as to why these numbers were ultimately chosen, such as their correspondence to the number of times Al Pacino utters the word "fuck" in Scarface, the 1985 Timothy Hutton film, Turk 182!, their representation of Hoppus's ideal weight, or that they represent the position in the alphabet of the letters 'R' and 'B,' referring to the northern San Diego suburb of Rancho Bernardo. However, the band members have dismissed such claims and maintain that the numbers were picked at random. However, in one interview, Barker stated that the "182" was the U.S. radio code meaning 'homicide' (apparently confusing "182," the radio code for conspiracy, with "187"). During the pop punk boom of the 1990s, blink-182 was signed by MCA in 1996 which later became Geffen Records.

Dude Ranch-era (1996–1998)

After moving to Encinitas, California, the band recorded the album Dude Ranch in 1996 with producer Mark Trombino. The album was released in 1997 and was relatively commercially successful. The single "Dammit" did well on U.S. modern rock charts. The single "Josie" was also relatively successful. However, in 1998 the band experienced a setback. Raynor, who had a serious drinking problem at the time, was reportedly asked to leave the band or go into rehab. However, there are also reports that he departed in order to attend college. Raynor claims he agreed, but that the remaining band members fired him over the phone despite his acquiescence, citing that they were doubtful of Raynor's sincerity. His expulsion occurred midway through blink-182's U.S. tour. He was replaced by Travis Barker

Rise to success (1999–2001)

For the 1999 album Enema of the State, the band hired Rancid and MxPx producer Jerry Finn, who became the band's permanent record producer. The album was largely successful, propelling the band to pop punk fame and gaining a significant amount of airtime on MTV and Total Request Live (TRL). This was largely due to the commercial success of the songs "What's My Age Again?", "Adam's Song" and "All the Small Things"; and particularly due to an infamous music video for "What's My Age Again?" which featured the band streaking. Enema of the State sold 7.7 million copies worldwide, which made it their bestselling album to that point. The sound on the album was rooted in the same genre as earlier punk-rock bands such as NOFX, Green Day and The Offspring, but it was recorded and mixed cleaner and with less distortion, allowing it to be more accessible to the mainstream. Because of this, many fans felt the band had strayed from its punk rock roots.

The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back, blink-182's sole live album was released in 2000, featuring songs from their three albums: Cheshire Cat, Dude Ranch and Enema of the State. The album included one new studio song, "Man Overboard," among the live renditions. Because it is no longer in print, the album is strongly sought after by collectors.

The band continued their commercial success with Take off Your Pants and Jacket (2001), which followed the same basic formula of Enema of the State. When the album was first released, there were several versions with different bonus tracks. These were titled "Take off," "Pants," and "Jacket," each of which were signified by a different sticker on the CD. Each version had two different bonus tracks. The tracks were "Fuck a Dog", "Mothers Day" and "When You Fucked Grandpa", all considered to be joke songs. The more serious numbers were "Time to Break Up", "Don't Tell Me That It's Over" and "What Went Wrong". Because of the different combinations, some long-term fans wanted to collect them all. However, the bonus tracks were only available for a limited time. A European tour (in the winter 2001) in support of the live album was cancelled in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. Rescheduled dates in early 2002 were also cancelled due to Delonge's back problems.

Pop Disaster and career with band projects (2002)

In the Summer of 2002, blink-182 and Green Day co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour, with support coming from Jimmy Eat World, Saves The Day and a relatively unknown band called Kut u up. Leading up to the tour, DeLonge began writing solo material. This was mostly due to the way he felt in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, feelings which were exacerbated by recent medical problems involving his back.

DeLonge slowly started to gather more and more material for a side project and it wasn't until he recruited Barker on drums and long time friend David Kennedy on guitar that his idea came to fruition. Bass would be played by DeLonge and Anthony Celestino on subsequent tours and videos. The project became known as Box Car Racer, a name inspired by the bomber Bockscar, responsible for deploying the second atomic bomb, Fat Man, on Japan during World War II. The two singles from the self-titled album were "I Feel So", and "There Is". The record also included guest singers Tim Armstrong (Rancid, Operation Ivy, Transplants) and Jordan Pundik (New Found Glory) on "Cat Like Thief" and Mark Hoppus on "Elevator".

After Boxcar Racer, Barker was invited to work on a second side project known as Transplants. This band started with Tim Armstrong (Rancid and Operation Ivy) and Skinhead Rob dabbling with musical ideas in Armstrong's basement recording studio. Having already known Barker from Boxcar Racer, Armstrong asked him to assist in the side project. Not long after their formation, Transplants debuted their first self-titled CD on Armstrong's record label Hellcat Records. The first single of the album was "DJ DJ", followed by the wildly successful "Diamonds and Guns". Due to explicit content, the latter was banned from the airwaves. Despite this, an instrumental version of the song is featured on the Garnier Fructis commercial. After playing the Warped Tour, Transplants decided to part ways for the time being.

