Blink 182

Blink-182 is an American rock band consisting of bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. They have sold over 40 million albums worldwide since forming in San Diego, California in 1992.[1] With original drummer Scott Raynor they released their debut album Cheshire Cat in 1994 and achieved moderate success with its follow-up, 1997's Dude Ranch, which went on to sell over one million copies. Raynor was replaced by Barker midway through a 1998 tour.
The band achieved greater success with 1999's multi-platinum selling Enema of the State, which reached number 9 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the singles "What's My Age Again?" and "All the Small Things", the latter of which became the highest-charting song of their career by reaching number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Blink-182 gained popularity for their irreverent sense of humor, and the follow-up album Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001) reached number 1 in the United States, Canada, and Germany. The eponymously-titled Blink-182 followed in 2003 and marked a stylistic shift for the group, infusing experimental elements into their usual pop punk formula, resulting in a more mature sound.
DeLonge left blink-182 in early 2005, sending the band into indefinite hiatus. Hoppus and Barker formed a new band, +44, while DeLonge formed his own act, Angels & Airwaves. Hoppus also pursued a career as a television host while Barker continued working in music as a producer and solo artist. Blink-182 reunited in February 2009 and their sixth studio album, Neighborhoods, was released in September 2011.

Blink 182 was formed in Poway, California, a suburb outside of San Diego, in 1992. After Mark Hoppus graduated high school in Ridgecrest, he relocated to San Diego to work at a record store and attend college.Tom DeLonge was kicked out of Poway High for attending a basketball game drunk and was forced to attend another local school for one semester. At Rancho Bernardo High School, he befriended Kerry Key, also interested in punk music. Key's girlfriend, Anne Hoppus, introduced her brother Mark to DeLonge in August 1992. The two clicked instantly and played for hours in DeLonge's garage, exchanging lyrics and co-writing songs—one of which became crowd favorite "Carousel." DeLonge recruited friend Scott Raynor for drums, who he met at a Rancho Bernado Battle of the Bands competition. Raynor was by far the youngest member of the trio at 14, and his event account differs significantly: he claims he and DeLonge started the band together, which Hoppus later joined.

The heart of the local independent music scene was Cargo Records, which offered to sign the band on a "trial basis," with help from O, guitarist for local punk band Fluf, and Brahm Goodis, friend of the band whose father was president of the label. The band recorded their debut album in three days at Westbeach Recorders in Los Angeles, fueled by both new songs and re-recordings of songs from previous demos. Although Cheshire Cat, released in 1994, made very little impact commercially, it is cited by fans and musicians as an iconic release. "M+M's", the band's first single, garnered local radio airplay from 91X and Cargo offered the band a small budget to film a music video for it. The band's popularity caught the ire of an Irish techno band of the same name, who threatened with legal action. To avoid a dispute, the band appended "182" to the end of their name, chosen at random.

Fletcher Dragge, guitarist of Pennywise, believed in the band strongly. He demanded Francisco Godinez, a promoter from the Warped Tour, sign the band for the 1997 festival, telling him that "they're gonna be gigantic." Australia was very receptive to the band and their humorous stage shows and pranks gained them a reputation, but also made them ostracized and considered a joke. Early shows featured wet T-shirt and wet pants contests. The band slowly built a young, devoted following with indie recordings and an endless series of performances and various clubs and festivals.

Dude Ranch shipped gold by 1998, but the exhaustive touring schedule brought tensions among the trio, and Raynor was fired under alcohol abuse because he refused to go to rehab . Travis Barker, drummer for tourmate The Aquabats, filled in for Raynor, learning the 20-song setlist in 45 minutes before the first show. Barker joined the band full-time in summer 1998 and the band entered the studio with producer Jerry Finn later that year to begin work on their third album.

During time off from the band, DeLonge created the side project Box Car Racer with David Kennedy of Hazen Street, while Barker teamed up with Rancid's Tim Armstrong to form the rap-core outfit Transplants. The side projects, specifically Box Car Racer which Barker was also a member of, caused great division within the band, and Hoppus felt betrayed.

