We all know Blink 182 right? Mark, Tom, and Travis, the three that hit it huge in 99’ with Enema of the State, their first album. Wrong! I’m going to tell you the whole story behind Blink 182, from their roots, all the way to what they currently are doing.

In the beginning, Blink 182 consisted of 3 members: Markus Hoppus, Thomas Delonge, and Scott Raynor. The boys all met at a “Future Proctologists Of America Trip”, and I’m guessing you all know what a proctologist is. They met while staying up and telling each other stories around a camp fire, and getting to know each other.

When the camp ended, the boys decided to keep in touch. Mark and Tom knew each other for a while and wanted to start a new band, and Scott was going to college in their town, but before this all started, they were in high school.

Tom attended Poway High School, a school outside of San Diego California, and Mark attended Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest, California. And I could not find Scott’s high school.

Mark kept in contact with Scott, but Tom wasn’t too fond of him. The boys all started a band and played local show in San Diego, and the surrounding area, they played under the name ‘Blink’. The boys always wanted to play one club in San Diego, and later on they got that show, but soon it came time, they graduates, and kept playing.

Before the were 'Punk', they were a mariachi band known as 'El Cuatro and the Cajones'. The pretty mush did birthdays and weddings, that didn't fly long.

Scott was attending college in San Diego (from what I’ve collected) and ended up continuing there. It was in Scott’s dorm room, the recorded and copied their very first recording. The cassette was named ‘Flyswatter’ and there were only 30 copies printed.

This self-recorded album was obtained by a representative at Grilled Cheese Records, a Cargo Music Inc. off-branch. This resulted in their landing a record deal in 1993, though this they put out their first official album. The first release of Buddha was put out, and under the name Blink (this was done on a cassette).

A small lawsuit run-in came with this. An Irish techno band was already recording under this name, and wanted to have blink change their name. Hence, through this they came up with ‘Blink 182’. If you wondering, ‘What’s the 182 stand for?’ I’m about to tell you. It means NOTHING! The band has told many different thing to the fans such as “It’s Mark’s ideal weight” and “How many times Tom has jacked-off while on tour”.

But after this lawsuit, they re-released the album Buddha, but this time on CD and with one new song (the girl next door, lyrics by Screeching Weasel). This album was re-released with the Grilled Cheese label once more, the year, 1993.

Not soon after that did they keep gaining more and more fans. Also with this, came more tension between Tom and Scott (according to most sources). They then went on tour, 1993-1994. After the 93-94 tour, they went on tour with the Warped Tour during the summer of 1994. They were supports for bands such as Pennywise and MxPx.

After this tour, the tension gained more and more with Scott and Tom. As 1995 rolled around, their fans were getting uppity about a new album. They named this Album ‘Cheshire Cat’ it featured some new songs, and some repeats such as Carousel, M + M’s, and Fentoozler. The album was bought up all around the world. This also kicked off another tour. Also, during that time, they shot the music video M+M’s.

They were on tour by themselves in 95’ and with the warped tour again in 96’. They spent 1997 working on what would be their next release, ‘Dude Ranch’. The new album featured two songs that would turn into huge singles and Dude Ranch would go gold multiple times. From the Dude Ranch album were two music videos, ‘Dammit (Well I Guess This Is Growing Up)’ and ‘Josie’. The two music videos were a hit, and after this, they went on yet another tour to promote their new album, and gain more fans.

With the release of Dude Ranch, they acquired a better sound, and a lot of fans. Around this time, their tours were taking off. And on the Warped Tour, they were one of the biggest things to ever happen.

Once 1998 came around, Scott was still attending college while balancing the tour with it. One night he missed a show, luckily Travis Barker of the Aquabats (the Aquabats were opening for Blink) filled in. after the show was over, Scott Raynor and the band separated.

There have been so many rumors thrown around the truth is still out there. Rumors were that Scott was a chronic alcoholic, and Tom hates the taste of beer, so they separated. Another rumor was that Scott wanted to pursue his college career, and then he left the band. Many other fans, and I still do not know the true reason of the break up.

After this, Travis started to fill in for Scott for the rest of the tour. Later, after the tour, Travis joined Blink 182, and formed the new trio in 1998. They toured on the Warped Tour one more summer, and then in 1999 they began to record their next album.

They began recording the album ‘Enema Of The State’. This album featured the hits ‘All The Small Things’, ‘Adams Song’, and ‘What’s My Age Again?’. All three hits became music videos, and Adam’s Song had a huge impact on their fans, and showed a reality of good time lost and not appreciated when it should have been.

The album went platinum multiple times, and was their best album and the gateway to thousands of fans, and by this time, they had their own official web site, and many fans making site about them. Today there are over 5,679 web sites about Blink 182 according to Mosiqa.com. These sites varied, and were a great fan source.

They went on tour during 99 after the release of Enema, and they also put together the video ‘Urethra Chronicles’, which was a complete videoography of the band, this was released in 99 as well.

In the year 2000 they released yet another album, ‘The Mark, Tom, And Travis Show, The Enema Strikes Back’. It was a live album featuring a mix of songs, and two unreleased songs only done in concert, and one new song that would be the only single off the album, and was originally meant to be put on the Enema album. It was also turned into a music video as well. This music video was the boys dreaming about times spent in concerts and mini-blink 182’s streaking around.

Mark, Tom, and Travis all went on tour after this album, and stayed on tour all the way until 2001. They had toured in Europe, Australia, Canada, and the U.S.

The coming of 2001 brought their most recent album, ‘Take Off Your Pants And Jacket’. This album would feature 4 singles, and 4 music videos. The videos were ‘The Rock Show’, ‘Anthem Part 2’, ‘first Date’, and ‘Stay Together For The Kids’.

The interesting thing about ‘First Date’ and ‘Stay Together For The Kids (STFTK)’ is that First Date was released in Europe, while STFTK was released in the U.S. Once STFTK retires from TRL, First Date will debut on TRL, and STFTK will be released in Europe.

The band has been on tour since then, and is coming to a close with several European Dates and will be on vacation for 2 or 3 months before the make a come back with another tour and talk of another album yet to come.

Once again, thanks to 12ML for this information. Some time I will get around to writting my own, but this is great for now!