Untitled-era (2003–2004)

After taking some time off in 2002, recording of the next record began in early 2003. A more laid back approach to song writing was taken. The result was a more mature sounding record than anything blink-182 had attempted before. The band released its fifth studio album on November 18, 2003. Described as "a self-meditation on romantic decay", the album featured the hit singles "Feeling This" (previously named "Action", as released on the game Madden 2004), "I Miss You", "Down", and the 1980s-influenced "Always". Travis Barker has confirmed that the band left the album untitled (rather than self-titled) to represent a new blink-182[1]. It showcased a style of music deeper than anything blink-182 had done previously, but still managed to receive significant airplay on radio stations and Fuse. Critics have deemed their sound similar to that of The Police and U2, although members of the band claim they took most of their influence from The Cure, whose front man Robert Smith had appeared on "All of This". Listeners called the riffs heavier and the lyrics more profound. During late 2003, the band embarked on what came to be known as the "Dolla Bill" tour. The name stemmed from the inexpensive ticket costs for attendance. The tour was largely popular with fans as the band played more intimate venues and ticket sales were heavily controlled to prevent touting. Also, special "meet and greets" were arranged before some of the shows. The tour would also visit The SOMA in San Diego, a venue where blink-182 would go to watch and play gigs during their early years. A tour with No Doubt in the summer of 2004 was also very successful. Coming up to 3 years after its release, the successful album has sold over 5 million copies worldwide but only one million in the U.S. and has only been certified 1x Platinum.

Indefinite Hiatus, Greatest Hits, Angels and Airwaves, and (+44) (2005-Present)

On February 8, 2005, Blink-182 was announced to perform at the Music for Relief's Concert for South Asia, a benefit show on February 18 planned for the tsunami in Asia that had occured late the previous year. [2] A large amount of confusion occurred, however, when the band mysteriously pulled out of the gig. Participator Dave Navarro said in his blog "the big shock came when Blink 182 pulled out. Supposedly, they broke up yesterday, at least, that's what we were told" [3], fueling rumors of a break-up. He later retracted his statement, saying "When Blink pulled out of the show, we were told that they had broken up. It made sense to us because it was an important show for an important cause. You're right. I shouldn't repeat things that aren't confirmed and I apologize to the band and their fans." [4]

Four days later, many fans were shocked when blink-182 announced they were going on an "indefinite hiatus". Barker was the first to speak out, claiming that "We're taking a break and letting everyone be creative on their time off", adding that "We want to enjoy ourselves and regroup and write a record when it's the right time." He also said that the band members wanted to spend more time with their families. [5] Two months later, Barker and Hoppus announced they were forming a new band, (+44), with Barker saying that "Blink, as far as I'm concerned, is over.." [6]

The band remained relatively quiet for the next few months, but on August 29, 2005 Geffen Records announced their plans to release a career long "Greatest Hits" compilation that would be released on November 1 in the United States. One previously unreleased track was included "Another Girl Another Planet" (a cover song originally by The Only Ones, recorded as the theme song to the reality TV show Meet the Barkers), Also included was the previously issued B-side (to the "I Miss You" single) and Untitled album bonus track (Outside the United States), "Not Now" (which was used as the first single). The album immediately reached No. 6 on The Billboard 200 in the United States.

Three weeks later Delonge revealed his project, Angels and Airwaves to the general public. He claimed it would be "the greatest rock'n'roll revolution of this generation" and "more emotional than blink-182 and Box Car Racer put together". His reason for why blink-182 was on indefinite hiatus, Delonge suggested the mounting tension between himself and Hoppus, ultimately caused by DeLonge's desire for a break with his family and Hoppus' feelings of betrayal from the formation of Box Car Racer. He also announced his plans to create a film about the final days of Blink-182. [7]

Delonge would continue promoting Angels and Airwaves, while Hoppus and Barker remained under the radar. However, the first form of any new material from any of the former members of blink-182 surfaced on December 13th, 2005, from +44. The song, "No It Isn't", featured cryptic lyrics such as "Please understand, this isn't just good bye / this is I can't stand you" which many believe were directed at DeLonge. Incidentally, the song was leaked on the same day that Angels and Airwaves were slated to release their first song (and also Tom Delonge's 30th birthday), although conflicts caused the band to delay its release. The song was ultimately released on DeLonge's birthday, fueling further speculation from fans.