The band regrouped in 2003 to record their fifth studio album, infusing experimentalist elements into their usual pop punk sound, inspired by lifestyle changes (the band members all became fathers before the album was released) and side projects. Blink's eponymous fifth studio album was released in the fall of 2003 through Geffen Records, the band's first with the label. Critics generally complimented the new, more "mature" direction taken for the release and lead singles "Feeling This" and "I Miss You" charted high. The New York Times considered that the album may have been influenced by the growing popularity of emo. Fans were split by the new direction, and tensions within the band—stemming from the grueling schedule and DeLonge's desire to spend more time with his family—started to become evident.

In February 2005, the band issued a press statement announcing their "indefinite hiatus." The band had broken up after arguments regarding their future and recording process. DeLonge desired to work only at his San Diego home and record his contributions there. Unresolved feelings from the Box Car Racer side project emerged too, creating rifts. The band abruptly canceled a performance at a Music for Relief benefit show after rehearsals grew more heated. Jordan Schur, the former president of Geffen Records, reportedly told Barker: "any press you do, make sure you say everything is cool," opting to instead issue a statement calling the band's break-up an indefinite hiatus.DeLonge would later recall back to the events in an interview: "My biggest failure was the breakup of Blink. That was a failure of friendships, businesses and communications. In our hearts, we thought that was forever and gone. What's funny is, at the time, I looked at it as a triumph."

The band members did not speak for many years, until 2008. That August, Jerry Finn suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was taken off life support. On September 19, Barker and Goldstein were involved in a plane crash that killed four people, leaving the two the only survivors. Barker sustained second and third degree burns and developed post-traumatic stress disorder, and the accident resulted in sixteen surgeries and 48-hour blood transfusions. DeLonge reached out to Barker, and eventually started visiting him in the hospital together with Hoppus, laying the grounds for what was going to be the band's reunion. Eventually, an arrangement was made for the trio to meet up at Hoppus and Barker's Los Angeles studio in October 2008. The three opened up, discussing the events of the hiatus and their break-up, with DeLonge asking what is next for them, to which Hoppus replied they "should continue with what [they've] been doing for the past 17 years.". Regarding Barker's incident, in 2010 Tom DeLonge stated that "if that accident hadn't happened, we wouldn't be a band. Plain and simple. That was fate."

Eventually, the band appeared for the first time on stage together in nearly five years as presenters at the February 2009 Grammy Awards. The band's official website was updated with a statement: "To put it simply, We're back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy." The Blinkumentary, a documentary film about the band's reunion, was also made. Blink-182 embarked on a reunion tour of North America from July to October 2009, supported by Weezer and Fall Out Boy.A European festival tour followed from August to September 2010, and another spring European tour was scheduled for 2011, but was cancelled in order to complete the band's promised comeback album. In the midst of the band's reunion tour in August 2009, DJ AM was found dead by a friend in his New York apartment. Though Goldstein had been prescribed medication for pain following the crash, the medical examiner reported that he died from "acute intoxication" listing several prescription drugs and cocaine.The following night's Hartford, Connecticut show was difficult for the band; as the band played "Down" in tribute, the three began crying. Subsequent dates were rescheduled over the next week in order to allow the news to sink in.

