Blink-182 has been through a lot. Since forming in 1992, the rock band — a staple of the late ’90s, early 2000s punk takeover — has experienced several fallings-out, lineup changes, hiatuses and reunions that have kept fans on their toes for two decades and counting. For those keeping track, Travis Barker, Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, Scott Raynor and Matt Skiba have all been part of the group throughout its various iterations, but never more than three of them at a time.
But while many things have changed for the band over the years, one thing is for certain as far as fans are concerned: Whenever they are together, the guys of Blink-182 make some good music. They have the commercial success to prove it, too. According to Luminate, the group’s eight-album catalog has raked in a combined 15.3 million copies sold and nearly five billion on-demand official U.S. streams.
Not to mention its chart successes, which solidify the band’s status as pop-punk artists who have paved the way for several acts following in its footsteps. Blink-182 has topped both the Billboard 200 and the Album Sales charts twice, scored four No. 1s on the Alternative Airplay chart and notched eight songs in the Billboard Hot 100.
That’s why it was so exciting for fans when the band announced in October 2022 that after seven years away, DeLonge would be returning to Blink-182, restoring its classic lineup with Barker and Hoppus. The trio revealed plans to go on a reunion tour in 2023, dropped a new single in celebration of DeLonge’s homecoming titled “Edging” and went on to become impromptu headliners for Coachella 2023’s second weekend lineup after Frank Ocean dropped out.
Keep reading to take a look through the tumultuous history of Blink-182.
1992: Blinking Into Existence
The very first lineup of Blink-182 — back before that was even their name — included Scott Raynor, Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus. The story goes that San Diego natives Raynor and DeLonge first met after the latter was expelled from Poway High for being drunk at a basketball game and transferred to the former’s school, Rancho Bernardo High. They met Hoppus through a friend’s sister, who was dating the bassist at the time.
After experimenting with a handful of different titles, the band operated for years simply as “Blink,” releasing its demo album Buddha in 1992, and its official debut album Cheshire Cat in 1995 under that moniker.
1995: Blink Becomes Blink-182
Though the band has given many fanciful stories over the years when asked where the specific number in “Blink-182” came from — the number of times Al Pacino drops the F-bomb in Scarface, for example — Hoppus has stated that the guys picked it out completely at random.
Their label at the time, Cargo Records, had asked them to change their name because another group had the same moniker, Hoppus said during a chat with Amy Schumer. He, DeLonge and Raynor delayed the decision for so long, someone from the label spoke with them on the phone and said that if they didn’t pick something new before the call ended, Cargo would choose a name for them.
“We just made up the 182,” Hoppus told the comedian. “Ever since then, we’ve made up different stories all the time about what 182 means.”
By then, the trio had gained a sizeable following in Southern California and would begin embarking on tours of America and Australia, opening for the band Pennywise. They were also booked for the 1996 Warped Tour around this time.
1997: ‘Dude,’ It’s a Major Label Debut
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Blink-182 recorded its sophomore LP, Dude Ranch, while still with Cargo, but signed to major label MCA as demand for the band boomed.The album earned Hoppus, DeLonge and Raynor their first entry onto the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 67 and spending 48 weeks on the chart.
1998: Enter Travis Barker
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Things got tense between Raynor and the rest of the band as Blink-182’s success continued mounting, and he was fired in 1998. Travis Barker, drummer for fellow Warped Tour band the Aquabats at the time, replaced him, forming what would become the group’s classic lineup.
1999: Mainstream Breakthrough With ‘Enema of the State’
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Blink-182 became a household name with the massive success of Enema of the State, which became the group’s first Billboard 200 top 10 album in 1999. It spawned radio hits “What’s My Age Again?” and “All the Small Things,” which peaked at No. 58 and No. 6, respectively.
2001: ‘Take Off Your Pants and Jacket’ Debuts at No. 1
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One blockbuster album was followed by another when Blink-182 released Take Off Your Pants and Jacket two years after Enema of the State. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
2002: Tom DeLonge & Travis Barker Form Box Car Racer
Tom DeLonge conceived of a side project called Box Car Racer in 2002, wanting to expand his musical style beyond that of Blink-182. But after he had Travis Barker play drums on BCR’s self-titled debut album, tensions brewed between them and Mark Hoppus, who felt betrayed by his exclusion from the project.
“It was really hard for Mark,” DeLonge said in an archived interview with MTV. “He thought it was really lame Travis and I went and did that, but it was a totally benign thing on my part, because I only asked Travis to play drums because I didn’t want to pay for a studio drummer. It wasn’t meant to be a real band.”
Blink then regrouped to release their fifth LP in 2003, and the resulting self-titled record incorporated darker, more mature sounds reminiscent of BCR and Barker’s side work with the band Transplants.
2005: Hiatus
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Disagreements over scheduling, recording plans and personal issues eventually led the band to take an indefinite hiatus in 2005. In a statement, the band said it was taking a break to “to spend some time enjoying the fruits of their labors with loved ones.”
DeLonge largely disappeared from public eye, while Barker and Hoppus formed a side project of their own called +44. They released just one album together, 2006’s When Your Heart Stops Beating.
2008: Travis Barker Survives Plane Crash
Barker was the victim of a horrific plane crash in 2008 that killed four people. The drummer and his friend and collaborator DJ AM — the only other survivor of the accident, though he died from an overdose one year later — was taking off from South Carolina when the tragic incident happened.
