blink-182

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Revision as of 17:49, 23 September 2021 by Robkelk (talk | contribs)
/wiki/Blink-182creator

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.