Today’s 20 Facts topic is Blink-182. I remember being introduced to this band’s music back in 1999 when they released their Enema of the State album.
Their singles off the album, “What’s My Age Again?”, “All The Small Things” and “Adam’s Song” was stuck in my head for most of that year, thanks to extensive airplay on SA’s radio stations. “Stay together for the kids” is definitely my favorite song by them, no question about that.
Here are 27 facts about Blink-182:
1. Blink 182 are pop punk / punk rock band and were formed in 1992 in Poway, California in the United States.
2. A popular theory is that the 182 in Blink-182 is the number of times the F-word is said in Scarface, but there’s a good chance it has no meaning whatsoever.
3. The current members of the band are Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker and Tom Delonge.
4. Mark Hoppus’ girlfriend was angry about how much time he was spending with the band and made him choose between the band or her. He left the band for a short time, but when he heard they were recording a demo tape, he broke up with his girlfriend and came back.
5. Scott Raynor and Matt Skiba are former members of Blink-182.
6. Blink-182 founder Tom DeLonge is a strong believer in alien life as evidenced by the song “Aliens Exist”.
7. The band has had the most success at the Teen Choice Awards (winning three awards: Choice Rock Group in 2000, Best Rock Group in 2001 and Choice Love Song in 2004 for the song I Miss You).
8. Their song “Josie” was named after a neighbor’s dog.
9. “All The Small Things” received three nominations from the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000 for Video of the Year, Best Pop Video and Best Group Video, which it won.
10. After Blink-182 signed with MCA, they were criticized by the punk community for “selling out.” To date the band have sold more than 13 million albums in the USA and more than 50 million globally.
11. Blink-182 have particularly been cited for their influence on contemporary pop punk music. MTV News has declared “Without them, there’d be no Fall Out Boy, no Paramore, or no Fueled by Ramen Records.”
12. “Adam’s Song” is about a letter that Mark read from a kid before he commited suicide. Then he got the idea for the song.
13. The band’s original drummer, Scott Raynor, was fired in the middle of a 1998 tour because of his alcohol abuse.
14. Before Blink-182 and even before they were known as “Blink”, the original name for the band was “Duct Tape”. They changed the name since there was an Irish Pop band called “Blink” as well.
15. Mark Hoppus used to be only member of the band without tattoos. Now he has two wrist tattoos. One on each wrist representing his wife and daughter.
16. Blink-182 received $500,000 for their music video for “The Rock Show”.
17. Their song “What’s My Age Again?” was originally titled “Peter Pan Complex.”
18. Travis started his own clothing company called Famous Stars and Straps, and Mark started his own clothing company called Atticus along with Tom DeLonge. Tom also started his own company called Macbeth shoes.
19. Their first concert took place at a bar. Since they were underage, they were only allowed to enter when it was time for their set. No one came to see them and after only one song there were shut off. After the show, a man came up to Tom DeLonge, bought him a Snapple and said, “You deserve it.”
20. The nurse on the cover of their Enema of the State album was none other than pornstar Janine Lindemulder.
21. To date Blink-182 have released 8 studio albums: Cheshire Cat (1995), Dude Ranch (1997), Enema of the State (1999), Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001), Blink-182 (2003), Neigborhoods (2011), California (2016) and Nine (2019).
22. Tom, Mark and Travis had a small cameo in 1999 film American Pie. They end up seeing Jim and Nadia on that webcast (if you know what I mean).
23. Mark met his future wife Skye on the set of the ‘All The Small Things’ video. Skye, whose maiden name is Everly, was an MTV talent executive at the time, and initially refused to go on a date with Mark. He once explained how they met, “Tom always used to embarrass me. Any girl he’d talk to, he’d say, ‘Hey, you wanna go on a date with Mark?’ He asked Skye, my wife, who looked at me and said ‘No.’ That’s how it all started.”
24. Mark broke both ankles during one of his first meetings with Tom. Whilst trying to impress his new bandmate, Mark climbed to the top of a street lamp – but fell on the way down and seriously injured himself. He was left using crutches for the next few weeks.
25. With superb foresight, it’s transpired that Blink-182 poked fun at One Direction more than a decade before the boyband were a thing. Yes, the beach where the band filmed a parody scene in their ‘All The Small Things’ video is the exact place where 1D filmed ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ some 11 years later.
The clip in the Blink video is part of a series of scenes where they ridicule nauseating boybands who were polluting the airwaves at the turn of the millennium, including Backstreet Boys, Westlife, N*SYNC and Five.
26. Travis Barker was recruited after learning a 20-song setlist in 45 minutes. The band were due to perform at a gig in 1998, but were left without a drummer. Travis, who was at the time drummer for the band’s tour-mates The Aquabats, stepped in and learnt the entire set in less than an hour. He subsequently joined the band full time that year.
27. Blink-182 played at Coachella in 2023.
Well, there you have it, 27 facts about Blink-182. I must say that they’ve actually come a long way and have some form of new found respect for them. If you have other facts about this band, please comment on this post. Feedback is appreciated and welcome.
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