Blink 182

The bands name was originally Blink, until it was brought to their attention that there was already a band named Blink. They got threatened with a lawsuit. At this point they added 182 onto their name. Why 182? Possible reasons:

• Mark's ideal weight
• the case number for when Blink-182 raped their neighbor's horse
• the number of times Mark has masturbated (lube) to the paused image of Princess Leia in the Jabba slave girl outfit
• the number of times Tom has masturbated (dryskin) to the image of the puppeteer dwarf inside Jabba's tail
• the number of talk shows Scott watched this last summer involving club kids
• Stolen from the movie Turk 182
• If you add 1 and 8 together, you get 9. If you subtract 2 from 8, you get 6. Reverse them and you get 69
• A story as told by Mark: "My grandfater was on a destroyer in WWII, and a Japanese zero kamakazi'd it, and it sank. My grandfather and five other men got to a liferaft whose number was 182. They survived at sea for ten days until they were rescued. They were the only ones who survived, becuase of the lifeboat, and they all got tattoos of the number 182 on their arms."
• not to mention various stories of "how many times so and so says fuck in some gangster movie", a common example involves Al Pacino in Scareface

In my personal opinion Dude Ranch and Cheshire Cat are their best albums, I can't decide between the two. There are some really great songs on both. Dude Ranch is what brought my attention to this band, but it also brought the attention of major labels. My personal favorite song is Josie off Dude Ranch.

I went to see these guys for the my second time at the Kiel Center here in St. Louis after Enema of the State was released. I had lousy seats. They weren't serving beer. Fenix TX opened. Bad Religion played second (I don't think 2/3 of the people there listened to them, maybe half didn't even know who they were until they played 21st Century Digital Boy, but they rocked, and I enjoyed it). Blink 182 played all their songs fast and punk-like. I think it left many johnny-come-lately fans stunned. At 26 I think I would have been the oldest person there for the music (as opposed to being brought by their kids) except one of my friends with me was 32. I also think many people were stunned by Blink 182's antics. For the price of one ticket to this show I got four to a Less Than Jake show. Bad Religion almost made it worth the cost.

A question: Has anyone ever heard Travis talk?

The band:

Tom Delonge - guitar, vocals

Mark Hoppus - bass, vocals

Scott Raynor - drums (1993 - 1999?) (left after Dude Ranch)

Travis Barker - drums (1999? - ) (formally of The Aquabats)

albums:

Budda -- Kung Fu Records (1994)

Cheshire Cat -- Cargo Records (1995)

Dude Ranch -- Cargo Records (1997)

Enema of the State -- MCA Records (1999)

EPs:

Dick Lips -- Grilled Cheese Records (1998)

Wasting Time -- Rapido Records (1996)

Fly Swatter -- self-released (1993) under the name Blink

info gathered from allmusic.com, the blink web site, fan sites, and me.
The list of false reasons for 182 is from http://www.angelfire.com/sd/caitlinj2/, but I already knew all, but two.

A word about the sheer stupidity of these guys and their antics. Do we have to be serious all the time? Nope. These guys are what happens when movies like Dumb and Dumber are popular. Is there anything wrong with that? No. As long as a person stays balanced why can't they let go and get stupid sometimes? (Ok so I'm just defending/rationalizing why I like these guys, I'll shutup now)

Their early sound is reminiscent of NoFX, Green Day, and PennyWise. It's generally characterized by fast guitar and kinda whiny vocals, usually singing about the injustices of adolescence. It doesn't feel bitter, though -- it's more playful than anything else. Their albums have random comedic interludes, adding to the feel of three punk kids playing around in a recording studio.

We used to hear Blink on the radio all the time in San Diego. By 1997, Dammit, the first single off "Dude Ranch", got picked up for huge airplay by KROQ in LA, Live 105 in San Francisco, and a few other Modern Rock stations around the country. Suddenly they were a nation-wide sensation. They've put out two more records since: Enema of the State and The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back.

Since then, they've appeared everywhere, getting air play on all kinds of stations everywhere (I think every station in the Bay Area has played a Blink song at one time or another). They're getting huge press, they're all over MTV, in the movies (e.g. American Pie) -- in short, they're pop superstars. Call it selling out, if you've got a stick up your butt, but if you were some punk kid from a San Diego suburb offered unbelievable fame and fortune to do what you've always done for fun in your garage anyway, you'd have to be some kind of fool to turn it down.

