Blink-182

One Liner:  Top two biggest pop punk band ever

Wikipedia Genre:  pop punk, alternative rock, skate punk, punk rock

Home: Poway, California (suburb of San Diego)

Poster Position: Headliner!
Both Weekends.
Friday at 8:10.

Honda Stage.

Thoughts:  One of the biggest pop punk bands around.  Green Day feels bigger to me, without doing the research that would be required to establish that as a fact, but there was a time in the late 90's when I might have lost that wager.  But where Green Day matured a little and starting making political satire and other topical stuff, these dudes just kept singing about their lack of maturity and weird sexual things.

Their formation may not be that interesting, but I like the serendipity in it.  Guitarist Tom DeLonge was expelled from high school for being drunk at a basketball game, and had to go to a different high school.  While there, he performed in a Battle of the Bands and met drummer Scott Raynor, and through a friend's sister, met Mark Hoppus who was in town to attend college.  The three formed the band in DeLonge's garage, bonding over their love of scrappy punk rock.  If dipshit #1 hadn't gotten drunk for a basketball game, no Blink 182.

The band was originally just "Blink" but once they started to get some early traction, and Irish band named Blink sent them notice and so they supposedly just added a random number on to the end.  Explanations of “182” include the number of times Al Pacino’s character Tony Montana says “fuck” in Scarface, the number of the ship on which Hoppus’s grandfather served in the Marines, and Hoppus’s ideal weight. But, DeLonge has apparently confirmed that the number actually has to do with some sort of dumb high school rivalry.  The maybe-sorta-kinda confirmed thing for people from Poway is that Blink-182 is a euphemism for “Fuck RB,” because R is the alphabet’s eighteenth letter and B is the second. “18 + 2 = R + B = Rancho Bernardo”.  Riiiiiiiiiight.  There is also discussion of how the Brits call it Blink One Eight Two, and James Corden said it should actually be called Blink One Hundred and Eighty Two, and so Delonge said it should actually be Blink Eighteen Two.  Exhausting.  Blink One Eighty-Two for me.

Out of curiosity, that Irish band Blink doesn't appear to exist anymore.  On Spotify, there is a BLINKYSPIRIT, a Blink that does techno with Asian vocals, BLINKERRED, Blinky Bill, Blinky Blink, Blinkie, BlinkMade, BlinkScape, Blinky, Blink (looks like K Pop), and some others, but none appears to be the Irish band that messed up this whole thing.

Fascinating that they had a 1994 album named Buddha - no one seems to be listening to it much and I don't recognize the songs.  Weird.  Even weirder, Cheshire Cat is a 1995 album that repeats some of the songs from that earlier album, and likewise seems under the radar.  I jammed a little of that and it is suuuuper raw.  Like, definitely the sound of some kids who just figured out to record themselves and hit some chords on the guitar.  It was 1997's Dude Ranch that finally got them a hit - and a lot cleaner production.  But this is still the sound with the original drummer, a guy named Scott Raynor, who got tossed after this album and before the biggest hits of their career.  Anyway, the big hit from Dude Ranch is "Dammit," which is a classic 90's radio staple you'll still hear today.  289.3 million streams.

Funny seeing that other drummer in the band and not the tatted up Barker.  They are so clean cut looking!  "Well I guess this is growing up" is so basic but a great line.  This was the era when I definitely did not own that whole album, but I bet I downloaded that song and "Josie" on Napster and then played it on my WinAmp with a sweet skin while working for AOL.  Haha.  Good times.

But it was 1999's Enema of the State, with its porn-star-nurse-cover and mega-hits that finally turned this into a major thing.  And some strange detours in here, being that "All The Small Things" is just a poppy mega hit (1.1 BILLION streams), "What's My Age Again" is more juvenile dick joke humor stuff (721.3 million streams), and then "Adam's Song" is a kind of lovely song about teen suicide (313.1 million streams).  That is a really wide range.  I don't know this album as well as the next one, but those hits are pretty undeniable.