As a result, Barker developed post-traumatic stress disorder — it would take him 13 years to board another plane — and spent many weeks in the hospital recovering from severe burns and injuries. While he was there, though, DeLonge reached out after years of strained communications between him and his bandmates, and a Blink-182 reunion was put into motion.
“Up until that point, I had zero hope for Blink,” Barker said of the crash’s aftermath in a 2011 interview with Daily Beast. “It was something that I had really put behind me. My accident definitely made everyone think about things a little more clearly, especially me.”
“It’s horrible that it took something like that for everyone to wake up, but we realized, ‘Man, life’s short!’” he added. “We were fighting about some bulls–t and not talking, and it wasn’t anything to be fighting over.”
2009: Reunion
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With Barker’s arm still in a sling after the plane crash, the guys of Blink-182 formally announced their reunion at the 2009 Grammy Awards. “We used to play music together, and we decided we’re going to play music together again,” the drummer told the audience, with the band also confirming a new album and reunion tour were in the works.
They would go on to release Neighborhoods in 2011, Blink’s first album in eight years, followed by a 2012 EP titled Dogs Eating Dogs.
2015: Enter Matt Skiba, Exit Tom DeLonge
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Four years after Neighborhoods, DeLonge exited the band once more in a public, messy war of words. In January 2015, Barker and Hoppus announced the guitarist’s apparent resignation from the band and claimed that he “didn’t want to participate in any Blink-182 projects indefinitely, but would rather work on his other non-musical endeavors.”
Immediately afterward, DeLonge shared a statement saying he actually had not exited the group. “To all the fans, I never quit the band,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “I actually was on a phone call about a blink 182 event for New York City at the time all these weird press releases started coming in… Apparently those releases were ‘sanctioned’ from the band. Are we dysfunctional- yes.”
Barker and Hoppus then clapped back in a tell-all interview with Rolling Stone, claiming that DeLonge had expressed disinterest in recording music with them and only communicated with them over emails through his manager.
“When we did get back together after my plane crash, we only got back together, I don’t know, maybe because I almost died,” Barker said at the time. “But [DeLonge] didn’t even listen to mixes or masterings from that record. He didn’t even care about it. Why Blink even got back together in the first place is questionable.”
Regardless, DeLonge was out of the group — but Blink was still booked for a performance at Musink Festival in just a few weeks. To the rescue came Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio, who subbed in for DeLonge at the concert and stayed with the band in his place for many years afterward.
2016: ‘California’ Debuts at No. 1
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With Skiba in the mix, Blink-182 scored its second No. 1 album with California. The project was nominated for best rock album at the 2017 Grammys (though it lost to Cage the Elephant’s Tell Me I’m Pretty) and its lead single, “Bored to Death,” reached No. 85 on the Hot 100.
2021: Cancer Battle
Hoppus revealed in June 2021 that he has cancer and had been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for three months. “It sucks and I’m scared, and at the same time I’m blessed with incredible doctors and family and friends to get me through this,” he shared on Twitter. “I still have months of treatment ahead of me but I’m trying to remain hopeful and positive.”
Soon after, DeLonge shared his support for his friend. “To add to his own words that he used today, I would also like to say that he is strong, and a super-human who is pushing through this difficult obstacle with a wide-open heart,” he tweeted. “#WeHaveHisBack.”
A month later, the singer-bassist shared that he was battling the same cancer that his mother had beaten — diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. “My blood’s trying to kill me,” the rocker shared in a Q&A.
But good news was to come. Hoppus shared at the end of September that his oncologist has declared him “cancer free.” He told fans on Twitter: “Still have to get scanned every six months and it’ll take me until the end of the year to get back to normal but today is an amazing day and I feel so blessed.”
2022: DeLonge Returns, Band Releases ‘Edging’
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The classic Blink threesome was restored at last in 2022, when the band announced that DeLonge would be taking his place back from Skiba and returning to the lineup. The guitarist addressed a public letter to Skiba in light of the announcement, writing, “I wanted to take take a minute and say thank you for all that you have done to keep the band alive and thriving in my absence.”
“Emotions between the three of us in Blink have always been complicated, but Mark’s cancer really put things in perspective,” he continued. “But to be honest, the band would not even be here today if it were not for your ability to jump in and save the day.”
The trio also dropped “Edging” — its first single and music video together in years — revealed plans to release a new album and joined forces with Green Day to headline the 2023 When We Were Young Festival.
2022: Teasing New Music
Ahead of the holidays, DeLonge teased on his Instagram account that a new album would be “coming in a few months.” But that wasn’t all. Hoppus joined in on the merriness by declaring on his own account that the “new album is [fire emoji].”
Shortly after the new year, DeLonge once again shared his excitement for the upcoming Blink album. “This is the best album we’ve ever made,” he wrote on Instagram. “Buckle up.”
2023: Live in the Desert
This was no small thing! After delaying their reunion tour due to Barker’s finger injuries, the band was announced as a last-minute addition to the Coachella 2023 lineup.
During its April 14 set, the band rocked hits such as “What’s My Age Again,” “All the Small Things” and “Feelin’ This,” as well as its latest single, “Edging.”
It was Blink to the rescue the following weekend, when Frank Ocean dropped out days before his second headlining set. The band took over his main-stage spot on April 23.