Blink-182's music can be described as pop punk, a fusion music genre that combines some light elements of punk rock with pop music, "combining frustration and fast, sunny hooks." The New York Times writes that the band "[took] punk's already playful core and [gave] it a shiny, accessible polish." Their earlier work like Cheshire Cat (1994) and Dude Ranch (1997) before achieving mainstream success in 1999 were skate punk and punk rock. Blink-182 emerged from a "nurturing, often slapstick" Southern California punk scene, playing with groups like Guttermouth, NOFX and The Vandals, but the band's sound was criticized when they achieved mainstream popularity by several punk acts who wished to not be associated with their music.[81] The band's sound evolved with their 2003 untitled effort, which incorporated post-hardcore influences into deeper, darker pop territory. The band's newest material, Neighborhoods (2011), combines arena rock, hip hop and indie rock inspiration.
Common lyrical themes include love, family, friends, and relationships. In greater detail, this includes "adolescent aimlessness, broken hearts and general confusion over the care and feeding of girls."Lyrics in singles such as "What's My Age Again?" reflect age and maturity, while more serious compositions such as "Stay Together for the Kids" touch on the subject of divorce.DeLonge said in a 1999 interview that the goal is to remain sincere and relatable, noting that the band takes their lyrics very seriously. Despite this, the band gained a reputation for occasional lyrical toilet humor (Take Off Your Pants and Jacket). As the band members grew older, lyrical themes began to reflect the realities of adulthood, including relationship woes, daily pressures and unexpected hardships, most prominently explored on Blink-182 (2003). On Neighborhoods, darker lyricism continues: themes concerning depression, addiction, loss and death were inspired by Barker's plane crash and the death of producer Jerry Finn.
The band has cited The Cure, the Descendents, Screeching Weasel, Bad Religion, Pennywise, NOFX, The Undertones, The Vandals, and Buzzcocks as influences.

Blink-182 were one of the most popular bands at the turn of the millennium, and spearheaded the second wave of pop punk and its journey into the mainstream. The glossy production instantly set Blink-182 apart from the other crossover punk acts of the era, such as Green Day.Cheshire Cat is often cited by bands and fans as an iconic release and Dude Ranch has been called a "genuine modern punk classic." Enema of the State catapulted the band to stardom, creating what New York described as a "blanket immersion among America's twenty-some million teenagers."At the band's commercial peak, albums such as Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and Enema of the State sold over 14 and 15 million copies worldwide, respectively. The band was featured alongside Green Day, Rancid, Bad Religion, NOFX, and The Offspring in One Nine Nine Four (2009), a documentary examining punk rock in California.
The band never received particularly glowing reviews, with many reviewers dismissing them as a joke act based on the humorous slant of their music videos. British publication NME was particularly critical of the trio, begging them to "fuck right off," and comparing them to "that sanitised, castrated, shrink-wrapped 'new wave' crap that the major US record companies pumped out circa 1981 in their belated attempt to jump on the 'punk' bandwagon." Nevertheless, subsequent reviews of the band's discography have been more positive. Andy Greenwald of Blender wrote, "the quick transformation from nudists to near geniuses is down-right astonishing." James Montgomery of MTV called Blink-182 one of the "most influential bands of the past 20 years," writing, "despite their maturation, Blink never took themselves particularly seriously, which was another reason they were so accessible."
The new generation of pop punk and alternative rock fans found the Blink sound "hugely influential," with Montgomery writing, "... without them, there'd be no Fall Out Boy, no Paramore, or no Fueled by Ramen Records." In 2011, The New York Times asserted that "no punk band of the 1990s has been more influential than Blink-182," stating that even as the band receded after their 2005 split, "its sound and style could be heard in the muscular pop punk of Fall Out Boy or in the current wave of high-gloss Warped Tour punk bands, like All Time Low and The Maine." For example, bands such as Panic! at the Disco and All Time Low originated covering Blink-182 songs."Anyone in our genre would be lying if they said they weren't influenced by Blink-182," said Joel Madden of Good Charlotte. The band's influence extends beyond pop punk groups, as well: Mumford & Sons, Owl City and Best Coast have acknowledged the band's influence, and critics have noted traits of the band's sound in Japandroids and Wavves.In early 2013, in Melbourne, Australia, Metalcore band Of Mice And Men, Deathcore band Chelsea Grin, Post-Hardcore band Pierce The Veil and Pop-Punk band All Time Low performed a cover of Blink 182's song Dammit at a sideshow for the Soundwave Festival.

Band members

Current members
Mark Hoppus – bass guitar, vocals (1992–2005; 2009-present)
Tom DeLonge – guitar, vocals (1992-2005; 2009-present)
Travis Barker – drums, percussion (1998–2005; 2009-present)
Former members
Scott Raynor – drums, percussion (1992–1998)


Studio albums
Cheshire Cat (1994)
Dude Ranch (1997)
Enema of the State (1999)
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)
Blink-182 (2003)
Neighborhoods (2011)