blink-182
Blink-182, also known as blink-182 if you want to be exact, is a three-piece pop-punk band from Poway, California. The band was formed in 1992 by Tom DeLonge (vocals/guitar), Mark Hoppus (vocals/bass) and Scott Raynor (drums). Raynor left the band in 1998, to be replaced by the semi-legendary Travis Barker (the guy with the tattoos who survived that plane crash). DeLonge left the group early in 2005, putting the band on hiatus until 2009, when they got back together "for real", according to them (due to Travis surviving said plane crash). Their current album, Neighborhoods, blends in elements from the side projects they've done during the hiatus.
Blink-182 are also known for their gross-out sense of humour, which they use for stage banter, and occasionally gets used for songs.
Tom DeLonge states that his influences are Screeching Weasel, Descendents, The Cure, and NOFX. Mark's influences are similar, and Travis's influences in drumming come from hip-hop.
Blink-182 provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adult Child: "What's My Age Again?"
- All Drummers Are Animals: Subverted with Travis...up to the point that he actually starts playing.
- Anti-Christmas Song: "I Won't Be Home For Christmas". "Happy Holidays, You Bastard"
- Boy Band: Parodied brilliantly in the video for "All the Small Things".
- Bowdlerise: Several song titles were changed namewise for the live album.
- The Bus Came Back: Looks like Boomer from the "First Date" video is out of prison. No one is safe.
- Canon Discontinuity: The band's first video "M&Ms", which the band pretty much disowned.
- Man Overboard was banished into discontinuity when fans started asking if the mean spirited Take That was about Scott Rayner, their previous drummer. However, it's now back in their live set as of 2011.
- Celibate Hero: "Going Away To College".
- Cluster F-Bomb: Tom at live shows.
- Darker and Edgier: Started to head this way with the self-titled album and dove right in after they reunited with Neighborhoods as they had gone through a significant amount of turmoil throughout the hiatus, especially with the death of their long time producer and the near death of Travis.
- They intended on including a few more Lighter and Softer songs on Neighborhoods with the humor that people came to expect from the band, but concerns of Mood Dissonance and not having the time to put them on led them to be shelved for the time being.
- Dying Alone: In "Adam's Song", the lyrics twice mention the words, "I never thought I'd die alone."
- Epic Instrumental Opener: The Prelude to "Heart's All Gone"
- Faux Yay: For better or worse, Mark and Tom's bromance inspired an entire generation of pop-punk bands to play up stage gay for all its worth.
- Goodbye, Cruel World: Subverted in "Adam's Song". While the song comes off as this at first, it ends on a much lighter note. Word of God says that the song is about loneliness in general, not suicide. Tom, however, says that it is about suicide. It also doesn't help that Columbine Massacre survivor Greg Barnes killed himself while this song was on indefinite repeat. So there's that.
- Goth: The video for "I Miss You".
- Intercourse with You: "Feeling This" and "Always". Admittedly, they are also both break up songs, with sections in flashback that are very much this trope.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A whole band full.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Adam's Song" and "Carousel".
- Name's the Same: They have two different songs called "Voyeur".
- New Sound Album: "Neighborhoods" brings in elements of Angels and Airwaves, +44, and Boxcar Racer, along with a lack of the juvenile content the band is known for. Understandable, considering what they've been through since 2005, but the fanbase reaction is inevitable.
- Their self-titled album, that came before the hiatus, was also noticeably different from the rest of the blink-182 catalogue, with a more somber and introspective tone, almost to the point of being a Trope Codifier of Emo as we know it.
- Noodle Incident: Scott Rayner's departure from the band. Tom and Mark refuse to talk about it at all, nor has Scott. The most popular theories are: Mark had Scott fired due to an alleged drinking problem, Scott bailing because he wanted nothing to do with the band "selling out" with a more commercialized direction, and him being utterly unprepared with fame and the lengthy tours that the band would be going on to promote their music and basically bowed out on his own free will.
- Man Overboard is widely seen as Blink 182's "response" to the departure of Rayner, even though the band denies it. Of course, they refuse to say WHO the song is about and continue to refuse to talk about why Rayner quit.
- Prank Call: "What's My Age Again?" includes a prank call which is defeated by Caller ID.
