Blink-182

Blink-182 is a group of Pop-punk Californien formed in 1992
The group separated in 2005. There remained nevertheless two new groups about it (Angels And Airwaves and +44).

Composition

Thomas Matthew DeLonge: Guitar, Song
Markus Allan Hoppus: low, Song
Travis Landon Barker: battery

History

Formation of the group

After returnbeing returned from its secondary school, Poway High School, to have been surprised drunk at the time of part of basketball, Tom Delonge, first member of the group, started to be devoted to the Punk (after having discovered The Descendants at the time of a stay in camp-site) and to be impassioned for the Skate-board.

Tom Delonge was then placed in another school in which it became acquainted with a certain Anne Hoppus, boyfriend of one of her close relations, who presented this last to his brother Mark Hoppus, thinking that they could form a group together. Thus, very quickly and probably as of the first evening, they wrote their first song: Carousel.

Unfortunately, they realized quickly that they still missed a beater to supplement their group. Tom Delonge then called upon a friend, 14 years old, Scott Raynor to play of the battery within the group.

The finally complete group can start to connect repetitions, to create the first songs of their repertory. The group first of all will be called " Duck Types " , and to take a duck for mascot. Then very quickly the group gives up its name and its mascot with the profit of a more serious name, " blink ", and of another mascot, a rabbit .

Beginnings of the group (1993-1996)

In May 1993, they left their first demonstration, named Flyswatter, recorded in the room of the beater of the group. This demonstration was recorded with a basic material thus implying a recording of bad quality. Very few copies of this demonstration were sold (according to Mark Hoppus, around fifty only).

After difficult beginnings (not of spectators, banishment of the bars and coffees), they succeeded in all the same playing their first spectacles in few clubs of San Diego. At that time, the name of the group was summarized with Blink . The group obtained its first contract with the label Kung Fu Records and recorded its second demonstration: Buddha at the end of this same year 1993. Approximately 1000 copies of this demonstration were produced by Filter Records.

In 1995, their first and complete album, Cheshire Cat, left the vats and were quickly the album revelation of the group. Produced by Grilled Cheese Records, the album contains old songs appeared in the album demonstration Buddha.

This same year, and shortly after the exit of the album a group of Irish techno of the same name carried felt sorry for. It was thus agreed to add the 182. According to the rumors, 182 comes from the number of times that Al Pacino pronounces the word Fuck in the film " Scarface". It is during the Nineties, years which knew the explosion of the punk pop style, that blink-182 were signed by MCA (in 1996 exactly) which became later Geffen Records.

The first successes (1996-1998)

After a removal with Encinitas, always in California, Blink-182 recorded in 1997 their second album Dude Ranch, produced per Mark Trombino. The album, and in particular individual the " Josie" and " Dammit (Growing Up) " , was very quickly a great business success.

The group had the following year its first problems. Scott Raynor, for which the group was only one momentary entertainment, knew serious problems of alcoholism and was constrained to leave the group to enter a house of rehabilitation. Other sources claim that Scott Raynor gave up simply the group to concentrate on its studies. Always it is that its departure intervenes during the American round pushing Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge to quickly engage Travis Barker in replacement for the round. When Scott Raynor wanted to return within the group, the two leaders preferred to refuse definitively to preserve Travis Barker beater of the group

The celebrity (1998-2002)

In 1999, Enema Of The State, their third album produced by Jerry Finn, had such a success that it propelled the group at the tops of the American charts. The group became even very popular in industry the pop one in general. The album owes mainly its business success with the songs " What' S My Age Again? " , " Adam' S Song" and " All the Small Things". Enema off the State was sold with nearly 16 million copies throughout the world (including 300.000 in France), becoming thus their album more sold. Musicalement, this fourth album is built on traditional melodies of the groups of this time (Nofx, Green Day, The Offspring…) while however having taken care to clarify the sounds and to simplify the distortions. This musical choice made it possible to open the group with more many people but was consequently occasion the source of many criticisms of the first fans.

The following year, in 2000, left their first and single album live The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back . The album contains principal successes of the three albums Cheshire Cat, Dude Ranch and Enema off the State as well as a new song recorded in studio: " Man Overboard". The album, drawn in limited edition, since, became a particularly required collector. To complete the enormous success of their compilation, the Californian trio took part in " The Honda Civic Tour" in 2001.

Then on June 12th, 2001, Take Off Your Pants And Jacket took by to storm the record dealers and settled in musical and commercial continuity group (it was sold has more than 8 million). The first albums had left in various versions including the different no-claims bonus on each version. These songs, " Fuck has Dog" , " Mother' S Day" and " When You Fucked Grandpa" are regarded as humorous songs without great musical values. The album contains however more serious songs following the example " Time to Break Up" , " Don' T Such Me That It' S Over" and " What Went Wrong". For the exit of this album, a European round was organized in winter 2001 but finally cancelled following the attacks of September 11th. Pushed back in 2002, the round was finally abandoned when the problems of back of Tom Delonge occurred.

First rupture (2002)

The summer 2002, Blink-182 and Green Day organized the round " jointly; Pop Disaster" with the participation of Jimmy Eat World, Saves The Day and Kut U up. During this round, with his recurring pains with the back and because of the shock caused by the attacks of September 11th, Tom Delonge began his first achievements in solo.