Massive MTV rotation for that video, and apparently still very popular for over a billion streams and 373 million views on YT.  And now you get all of those huge drum fills and power cymbals from Barker.  You also get some surprisingly good lyrics like the bit about work sucking and how little surprises like roses by the stairs let your loved one know that you care.  But the polish and shine on this album is obvious - no longer the raw bashing of those first few albums.  This is slick and catchy pop rock.

After that huge album, they did a live album, and it is my sincere desire that they are no longer like this, now that they are in their mid-50's.  But tons of dick jokes and "I want a blow job from your mom" jokes and just deeply stupid crap.  "Everyone yell FUCK!"  

Next comes my favorite album of the bunch, 2001's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.  Again, a well-produced, slick, catchy, tight set of songs that are both funny and rockin'.  Pretty sure I owned this one.  Not as commercially successful - at least less streamers for sure - but I really enjoyed it.  The big hits were "The Rock Show," "Stay Together for the Kids" (again, kind of a more poignant subject for these goofy dudes), and "First Date."  That one is the biggest with 439.7 million streams.

Great video.  Another totally goofy song, but freaking catchy as all get out.  Forever, forever, lets make this last forever!  HOLY SHIT!  That is where that little meme comes from when people show the blond guy in a mullet say What the Fuck - go to 1:54.  That is wild!  Great jam, especially the solo bit near the end.  "Stay Together for the Kids" jams, by the way.

Apparently, right about now, the guys were rushed into releasing this album to capitalize on the popularity of the last one, and after a co-headlining tour with Green Day things were not all awesome.  DeLonge made a sorta solo project, but he invited Barker to do the drums, so it made Hopper feel dissed and made a rift.  Barker also started working outside the group with a band called Transplants (bad rap/rock stuff) on the side.  They got back together for 2003's blink-182, which fired up one of their biggest tracks.  Funny though, because to me it is muddy sounding.  The drums are muffled and the whole sound is just not nearly as crisp as their other albums.  I wonder why.  Anyway, "I Miss You" was the big one here, with 783.7 million streams, some strings, and a continued presence on the radio even today.

The thing that I always remember about that track is how weird his voice sounds.  Before a whole group of young ladies learned to sign in italics, he was out here singing "wheryyre ayyyyre yuurr... or ... voyyyce inshwwd myyyed"  But it is a nice little song.  I prefer the dumb shit, personally, but I'm not anti-love song.  "Feeling This" and "Always" got some traction on that disc too.  The disc, like that video up above, has a little more emo-ness to it, instead of just the usual frat boy punk.

Right about here, the simmering rift in the band blew it up and they announced a hiatus in 2005.  DeLonge wanted more time with his family and less touring, the other guys didn't.  Hoppus was still made about the side project.  So, DeLonge formed Angels and Airwaves, while Hoppus and Barker made an album with a project they called +44 (if you go back to the weird numbering thing, D is the fourth letter in the alphabet so maybe they're saying to add DDelonge to the list of fuck yous?).  Barker gained more fame with reality TV shows and then a major plane crash that killed four other passengers and left him with PTSD and the need for 16 different surgeries.  After that brush with death, the guys decided to sit down and work it out.

The result of that was 2011's Neighborhoods.  Even though they were "back" together, they actually recorded the album in separate places and never really made a cohesive thing.  You also have the fact that the pop punk thing is not in vogue by now.  So, no real hits on that disc - maybe "After Midnight," but I just put that one on and don't recall it at all.  After this, they tried touring (although Barker wouldn't fly so it wasn't simple) and then DeLonge exited the band again (in part to investigate UFOs).

