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| Birth Name(s) : Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Musician |
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Full Blink 182 Biography
It's safe to say the blink-182 is now a worldwide phenomenon, with their records reaping platinum and their concert tours packing ‘em in all across Europe, Australia, Asia, and the Americas. And earlier this year, blink-182 ventured back to the studio with producer Jerry Finn to record their fourth studio album, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (you should say the title out loud to fully appreciate the subtle, sophisticated humor).
By every indication, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is turning out to be an evolutionary hybrid for blink-182, as hooky as 1999's multi-platinum Enema of the State, but with all the punk spirit of their MCA debut album Dude Ranch. "This is the hardest, fastest record that we've done," says blink's Tom DeLonge of the upcoming album. "It's way more punk-rock than our previous records, and we're excited about it." Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (release date 6/12/01) follows Enema of the State and last year's smash live album The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back).
The band's popularity has only increased since their formation in '93. They began building momentum with a string of popular 7"s, and in 1994 they released their first full-length album, Cheshire Cat, on Grilled Cheese (a division of Cargo Music). In 1996, they signed a joint-venture record deal with Cargo Music and MCA Records, with their first MCA release Dude Ranch (1997) setting the stage for their current success. By the end of 1998, they had emerged as one of the most popular pop-punk bands of the year – the album went platinum in the U.S. and the year-end Billboard Airplay Monitor Report (BDS) stats indicated that "Dammit (Growing Up)" from Dude Ranch earned top spins at many key radio stations.
Blink-182 took a break from the road after Christmas '98 to begin pre-production for Enema Of The State, recorded in the band's hometown of San Diego at Signature Sound. Handling production duties was Jerry Finn, whose previous credits include Green Day and Rancid. Enema Of The State shattered the standard set by Dude Ranch. World-wide sales are now over seven million copies, not to mention the fact that the CD perched high atop the upper-reaches of Billboard's Top 200 for over a year. The album's three singles, "What's My Age Again," "All The Small Things" and "Adam's Song" dominated MTV, alternative, rock and Top-40 radio.
Their summer tour, where The Mark, Tom & Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back) was recorded, sold a third of a million tickets. The aforementioned album was a 20-track collection of live versions of classic blink-182 hits produced by Jerry Finn, and also contained never-before-released songs, a new studio track, and all the hilarious potty-mouthed one liners a fan could want. In its limited release, The Mark, Tom & Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back) sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In other Blink-182 news, a massive U.S. ssssummer 2001 tour is on the drawing boards, and a book about the band'sss early days, written by Hoppus' younger sister, Anne, now carries a title, Tales From Beneath Your Mom. It's scheduled to hit bookstores in mid-September.
Then there's the ever-expanding blink-182 mercantile empire, which stretches from pole to pole, from sea to shining sea. First there's their own blink182.com website for fans and curious onlookers. Travis's "Famous Stars and Straps" is a successful retailer and website for clothes, belts and accessories. Mark and Tom's "Loserkids.com" is an equally vibrant website for clothes, skates, music, movies. But despite these ancillary success stories, Mark, Tom and Travis never lose sight of what's most important for blink-182 and their worldwide legions of fans: music and tasteless comedy at every opportunity. |
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Additional Blink 182 Biography
In May 1993, Blink recorded its first demo tape, entitled Flyswatter, in drummer Scott Raynor's bedroom. A 4-track was used to record the material, resulting in poor sound quality. According to Hoppus, only around fifty copies of the demo were produced to give to their family and friends. Before the end of the year, the band released another demo, Buddha. Around 1,000 copies were produced by Filter Records, an independent record company headed by Hoppus's boss.
In early 1994, Blink signed with Cargo Records. The band recorded their debut full-length album, Cheshire Cat in three days. The album contained a number of updated versions of songs such as "Carousel", "Strings", "Sometimes" and "TV" that had appeared on the Buddha demo as well as some originals.
For the 1999 album Enema of the State, the band hired Jerry Finn as its producer. The album propelled the band into the mainstream, granting the hit singles "What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things" and "Adam's Song" a significant amount of airtime on radio and MTV. Enema of the State went on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide making it the band's bestselling album to that point.
In 1999 the band had small parts in the film American Pie, though Travis Barker was incorrectly credited as Scott Raynor.
In 2000, the band released The Urethra Chronicles, a DVD which featured behind-the-scenes information. The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back, Blink-182's sole live album, was also released in 2000, featuring songs from their three full-length records. The album also included one new studio song, "Man Overboard," among the live renditions. The album quickly went out of print making it a much sought after item. A limited edition was printed in October 2006.
In 2002, Blink-182 co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Green Day. The tour was documented on the DVD Riding In Vans With Boys.
After taking some time off in 2002, recording of the next record began in early 2003. On November 18, 2003, the band released Blink-182, which spawned the hit singles "Feeling This", "I Miss You", "Down", and "Always". According to Barker, the untitled/self-titled record was supposed to represent a new Blink-182. Despite a major shift in theme and tone that eskewed the juvenile lyrics and formulaic songwriting of past releases in favor of a more conceptual, nuanced lyrical style coupled with a darker, more experimental sound, the album received significant airplay on radio and TV. Robert Smith, whose band The Cure is often cited by Blink-182 as a major influence, appeared on "All of This".
During late 2003, through 2004 the band embarked on the successful "Dolla Bill" tour, named for the inexpensive ticket costs (It was originally planned to be completely free but later realised that it would be necessary to charge something for the ticket). A tour with No Doubt in the summer of 2004 was also very successful.
In mid-February 2005 the band inexplicably cancelled a performance at Music for Relief's Concert for South Asia (a show put on to aid victims of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake). Shortly thereafter, before a planned final US spring tour, on February 22, 2005, the band announced they were going on an "indefinite hiatus".
Geffen Records released a Greatest Hits compilation on November 1, 2005 in the U.S., one previously unreleased track was included "Another Girl Another Planet" (a cover song originally by The Only Ones). The song was also used as the theme song to Barker's new reality TV show, Meet the Barkers. Included was the previously issued "I Miss You" B-side and Blink-182 album bonus track "Not Now". The album reached number 6 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.
On April 5, 2007, it was confirmed that Blink-182, along with Rancid and Green Day are some of the bands set to feature in a documentary about modern punk music. The film entitled "One Nine Nine Four" is expected to be released early next year. Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk will narrate the film, which also features the likes of NOFX and The Offspring.
Studio albums Cheshire Cat | Dude Ranch | Enema of the State | Take off Your Pants and Jacket | Blink-182
Demo and EPs: Flyswatter | 2nd Demo | Buddha Promo | Buddha | They Came to Conquer Uranus | Enema of the State Demo
Live Albums and compilations: The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!) | Greatest Hits
Videos and DVDs: The Urethra Chronicles | The Urethra Chronicles II: Harder Faster Faster Harder | Riding In Vans With Boys | Greatest Hits |
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