Blink-182

Blink-182

The legend that is blink-182 started way back in 1992, by Mark Hoppus (bass, vocals), Tom Delonge (guitar, vocals) and Scott Raynor (drums). Origionally just called blink, they were forced to change their name when an Irish techno band also called blink threatened to sue them. Although there are countless rumours of what the 182 stands for, ranging from the number of times certain words are said in movies to numbers that relate to where they live to the number of times that they have performed various sexual acts, the truth is that it is really just a number that they choose pretty much at random and thought sounded good.

Mixing fast, melodic punk with brutally honest, from the heart lyrics, they convert almost everyone who hears their music to fans. In 1995, they released their first full album, Cheshire Cat. Dude Ranch followed in 1997, and this was the first album to gain widespread commercial success. Scott left the band this year to go back to college, and he was replaced by Travis Barker, previously of the Aquabats. The change from Scott to Travis was made easier by the fact that they had been friends with Travis for a while already and he already knew most of their songs. They have always spent a lot of time touring in the surf/skate/punk scene, with bands such as NOFX, Pennywise, Less than Jake and the Vans Warped Tour.

Around the end of 98, blink decided to stop touring and started work on their next album, Enema of the State. This gained even more commercial exposure than Dude Ranch, and helped expose the band to whole new groups of listeners. And the reasoning behind the title? According to Mark Hoppus, "In order to maintain good health, your body must be able to eliminate food and bodily waste. Your colon, together with your lungs, skin and kidneys are designed to accomplish this essential task by elimination of toxins in the intestines, blood and lymph systems." Continues Tom Delonge, "the process of digestion from ingestion of food to defecation, normally takes between 12 to 24 hours assuming that the colon is fully functional and non-toxic. Irregular or infrequent bowel movements can allow toxic residues to remain in the colon". Travis Barker concludes, "it is very rare in this society, to find normal function of a healthy colon. For abnormal function, colon hydrotherapy or enemas - as they are commonly known - are recommended.