Short Biography
It's been nearly two decades since blink-182 first burst upon the scene, emerging from a garage in Poway, CA (the San Diego suburbs) to take over the world with their signature sound. A strange thing also happened over those years: while singing along to hit after hit and laughing out loud to a myriad of new terms for various bodily functions, a generation of fans grew up right along with the band. Every step of the way, they followed Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker's epic journey — both musical and personal.
With thirty-million-plus records sold worldwide, the trip's been a global one. The trio is recognizable nearly everywhere. They've reaped awards, played the top television programs and graced the covers of top publications in the U.S. and numerous countries. Crowds have lined up at arenas around the globe to see them play live. Each member has since become a brand-building star, exploring the worlds of fashion/clothing, TV, various musical projects and —most importantly— fatherhood. Yes, the very same guys who once stunned parents with wildly raunchy jokes are now dads themselves.
Blink-182's sound was immediately evident by the time they released their breakout 1997 album Dude Ranch, which went platinum by the next year on the strength of their first hit, "Dammit (Growing Up)." Enema of the State followed in the summer of 1999 and went multi-platinum, reaching #9 on the Billboard 200 and eventually selling over 15 million copies worldwide. The tour that spawned the Mark, Tom & Travis Show sold over 350,000 concert tickets. Their next studio album, the multi-platinum Take Off Your Pants and Jacket was released in 2001 and reached #1 in the United States, Canada and Germany. 2001 also found the band headlining the inaugural Honda Civic Tour.
By the time the band dropped the humor from their album titles for their eponymously-titled blink-182 in 2003, a marked stylistic shift had taken place for the group. With a broad spectrum of varied influences brought into the recording studio, blink-182 took shape as each member infused more experimental elements into their familiar sound—Travis' devotion to hip-hop, Tom's ethereal arena rock leanings and Mark's indie flavor. Left-field elements yielded surprising results, such as the inclusion of Robert Smith of The Cure appearing on "All Of This." Commercial success validated the risks as the album went double-platinum in the U.S., and has since sold more than four million records worldwide.
After the members took a five-year hiatus from blink-182, the threesome appeared at the Grammy Awards ceremony in 2009 to announce that they had returned to revive a band that just couldn't stay quiet for too long. A hit international tour followed.
Now, self-producing their first album and recording together for the first time since 2003, the band is actively pushing their musical boundaries, all while keeping firm hold of the classic blink-182 sound that took them to the top in the first place. And, with the dual added benefits of age and life experiences since the recording of blink-182 to draw upon, the results of these sessions will surely set the tone for the next blink decade.
This is growing up.
In-depth Biography
The new-school punk trio blink-182 was formed in the suburbs of San Diego, California around guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, and drummer Scott Raynor. Originally known as simply Blink, the band debuted in 1993 with a self-released EP, Fly Swatter. After releasing the album Buddha in 1994, the trio signed to Grilled Cheese/Cargo and released Cheshire Cat the following year. The threat of a lawsuit from a similarly named Irish band forced them to change their name to blink-182, but the group earned a higher profile touring the world with Pennywise and NOFX on the 1996-1997 Warped Tour, plus appearing on innumerable skate/surf/snowboarding videos.
The third blink-182 LP, Dude Ranch, was jointly released in 1997 by Cargo and MCA. Dude Ranch expanded the group's audience and went platinum by the end of 1998, due in part to the popularity of their infectious teen anthem, "Dammit (Growing Up)." The group also signed officially with MCA, which released the band's fourth album, Enema of the State, in the summer of 1999. The album, produced by Jerry Finn (Green Day, Rancid), also welcomed a new member into the trio's ranks; Travis Barker, formerly with the Aquabats, settled in on drums after Raynor left midway through a 1998 U.S. tour. Enema was greeted with almost immediate success, and helped the band achieve the mainstream status of toilet-humored pop-punk kings that Dude Ranch had only hinted at. Driven by the commercially successful singles "What's My Age Again?," "All The Small Things," and "Adam's Song," music videos for the three songs (whose clips included themes of streaking and boy band spoofs) were MTV smashes as well.
After selling over four million copies of Enema of the State, the trio played on with the limited-edition release The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back) in fall 2000. The album featured the band's radio hits in a live setting, intertwined with their quirky sense of humor as well as the new song "Man Overboard." Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, issued in spring 2001, saw the band return to their SoCal punk rock roots. Maturity, of a sort, came with 2003's self-titled album, released on Geffen. Not only did the album sport a song ("All of This") that featured Robert Smith of the Cure, but "I Miss You" also topped the modern rock charts in 2005.
In February 2005, however, popular as ever and seemingly indestructible, blink-182 unexpectedly announced they would be going on an "indefinite hiatus," supposedly to spend more time with their growing families. Asking fans for help in selecting tracks, the group issued Greatest Hits that November. Bandmembers also continued on with other projects: Barker -- who had previously released an album with DeLonge as Boxcar Racer -- continued playing with the Transplants and running his clothing company, Famous Stars and Straps. His family was also spotlighted in the MTV reality show Meet the Barkers. Hoppus carried on with his Atticus fashion venture, began producing -- starting with Motion City Soundtrack's Commit This to Memory -- and hosting his own podcasts. He further began work with Barker in a new band, Plus 44. DeLonge also continued work with his lifestyle clothing company, Macbeth, and formally announced his new project, Angels and Airwaves, that fall. ~ John Bush & Corey Apar, All Music Guide
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