I've known that I'd be writing this article for several months now. I couldn't be more thrilled to share it with you. Next Wednesday, a trio of pop-punk icons, Blink-182, will return to Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA in support of their newest effort, California: a sixteen-track venture into the band's most recent incarnation. Bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, drummer Travis Barker, and newest member, guitarist/vocalist Matt Skiba (replacing former longtime guitarist/vocalist TomDeLonge) will be appearing in the Bay Area in just a few days, and in celebration of this event, we'll be taking a look back at the countless full-length albums they've released over the years.
Buddha
Release Date: January 1994
Label: Filter (Kung Fu for the reissue)
Producer: Pat Secor
Lineup:
Mark Hoppus: vocals/bass
Tom DeLonge: vocals/guitar
Scott Raynor: drums
Introducing: Buddha. Highly debated among fans as to whether or not this demo record actually counts as an album, we're going to call it and say that it does count. Many tracks that would soon go on to become staples in Blink's punk rock catalogue were formed and first called Buddha home (including the opening track "Carousel", known for its iconic bass line).
After trying to get the band up and running for a little bit of time, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Scott Raynor finally settled on a name. The album ended up being financed by Pat Secor, who was Hoppus' boss at Wherehouse Music, a retail record store chain in the San Diego area. The demo "album" was recorded and mixed within two days in January 1994. It isn't a high-gloss production, but the songs were enough of an indicator to showcase the kind of style that Blink-182 was trying to go for, particularly when it came time to record Cheshire Cat.
Cheshire Cat
Release Date: February 17, 1995
Label: Cargo Music/Grilled Cheese
Producer: O (Otis Barthoulameu)
Lineup:
Mark Hoppus: vocals/bass
Tom DeLonge: vocals/guitar
Scott Raynor: drums
After making a name for themselves by distributing various demos and performing at venues around the San Diego area like SOMA, Blink-182 geared up to record their first "official" studio album, Cheshire Cat. Serious time constraints were a part of the process with the making of the record, as they had to record and mix sixteen tracks within a period of three days. Regardless, the band were able to record at Westbeach Recorders in Los Angeles, a studio frequented by many artists on the now-legendary Epitaph Records.
Dude Ranch
Release Date: June 17, 1997
Label: Cargo/MCA
Producer: Mark Trombino
Lineup:
Mark Hoppus - vocals/bass
Tom DeLonge - vocals/guitar
Scott Raynor - drums
Blink-182's brand of punk rock, along with their rather off-color sense of humor, was gaining momentum. The band got signed to MCA Records, and embarked into the studio to record their next effort, 1997's Dude Ranch. The album featured the song, "Dammit", which would soon catapult the band into the further reaches of stardom.
Recording took place at Big Fish Studios in Rancho Santa Fe, California, with Mark Trombino at the helm as producer, and Donnell Cameron on mixing duties with Trombino. The album was recorded over a period of a month from December 1996 to January 1997. Problems were abundant however, as both DeLonge and Hoppus encountered vocal problems, and Raynor ended up in a wheelchair.
Despite the setbacks, the album was released in June 1997, and went on to sell 40,000 copies by August of that year. "Dammit" went on to become a commercial success, a critical song in the band's setlist to this day, and Dude Ranch was eventually certified Platinum in 1999.
But this was only the beginning.
Enema of the State
Release Date: June 1, 1999
Label: MCA Records
Producer: Jerry Finn
Lineup:
Mark Hoppus - vocals/bass
Tom DeLonge - vocals/guitar
Travis Barker - drums
The summer of 1999 brought with it perhaps the most important pop-punk record of the last several years. Enema of the State became the gateway drug that inspired at least ninety percent of bands with pop-punk roots today. With over fifteen million copies sold worldwide (probably more now), it became the band's true breakthrough into the mainstream. Recording took place in San Diego and Los Angeles with producer Jerry Finn from January to March of 1999, with Tom Lord-Alge taking over mixing duties.
Scott Raynor had left the band, and was replaced by none other than Travis Barker, who would go on to become one of the most prominently known drummers in the world, to this very day. The music was punk, but in a much different way than most people were accustomed to. It was cleaner, more succinct, maybe even a bit faster at times. Melodies were brought in. It was like Green Day's Dookie, but for a new generation.
Whatever it was that the band did, it worked. By January 2000, the album went triple platinum.
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Release Date: June 12, 2001
Label: MCA Records
Producer: Jerry Finn
Lineup:
Mark Hoppus - vocals/bass
Tom DeLonge - vocals/guitar
Travis Barker - drums
After releasing an amazing breakthrough record, it only makes sense that you should release an amazing follow-up record, right? Right. And they managed to do that with Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, overwhelmingly exceeding the expectations of fans. It changed their sound barely, but just enough to show that there was a level of maturity coming into their songwriting (while still being able to put out a track like "Happy Holidays, You Bastard").