So, they had to find a new guitarist and part time vocalist, and ended up with a guy named Matt Skiba, who had been in Alkaline Trio.  I don't know that band at all.  After some legal battles with DeLonge, Skiba became an official member and in 2016 they released California.  Here was my review of it at the time:

"Man, I like this album a lot even though this was one of the two discs they did with a replacement guitarist/vocalist, while Tom DeLonge was out of the band.  Nothing new from the old sound of the band, in fact, any of these songs could have been taken from the sessions for Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and I would not have been surprised.  Strong drumming, tight harmonic singing, quick blast songs, it sounds just like the old Blink.  And they still keep their boyish frat party vibe going, with two super short songs ("Built This Pool" and "Brohemian Rhapsody") that contain a juvenile joke and little else.  If you never did like Blink, then this disc will still be disappointing and boring to you, but as someone who enjoyed TOYPaJ back in the day, this sounds good to me.  The hit off of here so far is "Bored to Death," and I like it even though it has been on constant rotation on the radio [FYI, in 2024, 163.1 million streams].  Such a trademark sound, especially the chorus and the line "Life is too short to last long," sung as a throwaway line after the main portion of the chorus.  I assume you've already heard that song 80 times, so I'll bring you my second favorite track, "San Diego."  [38.7 million streams in 2024]

That video makes me want to vomit - the movement of the lyrics is unsettling to my eyes. But I dig the tune, and the nostalgic points making about jamming the Cure in the parking lot before a show. "Los Angeles" is also good, as is "California" and "No Future."  Another album that is fun, although you're not going to want to parse the lyrics and make a case for a Pulitzer.  But fun to jam nonetheless."

2019's Nine did not affect me the same way.  Here was my review: 

"This one will truly live up to the title of these posts, and be very quick.  No.  I was on the fence about liking this bratty pop-punk back in the Clinton administration, but now this all sounds the same.  Whiny, bratty, generically mediocre pop rock with a great drummer.  This one also is missing DeLonge.  "I Really Wish I Hated You" is tops with 16.8 million streams [now at 64.6 million].

They were best when they were funny, and nothing about these songs is funny at all to me.  No."

COVID messed up the promotional cycle for that one, but also by 2021 Hoppus revealed that he had been receiving treatment for cancer.  That caused yet another sit down and make-nice between the boys, and they rejoined.  It sounds like maybe Skiba didn't get the best messaging about getting booted out, but it seems like he took it pretty well.  So, they played a surprise set at Coachella in 2023 for their first show with the whole group in almost a decade, and then made some new music.  Here is my review.

"Blink 182 - One More Time.  Hey!  Speaking of a band who could have just kept living off of their prior popularity!  The first thing I notice here is that Travis Barker freaking jams.  People have talked him up as the top tier drummer for years, and I've never really noticed much out of him on those classic Blink albums.  But I really feel like he is magnificent on these tunes.  "Fell in Love" sounds like they are stealing from The Cure.  "One More Time" is the sad-boy ballad that has been working it on the radio waves recently - 47.7 million streams of people singing about "do I have to dieeeyyyy to hear you miss meeeeeeee."

I mean, I know Mark Hoppus almost died from cancer and all, and Barker almost died in a plane crash, so this is kind of sweet.  But it is also very treacly and too twee for me.  Of course, after I have heard it, my brain doesn't care and I keep singing it over again.  So maybe it is better than I am willing to admit.  I know that they are mixing in lots of silliness in here, but I am not going to go take the time to read their lyrics to see which songs are about masturbation.  But even if this is just a carbon copy of the classic sound they used in the late 90's, it feels fun to me.  Like, the generic Blink-ness of "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT" which sounds like it even rips off "Adam's Song" for the taut chorus and then arena-sized chorus feels like it could have been on multiple other Blink albums.  Which is likely for the best at this stage."

So, the big decision is whether I'm going to go see this.  I think the answer is most likely yes, even though Stapleton is probably my favorite thing on the whole poster.  But I've seen Stapleton do his thing four or five times by now, so it seems to me that it would make more sense to go to the fun thing that I've never seen before.  We'll see, I guess!