Blink-182 continued the unexpected 1990s journey of pop-punk into the mainstream. The trio emerged from Southern Californian skate-punk culture with a high-energy stage show heavy with slapstick and fart jokes. But like the slightly older Green Day, closer study revealed hook-filled rock songs obsessed with breakup and loneliness, even occasionally delving into such topics as teen suicide ("Adam's Song")

The band formed in the San Diego suburbs in 1991 when guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge — who'd first picked up a guitar as a teen at church camp — met bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, who was in a garage-band in high school. Drummer Scott Raynor rounded out the trio, who originally called themselves Blink (they added the '182' when an Irish band with the same name threatened a lawsuit). With indie recordings and frequent performances at festivals and clubs, the band — whose early shows featured wet T-shirt and wet pants contests — slowly built a young, devoted following. Their fan base grew in the mid-1990s, when they toured with punk vets NOFX and Pennywise and appeared on the Vans Warped Tour.

The band attracted major label attention in 1997 with their fast-selling indie release Dud... More Biography