The album was recorded at Signature Sound Studios in San Diego, and at Larrabee Studios West in Hollywood, CA, between January and March 2001. Jerry Finn was back in the producer's chair, Tom Lord-Alge took on mixing duties once more. Finn and Joe McGrath (the engineer) had an incredible dedication to creating the perfect sound (so much that they took two days to experiment with microphone placement, EQs, and compressors before they even pushed "record" to track Barker's drums.)
The album was released that June, and went on to chart at number one (the first acclaimed "punk" record to do so) on the Billboard 200 in its first week on the charts, selling 350,000 units. The album was certified double platinum a year later, and has since sold 14 million copies worldwide.
Blink-182
Release Date: November 18, 2003
Label: Geffen
Producer: Jerry Finn
Lineup:
Mark Hoppus - vocals/bass
Tom DeLonge - vocals/guitar
Travis Barker - drums
No one expected the sound change this quickly. Every band wants to experiment at some point in their career. Particularly a band that has the budget, the time, and the resources to do so. At least from the album, the dick and fart jokes would disappear, and in ushered a brand new era of songwriting and performance for the band: the self-titled record.
The album itself took well over ten months to be recorded and mixed, going from January to October of 2003. During the duration of this period, however, sound experimentation proved to be a huge part of the process, with Hoppus even describing their studio at one point as a "musical laboratory". The experimental procedures with their tracks would be incredibly evident, but even so, it still sounded like Blink-182. While fans were divided among the sound when the album was released, it still debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and went platinum in 2004. It has since sold 7.5 million copies worldwide.
Neighborhoods
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Label: DGC/Interscope
Producers: Blink-182/Jeff "Critter" Newell
Lineup:
Mark Hoppus - vocals/bass
Tom DeLonge - vocals/guitar
Travis Barker - drums
The announcement of Neighborhoods would come as a shock and surprise to the entire Blink fanbase, considering all that had happened since the release of the self-titled: tensions grew within the band during their period of massive success, and constant touring would lead to in-house fights between members constantly. DeLonge left the band in 2005, beginning their "indefinite hiatus". In late 2008, their longtime producer Jerry Finn would pass away, and Travis Barker would be involved in a tragic plane crash, leaving only him and collaborator DJ AM as the only survivors.
After several heart to hearts and a great deal of conversation and contemplation, the band would announce their reunion on February 8, 2009 at the Grammy Awards. A reunion tour followed that fall, and the band went into the studio to start work on their next studio album.
Neighborhoods was released in 2011, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 151,000 copies its first week. While it didn't do as well as the labels had hoped it would commercially, critical reviews were rather positive. Regardless of what fans thought in the long run, people were happy that the punk rockers were finally back in the limelight and making music again.
California
Release Date: July 1, 2016
Label: BMG Rights Management
Producer: John Feldmann
Lineup:
Mark Hoppus - vocals/bass
Matt Skiba - vocals/guitar
Travis Barker - drums
Fast forward to 2015. A news headline pops up on music websites all around the world. A rather confusing one. Tom DeLonge had left Blink-182, once again. Details surrounding this situation are still a bit unclear, but at the end of the day, the point is that Tom DeLonge would not be part of Blink-182 again in the near future. This left a wide array of confusion among fans the world over. The future of the band was uncertain.
As time went on, the band announced that they had found a replacement: Matt Skiba, the vocalist/guitarist of punk-rock outfit Alkaline Trio. Preparations for the seventh studio album were back on the track, and the band entered the studio officially in January 2016 to record with none other than acclaimed producer John Feldmann.
"Bored To Death", the first single from the band's newest effort, California, had been released at the end of April. Fans became uncertain as to whether or not the band could continue without DeLonge's iconic voice, a piece of the puzzle that had remained so integral to the DNA of a Blink-182 song. The release of California, however, made it clear that the band could fare with a new guitarist and vocalist. Skiba can absolutely hold his own, and it's completely evident throughout the record. California was released in June of this year, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 and selling over 172,000 units in its first week.
In just a few days, the biggest punk rock tour of the year, maybe of the last few years, will be stopping in Mountain View. Whether you're a fan of older or newer Blink-182, this is a show that is not to be missed. If you'd like to purchase tickets, visit www.ticketmaster.com for more information.
Be sure to check back to the site next Friday for tons of photos and our write-up of the show!
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This has been another Shameless Promotion.