Blink 182

The story of Blink-182 resembles that of America: Young, impetuous, revolutionary in its own way, but already created in all memories. The happy story begins on a 92 year campus, a symbolic place that will feed many of the lyrics and that will hear the music of the trio loop a few years later. It is first of all from the encounter between Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus that the drafts of the future Blink-182 will be born, inspired by punk formations like the Descendants. The beginnings are difficult. The duo is looking for himself, invited to hire a drummer (Scott Raynor), changed name (from Duck Tape , they go to Blink ), try a demo ( Flyswatter ) that does not convince the audience or labels until the end of 93 year where Kung Fu Records ( Vandals , The Ataris ) hires them for another demo : Buddha . The dice are launched. In 1995, it was the turn of their first Cheshire Cat album to be released, produced by Grided Cheese Records . It is this moment that an Irish group chooses to attack them at trial for name plagiarism. Blink simply adds a number to his name to end the dispute and becomes Blink-182 . No need to look for the reason of how, the trio gave a different version each time he was asked the question. The important thing is elsewhere. In 96, the machine was launched, signed with MCA (which later became Geffen Records) and recorded its second effort, Dude Ranch, which made a striking breakthrough in sales. The band followed a tour that saw Scott Raynor's defection, temporarily replaced by Travis Barker. When Scott decided to come back, the Delonge-Hoppus duo saw the prodigy at work: out of question he left. The trio that will make the name of the formation is then composed. Enema Of The State follows (1999) producing an almost unprecedented earthquake for an album of its kind: 16 million worldwide sales (300 000 in France). Blink-182 changed category. First-hour fans are insurgent, but popularity is growing despite the most questionable live performances, which does not prevent Californians from releasing a Live in 2000: The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back. 2001 and Take Off Your Pants And Jacket confirm the trend of the commercial scope of the phenomenon: 8 million albums sold and a tour organized for the summer of 2002 with Green Day.
But at any peak also corresponds the beginning of the decline. Between the fatigues of the tours, internal tensions, and the desire for other projects, Blink-182 began to beat the wing. 10 years after its creation. Tom Delonge and Travis Barker founded that year Box Car Racer, Barker alone is invited to the Transplants project. Hoppus is getting bitten. But history is not over yet. Blink-182 came out of the studio in 2003 with a 5th opus, the eponymous one, which contrasts quite strongly with previous works. More evolutionary, less tenage punk, Blink-182 is nestled in the silhouette of The Cure or Bad Astronaut. However, far from marking a return in grace of the project, he signed the group's final stop (officially in 2005), in a rather rough and harmful atmosphere. The release of a Best Of by Geffen Records at the end of the year marks the closing of the chapter.
The next thing we know. Tom Delonge now works in Angel&Airwaves with which he recorded two albums. As for Barker, after the stop of Transplants, he dedicated himself, still with Skinhead Rob, to the Expensive Tastes project. It is also associated with Mark Hoppus in +44 , the most identifiable group at fire Blink-182 .
So Blink-182 went, leaving a messy legacy, taken over by the come back of Green Day and the arrivals of Sum41 , Simple Plan or New Found Glory , as many groups that have made and will debate because of a career choice oriented towards the commercial and the antipodes of the punk message that can be expected (or not). Remains an apparition on the BO of American Pie , unforgettable hits and the symbol of a falsely naive nihilism, scattered in a vast "jemen-foutism" reasing all Western morality with a single burst of laughter. With a whirlwind. However, in 2009 a soubresaut came to disrupt the force, new leaks and suggest that Blink-182 could reshape the time for a concert. Rumors for once founded lead to a movement of fans who are massaging at the show. One thing by training another, Neighbourhoods was born in 2011 followed by a tour. I mean... almost. Several dates are cancelled because Tom Delonge prefers to devote himself to things other than blink. After the settlement of the account by the press interposed, in 2015 they all come to the conclusion that "Tom is a showerbag", Tom is an idiot, and that is how Travis and Mark separate from their long-time enemy and hire Matt Skiba who previously acted in Alkaline Trio. From this union California, the band's seventh studio album was released in 2016.