Discography

Here is the complete Blink 182 discography as of the 24^th of June, 2001. Please /msg for additions or changes.
(Compiled from various fan sources as the official website fails to be of any use.)

Kudos to Chrono who has already noded the lyrics to most of these songs.

Albums:

Blink 182
(Original release: 18 November, 2003)
©2003 Geffen Records

1. Feeling This
2. Obvious
3. I Miss You
4. Violence
5. Stockholm Syndrome
6. Down
7. The Fallen Interlude
8. Go *
9. Asthenia
10. Always
11. Easy Target
12. All Of This
13. Here's Your Letter
14. I'm Lost Without You
15. Anthem Part II

* Only featured on some releases.

Take Off Your Pants And Jacket
(Original release: June 12, 2001)
©2000 MCA Records

1. Anthem Part 2
2. Online Songs
3. First Date
4. Happy Holidays, You Bastard
5. Story Of A Lonely Guy
6. The Rock Show
7. Stay Together For The Kids
8. Roller Coaster
9. Reckless Abandon
10. Everytime I Look For You
11. Give Me One Good Reason
12. Shut Up
13. Please Take Me Home

Hidden Tracks: See the Take Off Your Pants And Jacket node for information regarding the hidden tracks.

Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back)
(Original release: November 7th, 2000)
©2000 MCA Records

1. Dumpweed
2. Don't Leave Me
3. Aliens Exist
4. Family Reunion
5. Going Away To College
6. What's My Age Again?
7. Rich Lips
8. Blew Job
9. Untitled
10. Voyeur
11. Pathetic
12. Adam's Song
13. Peggy Sue
14. Wendy Clear
15. Carousel
16. All The Small Things
17. Mutt
18. The Country Song
19. Dammit
20. Man Overboard

Enema of the State
(Original release: June 1, 1999;
'Clean Version' released October 5, 1999;
'Limited Edtion Import Bonus CD' released March 28, 2000;
'Japan Bonus Tracks' released July 11, 2000)
©1999 MCA Records

1. Dumpweed
2. Don't Leave Me
3. Aliens Exist
4. Going Away to College
5. What's My Age Again?
6. Dysentery Gary
7. Adam's Song
8. All the Small Things
9. The Party Song
10. Mutt
11. Wendy Clear
12. Anthem

Dude Ranch
(Original release: June 17, 1997)
©1997 MCA Records

1. Pathetic
2. Voyeur
3. Dammit
4. Boring
5. Dick Lips
6. Waggy
7. Enthused
8. Untitled
9. Apple Shampoo
10. Emo
11. Josie
12. A New Hope
13. Degenerate
14. Lemmings
15. I'm Sorry

Cheshire Cat
(Original release: 1994/1995)
© Cargo Music

1. Carousel
2. M + M's
3. Fentoozler
4. Touchdown Boy
5. Strings
6. Peggy Sue
7. Sometimes
8. Does My Breath Smell?
9. Cacophony
10. TV
11. Toast and Bananas
12. Wasting Time
13. Romeo and Rebecca
14. Ben Wah Balls
15. Just About Done
16. Depends

Buddha
(Original release: 1994)
©1994 Kung Fu Records

1. Carousel
2. TV
3. Strings
4. Fentoozler
5. Time
6. Romeo and Rebecca
7. 21 Days
8. Sometimes
9. Degenerate
10. Point of View
11. My Pet Sally
12. Reebok Commercial
13. Toast and Bananas
14. The Girl Next Door
15. Don't

Compilations:

• American Pie (Soundtrack)
• Can't Hardly Wait (Soundtrack)
• Godmoney (Soundtrack)
• Gravity Games 2000: Summer Sounds 1
• Keep The Beat
• Loose Change (Soundtrack)
• Show (Soundtrack)
• VA-Compilation Of Warped Music
• VA-Compilation Of Warped Music
• VA-Five Years On The Streets
• VA-Now That's What I Call Music
• VA-Sb1-Skiboarding Journey
• VA-Serial Killer Compilation
• VA-Solution To Benefit Heal The Bay
• VA-Wbcn 104.1 Fm