Blink 182 Biography

The American punk rock band Blink 182 was established in San Diego in 1992. Travis Barker, Tom DeLonge, Scott Raynor, and Mark Hoppus began performing and practicing together in the early 1990’s, and after their first performance together at a local high school, they began performing regularly in the local areas and become part of the underground music circuit developing during the time. By 1994, Blink 182 had recorded a debut album and self-released it in the following year. Although Cheshire Cat did not garner Blink 182 the attention its members sought, the song “M+M” did get the band some local airplay, it did catch the eye of a manager, and so Blink 182 began small tours, performing as far away as Australia.

A bidding war from record lables was the end results, and in 1996, Blink 182 signed with MCA Records. With MCA, the band released the album Dude Ranch in 1996, featuring the single “Dammit.”  But Blink 182 would find its breakthrough success with the album Enema of the State (1999), featuring the hits “Adam’s Song,” “What’s My Age Again,” and “All the Small Things.” The latter became the band’s biggest crossover hit, rising to the number one spot on the mainstream charts and eventually selling more than fifteen million copies worldwide. Until their hiatus in 2004, Blink 182 released the additional albums Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001) and Blink-182 (2003), spawning the singles “Man Overboard,” “The Rock Show,” “First Date,” “Stay Together for the Kids,” “Feeling This,” “I Miss You,” “Down,” and “Not Now. Blink 182 was awarded multiple MTV Video Music Awards and Teen Choice Awards during this time.

In 2009, Blink 182 performed for the first time in five years at the Grammy Awards, announcing a reunion and upcoming album. A tour followed, and in 2011 they released the album Neighborhoods. Today, Blink 182 continues to perform and record with the current lineup of Barker, De Longe, and Hoppus. The band recently toured Australia and then North America in 2013, and announced another album release set for 2014.