Angels and Airwaves released their debut album We Don't Need to Whisper – initially leaked in April 2006 – May 23rd, 2006, where it debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200. The band went on tour in the summer of 2006, with Taking Back Sunday as co-headliner. During this time, DeLonge maintained that blink-182's hiatus was the result of his decision to spend more time with his family.

In August 2006 Hoppus finally broke his silence and gave his first personal interview with the press in an extensive interview for b182.com. The origins of (+44) were explained, but the real focus of the interview dealt with the state of blink-182. Hoppus said that the band was getting along at the time of their final album (as shown on "MTV video Album's Launch" about the progress of their recording), which was contrary to what Delonge had stated in earlier interviews. Blink-182 was ready to begin a final US leg for their tour, but around this time DeLonge had said he did not want to tour anymore, requesting a half year respite in order to spend time with his family. Hoppus revealed that he and Barker were initially upset, but they conceded to the break nonetheless. This led to the cancellation of the band's planned spring US tour.

The confusion over the Tsunami Benefit concert was also cleared up. Though the concert took place during DeLonge's intended six-month break, all three members were willing to perform. However, during rehearsals, Delonge argued with Hoppus and Barker about the hiatus. The three also discussed the possibilities of a new album. DeLonge said that he would only record new material at his home in San Diego. He suggested that his bandmates record their parts up in Los Angeles, then send him the Pro Tools files in San Diego so he could work on them. Upset at these demands, Barker and Hoppus accused Delonge of attempting to exercise excessive control. Delonge responded that he couldn't be a part of anything he couldn't control and soon left the rehearsal space. The next day the manager called the two of them and said that "as of today, Tom DeLonge is no longer a member of blink-182." This was quite infuriating, as Hoppus felt that blink-182 was disbanding simply because of one person and the democracy that he always espoused in blink-182 was gone.

Hoppus stated that he and Barker eventually formed (+44) out of love for making music and the fact that they did not want to wait for the hiatus to be over, however this has been proved false because (+44) came into fruition during the end of the European leg of Blink's last tour. Subsequently, (+44) is the calling code from the United Kingdom. He also couldn't say whether there was a possibility for the former bandmates to rebuild their broken relationship. He ultimately confirmed that the song "No It Isn't" was about the hiatus of blink-182, and although he is hoping he and his former bandmate can set aside their differences and come together for the fans, blink-182 is unlikely to re-form any time soon.

It Has Recently been announced that an episode of VH1's Behind the Music on blink-182 was in production.

Discography

For full discography, see blink-182 discography.

Trivia

blink-182 in popular culture

• DeLonge, Hoppus, and Barker played a "garage band" that watches a webcast of Nadia stripping in American Pie. Barker was incorrectly credited as Scott Raynor. The band's song "Mutt" is featured on the film's soundtrack (considered the film's theme song).
• DeLonge, Hoppus, and Barker appeared in the 300th episode of The Simpsons, in season 14, playing All The Small Things at a concert at skateboarder Tony Hawk's loft in Bart's apartment building.
• All three band members appeared in the Mad TV skit, "Leave it to Blink-182", which parodies the sitcom "Leave it to Beaver".
• The band plays their song 'What's My Age Again' naked, in episode 2, season 3 of the sitcom "Two Guys and a Girl."
• The band appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno three times ("All The Small Things", "Aliens Exist", "Stay Together for the Kids"), The Late Show with David Letterman twice ("The Rock Show", "Down"), Late Night with Conan O'Brien twice ("Dammit", "First Date"), Jimmy Kimmel once ("Feeling This/Stay Together for the Kids"), and performed two songs ("All the Small Things" and "What's My Age Again?") on Saturday Night Live's first episode of the year 2000 (the host for that episode was Jamie Foxx).
• "Feeling This" (then known as "Action") was first heard in the video game Madden 2004.
• The band appeared in South Park in the episode 105 (ninth of the seventh season) entitled "Christian Rock". They were supporting Kenny, Kyle & Stan's band "Moop" against illegal music downloading.
• "I Miss You" was the theme song to the short-lived The WB series The Mountain (TV series)

External links

• Blink182 Lyrics Archive* RockLyricsDB.com

Official websites

• Blink-182 Official website
• Blink-182 Official RSS Feed

Official websites (other)

• Box Car Racer
• Angels And Airwaves
• (+44)
• Macbeth Footwear
• Transplants
• HiMyNameIsMark.com
• LoserKids
• Resting Bird
• Atticus Clothing

Official MySpace websites

• Angels & Airwaves
• Transplants
• (+44)
• Loserkids
• Mark Hoppus
• Travis Barker