blink-182 Biography

With "What’s my Age Again?" playing perpetually on the radio, blink-182 opened the doors for pop-punk in the ’90s. Just a few years after forming, they leaped from playing gigs in the suburbs of San Diego to being Warped Tour favorites. Their foul-mouthed humor and teenage angst blended well with their catchy hooks, attracting a loyal fan base that’s followed the band members’ journeys long after their break-up.For most of its existence, the band was Tom DeLonge on vocals and lead guitars, Mark Hoppus on bass and Travis Barker on drums. Together, the trio brought a goofy, profane sense of fun to the skater punk crowd. The band released two albums--Buddha and Cheshire Cat--in 1994, attracting a solid local following. When NOFX and Pennywise offered them the chance to tour together, it skyrocketed them to bigger and better things, including the annual Warped Tour. They released Dude Ranch in 1997, scoring a major hit with "Dammit." Enema of the State followed with a number of hits, including "Dumpweed," "What’s my Age Again?" and "All the Small Things." "Adam’s Song" was a sober moment on that album, about a friend who had committed suicide, and showed the band wasn’t all about body humor and fretting over life after high school. But for the most part, the record shows blink-182 at their finest. The album’s cover art, of a porn star nurse slipping on rubber gloves for what appears to be a proctological exam, introduced many new fans to blink’s sense of humor. Their live album, The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back) showed off more of it with goof-off tracks like "Mutt."When they reappeared from the studio in 2001 with Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, the band’s members seemed a little more grown up. Songs like "Anthem 2" and "Stay Together for the Kids" were much more serious than the music in their past--but there were also great rock-outs like "The Rock Show."But by 2005, the band’s members were drifting in different directions, and announced they were indefinitely calling it quits. Each had started their own clothing lines (Barker’s Famous Stars and Straps, Hoppus’ Atticus and DeLonge’s Macbeth), and DeLonge soon invested himself full-time in Angels and Airwaves.