Pushed by finally interesting and many achievements, it joined Barker, the battery, and a former friend David Kennedy, with the guitar, to form the project Box Because Racer. It is only after the exit of the album that they decided to engage a bass player, it is thus Anthony Celestino who was chooses. The name of the project comes from the bomber Bockscar, person in charge of the dropping of the second atomic bomb in Japan during the Second world war. The two individual extracts of the album éponyme were " I So" feel; and " There Is". The recording also included of the prestigious guests like Tim Armstrong (Rancid, Operation Ivy, Transplants), Jordan Pundik (New Found Glory) in " Cat Like Thief" and obviously Hoppus Mark in " Elevator". The realization of this project was, according to Tom DeLonge, the primary reason of the final separation of the group in 2005 since the album resulted indeed in many frictions and a heavy tension within the group.

Shortly after Box Because Racer, Barker was invited to take part in another project known under the name of Transplants. The group left two albums: Transplants in 2002, and Haunted Cities in 2005.

The meeting again (2002-2005)

Finally, after one year of rest and separation, a more mature and considered album is born on November 18th, 2003. Conceived like an interior meditation of the romantic decline (" coil-meditation there is romantic decay"), the album includes four successes: " Feeling This" , " I You" miss; , " Down" and " Always". According to Travis Barker, not to name the album was a means of symbolizing the revival of the group there.

Far from usual sonorities, criticisms fustigated a sound too much borrowed from the groups The Police or U2, and this in spite of ceaseless developments of the members of the group who see there a stronger influence of the group The Cure, argument supported by the appearance of Robert Smith in the title " All off This". Nevertheless, the purists of the group can find there more usual sonorities following the example titles " Go" or " Feeling This".

Towards the end 2003, the group embarked for the round " Bill" dollar; who was a great success in particular because of the relatively low prices of the places for the concerts (1$). Three years after its exit, the album was sold with nearly 10 million copies throughout the world.

Separation (2005-2007)

It is during this last round, and in spite of this album of the reconciliation, that the separation of the group became increasingly obvious, the tension becoming too heavy and rancours between too strong Tom and Mark. Moreover, Tom started to weary rounds and wished to more often approach his family. The tension was such as the last concert, devoted to the victims of the Tsunami, was definitively cancelled with the great regret of their managers. In spite of some concerts and rounds fallen through in California without Tom Delonge, separation (indefinite thus can be nonfinal) became effective and official on February 22nd, 2005, leaving the fans in a great disappointment.

This disappointment is all the more large as, put aside Travis Barker, the members of the group were, until September of the same year, particularly miserly in comments and explanations of this separation. Thus, for one long period, there did not exist any official reason of their separation and that the rumors of tension between Mark and Tom were unceasingly refuted by Tom Delonge. However, in an interview of Hoppus Mark given to B182.com in September 2006, that blames once again Tom Delonge on the separation of the group, proposing its dumbness requiring the intervention of its manager to explain the situation with the other members of the group. In this same interview, Mark is further deploring the quality of the first album of Angels & Airwaves, the new group of Tom Delonge, which he considers slow, repetitive and already-considering and affirming that " Tom wants to show that it is a artiste" and that " Tom can better speak about good music that about in faire". This interview thus confirms the rupture hard and sudden group but he also insinuates the reasons for which Tom Delonge denies the responsibility for separation in order not to put in perdition the commercial value of his album.

Following this separation, Geffen Records left in October 2005 an album gathering the best titles the group as some old songs which be had never left. The album, Greatest Hits, very quickly reached the tops of the sales in the United States.

Today each member of the group works respectively on their own project. Tom Delonge currently works with the group Angels And Airwaves which left its first album We Don' T Need To Whisper on May 23rd 2006. Travis Barker, as for him, always works with Skinhead Rob in spite of the stop of the group Transplants. Their last collaboration led to a new project called Expensive Tastes, project which integrates the star of the rap Paul Wall. Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker also continue on their side to work on +44, group created during the last Européenne round (which were also the last round of the group) and more precisely in England (+44 being the telephone index to call towards England when one is abroad), and who left its first album When Your Heart Stops Beating on November 14th 2006.

Discography

Hidden letters

It should be noted that on each album of the group, a letter of the alphabet appears in the basic image. This singularity gave birth to the most insane rumors on Internet and the fans of the whole world invented stories on the real significance of these letters. Questioned on this subject, the members of the group always swore that it is about a mere chance. However, it is probable that so at the beginning it was indeed by chance that these letters are followed, thereafter Blink had fun to place letters on its small pockets of album, thus maintaining the rumor.

The following sequence is thus noticed:

On Flyswatter, enormous has appears on the small pocket.
the 4 albums according to start respectively with the letters B, C, D and E.
On the small pocket of Live of 2000, one finds a F on the large battery box of Travis Barker. The F is the " f" mark of travis barker, the beater, F of " Famous, stars and straps" , it made promotion
On " Take off Your Pants and Jacket" , one can notice a shirt which carries, on the heart, the letter… G!

Video

The Urethra Chronicles (2000)
Man Overboard/Adam' S Song (2001)
The Urethra Chronicles II: Harder Faster Faster Harder (2002)
Riding In Vans With Servant boys (2004)
Greatest Hits (2005)
The Show (2007)

External bond

Official site Blink-182
the French-speaking site
Biography of Blink 182. Article Verboo
blink-182 by Atomik

Simple: Blink-182

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