- Pun-Based Title: Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (complete with a Visual Pun cover)
- Rearrange the Song: The band has done this with several of their songs for live shows:
- "Aliens Exist" has been reworked with new lyrics so that it's now about a closeted gay teenager comparing his secret sexuality to the notion of the government covering up the existence of aliens.
- "What's My Age Again" has lyric changes: "hell" is replaced with "fuck" and Mark, instead of singing "What's My Age Again" as part of the chorus, will occasionally sing "Where's My Asian Friend".
- "Going Away To College", when performed live, has Mark name-dropping his wife's name in the chorus, to make the song a love ballad from him to her.
- "Dammit" is considerably changed in live form: Tom now sings the chorus instead of Mark and the band sticks in verses from other songs during the instrumental break right before the final repeating of the chorus.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Tom and Mark respectively.
- Refuge in Vulgarity: Several of their shorter, ruder songs, such as "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" and the misleadingly-titled "Family Reunion", whose lyrics consist entirely of the expanded version of George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words.
- They also seem to enjoy yelling things of varying obscenity, like "Fuck Oprah!" and "Orgasm!", right before starting a song live.
- Repeat After Me: In their live album The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!), Tom addresses the audience: "I want all of you to say FUCK with me!" On the count of three, the audience yells out-- you guessed it-- "Fuck with me!" Mark asks Tom why he would want them to say that. They explain that Tom wanted them to say fuck, but he wanted them to say it with him. They try it a second time, and get it right.
- Rock Trio
- Freudian Trio: Tom = The McCoy, Mark = The Spock, and Travis = The Kirk
- Self-Backing Vocalist: Usually averted - if the song is Tom's, he sang it and Mark provided the backing vocal; if the song is Mark's, the opposite happened; there are some occasional duets too, but the rule remains for the person who's not the "main" on that particular section (verse/chorus/bridge). Exceptions include "What's My Age Again?", "On-line Songs" and "Feeling This", all of which, at some point, have Mark's lead (sometimes double-tracked), Tom's backing and another harmony vocal by Mark.
- Self-Deprecation: Mostly by Tom: "we're professionals at what we do - we professionally suck!"
- Shout-Out: From 'I Miss You': "We can live like Jack and Sally if we want, where you can always find me, and we'll have Halloween on Christmas."
- From 'Adam's Song': "I took my time, I hurried up; the choice was mine, I didn't think enough."
- The title is also a reference to a Mr. Show sketch, wherein the metal band Titannica writes a song called "Adam's Song (Try Again)," with the intent of getting a young fan to kill himself so they won't have to take him on tour with them. It Makes Sense in Context.
- From 'Adam's Song': "I took my time, I hurried up; the choice was mine, I didn't think enough."
- Spiritual Successor: Travis and Mark's short-lived band +44 (formed soon after blink's breakup) was supposed to be this. It's a stark contrast to Tom's post-blink band Angels and Airwaves, which has a completely different style. Though it's now a moot point, since the band eventually got back together.
- Stop and Go: "Always".
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Averted with Travis Barker replacing Scott Rayner, as Travis was the polar opposite of the shy, normal looking Rayner.
- Take That: The +44 song "No It Isn't", which Mark apparently directed to Tom after blink's breakup. Comparing it to Angels and Airwaves' song "Start the Machine" (which is also about the breakup, but written from Tom's perspective) is...interesting, to say the least.
- According to Tom and Mark, "Man Overboard" isn't about Scott Rayner, the band's original drummer who left the band under mysterious circumstances and deny that the song is a mean-spirited attack against Scott (the song is about an unnamed drunken friend who Mark is glad is not around anymore and one of the rumors about why Scott Rayner left the band was that he had a drunken problem that caused Mark and Tom to fire him over). But the band won't say who the song is about and moreso, they had refused to even play it live up until their 2011 shows due to people repeatedly asking whether it was about Rayner.
- Toilet Humour: Frequently.
- Transparent Closet: Played with, most notably by Tom in the live version of "Aliens Exist".
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Travis most of the time.
- What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Subverted, although we wouldn't blame you for thinking otherwise.
- Where Are They Now? Epilogue: The video for "First Date".
- Window Love: The video for "Feeling This".
- A Worldwide Punomenon: "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket", a subtle pun on "Take Off Your Pants And Jack It".