30 Astonishing Facts We Bet You Didn’t Know About Blink-182

Blink-182, the world famous rock band formed in 1992 in Poway, California, was founded by guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and drummer Scott Raynor. The band currently consists of Hoppus, Travis Barker, and Matt Skiba. With over 50 million albums sold worldwide, around 13 million in the United States alone, is considered to be one of the key groups in the development of pop punk. Here are some interesting things to know about the band and its members:

1. Blink-182’s debut album “Cheshire Cat,” was actually recorded in a period of three days at Westbeach Recorders in Los Angeles. The album is till date cited to be as an iconic release by fans as well as some musicians.
2. Initially, the band went by the name “Blink.” However, they added the numbers “182” to it, when they were threatened with a lawsuit by an Irish band of the same name.
3. The most popular distinctive riff, for which the single “Dammit,” is famous was, was actually a result of two missing strings on Hoppus’ guitar.
4. The original trio, DeLonge, Raynor and Hoppus, recorded “Flyswatter,” which was a combination of original songs, and punk covers, with a four-track recorded, that they borrowed from friend Cam Jones, in Raynor’s bedroom in May 1993.
5. In the year 2005, the band was praised by The New York Times stating “No other punk band of the 1990s have been more influential than Blink-182.”
6. It was at the age of 15, that Hoppus got his very first bass. He had to paint his father’s house in exchange for the bass. His parents divorced when he was in 3rd grade and he moved with his dad when he was in fifth grade to Monteray, California.
7. In the early days, DeLonge would call various local schools in an effort to score a gig. He would try to convince them saying that Blink-182 was a “motivational band with a strong antidrug message.”
8. Just as the band found success, DeLonge clashed with Hoppus and formed various other side projects. He went on to form “Boxcar Racer” in the year 2004 along with Barker. In 2005, he even announced his own album “Angels and Airwaves.”
9. Barker and his friend Adam Goldstein are the only two survivors of a plane crash on September 19, 2008, in which four other people were killed. He reportedly sustained second and third degree burns, developed PTSD and required 16 surgeries.
10. The original trio of DeLonge, Hoppus, and Raynor, before settling on the name “Blink,” tried out various other names including “Duck Tape,” and “Figure 8.”
    
11. In their early days, DeLonge and Hoppus were famous for their banter on stage about fart jokes and even penises. In comparison, Barker was very quiet and subdued.
12. The band’s most popular single “Josie,” from their second studio album “Dude Ranch,” is actually named after a neighbor’s dog.
13. Barker was hired as a replacement to Raynor, when the latter was fired due to alcohol abuse in the middle of a 1998 tour. Barker, who was the former drummer for the Aquabats, reportedly learned the entire 20-song setlist in just 5 minutes before his first show with the band.
14. DeLonge left the band for the third time in January 2015 to spend more time on non-musical activities. He was replaced by Skiber, who joined the band in recording “California,” which was the band’s #1 album on Billboard 200 in over 15 years.
15. It was reported that Hoppus once fell from a lamppost, in an effort to impress DeLonge, but ended up in crutches for three weeks, as he cracked his ankles.
16. The famous single “All the Small Things,” from their album “Enema of the State,” won the band the Best Group Video Award at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. The single was also a #1 hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
17. On the Holloween Night of 1995, DeLonge was arrested for underage drinking when a cop noticed him walking the street at night, drunk, during a stop on the GoodTimes tour in Jacksonville, Florida.
18. Initially, Hoppus was the only member of the band without any tattoos. However, he now possesses two tattoos – one on each wrist, as a representation of his wife and his daughter.
19. The band members who were not in touch for three years after the split in 2005, just as the plane crash that nearly killed Barker happened, immediately reunited. Hoppus hopped into the next flight to the burn center, while DeLonge reached out with a letter and a photograph.
20. Hoppus wrote their most famous single “Going Away to College,” from the album “Enema of the State,” on a Valentine’s Day, after watching “Can’t Hardly Wait.”
    
21. The band’s popular album “Enema of the State,” had other name choices including “Turn Your Head and Cough,” “Viking Wizard Eyes,” and even “Blink-182: Electric Boogaloo.” The nurse on the cover of the album is actually the famous porn star Janine Lindemulder.
22. DeLonge’s interest in music started at an early age of 11, when he started playing a trumpet. However, he had to soon switch to guitar as he was not that good in trumpet.
23. Barker once starred in a reality TV series titled “Meet the Barkers,” along with his then-wife Shanna Moakler, who was a former Miss United States of America.
24. In their early stages, once Hoppus left the band because of his then-girlfriend, as she was not happy with the amount of time, he spends with the band. However, when Hoppus got to know that the band is recording a demo tape, he broke up with his girlfriend and ended up recording with the band.
25. Delonge was expelled from the Poway High School, at the age of 15, when he was drunk during a basketball game. This led him to attend Rancho Bernardo High School, where he met Raynor, and then got to know Hoppus. The rest is history.
26. During their first split, Hoppus and Barker formed a side project named “+44,” and even recruited a female vocalist Carol Heller, from the band “Get The Girl.” The name is actually United Kingdom’s dialing code, where the duo discussed the project.
27. While recording their famous album “Neighborhoods,” which was the first after their split, the band had four managers and four attorneys – as each one had their own. DeLonge once referred to this as “the absolute diarrhea of bureaucracy.”
28. The trio’s popular single “What’s My Age Again” from their album “Enema of the State,” was initially considered to named as “Peter Pan Complex.”
29. Most fans believe that the number “182” in their name, is actually the number of times the F-word is used by Al Pacino in the most popular “Scarface.” However, the band has claimed the said numbers to be meaningless.
30. The opening of “Asthenia,” from their self-titled album “Blink-182,” reportedly uses real NASA transmissions from the Apollo 9 space flight. The album is said to be the band’s first album free from jokes.
    
31. Mark Hoppus Net Worth: $70 Million