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Just got back from the Portland show. It was amazing. They sound so much better than they did when I saw them in 2016, and the crowd seemed way more into it than the last time I saw them too. The place was absolutely packed. Most people must just not buy their tickets ahead of time like I did when I saw that hardly any seats had sold, because it was filled to the brim tonight. Matt sounded fantastic, Mark sounded fantastic, it was so good. Banter was low but there were still funny moments. And they brought back the deep voice Satan gag that was on The Mark, Tom, and Travis show, which made me smile. It was such a great set. I'm so happy I got to hear all of Enema of the State live, plus the really awesome stuff like Wasting Time acoustic. I never thought I'd get to hear that song live. I was on the lawn this time just because tickets were expensive, but they came out right in front of my brother and I to play the acoustic songs. It was awesome. I had the best time. Those who don't venture outside of the blink section of the boards might not know this, but I've had really severe depression for the last few years. Sometimes I doubt I'll ever be able to feel happy again. But then nights like this happen and I feel so fucking good. Blink makes me happy, and I think that's why I can never "outgrow" them. I feel pure joy right now and it's a much-needed reminder that I'm still capable of feeling this way. I'm on a high right now. I had so much fun!

^ top three cringe comments of the year contender

on february 17, 1995 cheshire cat was released on grilled cheese/cargo records on both cassette and compact disc. a vinyl release (the "red eyes" edition) would not follow until the summer of 1996. in honor of the album's original release, here are some gems from that time... cargo announced the release with this sheet, mailed to record stores, venues, and show promoters. note that the release date of "17" is handwritten as there were some delays and uncertainty about when the album would be ready. the formats listed are both CD and cassette. this is the first release on the "grilled cheese" imprint for cargo, with a catalog number of GRL-001: the mailing also came with the band's 8x10 promo photo glossy: but the band had been circulating the album as an advance cassette for weeks prior with two different covers xeroxed on goldenrod cardstock, because the tapes were ready before the J-cards were: so the tape inside was just the same as the one released on february 17: there's been confusion over the years regarding the album's release date, because the (P) and (C) are noted as 1994. that's because the album was mastered and pressed before the new year. remember, this is early in the year. so no 182 yet! the band would not make the name change official until august 3, 1995. pressings of cheshire cat carrying the name change were first sold on the good times tour in the fall of that year. the cassette release had a simpler version of the band's thank you notes: the CD had more elaborate artwork featuring photography by kerry key. note that the picture of scott was taken in the studio during the recording of the album: the band was busy playing shows around the time of the album's release, like this one with unwritten law a week before. note the joke that the album will be "available on CD and cassette late february if jeff doesn't screw up anymore," referencing the production delays and uncertainty about the release date: and they played a record release party at SOMA on february 24 opening for strung out. other openers are tiltwheel, rhythm collision and openfast. thanks to board member @Kjblink182 we have scans of pictures taken on the stage that night: in a bit of shameless self-promotion, tom is wearing a blink shirt featuring the blink bunny as drawn by court jones: note tom's ampeg VL-1002 head and slanted cab. he had not yet customized it with the 'blink' placard in place of the lighted ampeg logo. i have no idea how the band played in jeans that night, they must have been burning up. and tom has not one but two t-shirts on. SOMA was hot! note rick devoe sitting on the stage. he had been their manager for four to six months. mark is wearing jeans too! these kids are crazy. you might recognize mark's blue-green hair color here. it's the same as the picture inside cheshire cat. even back then, mark jumped a lot. and landed awkwardly every time: that night, promo posters were handed out celebrating the album release. they could also be found at record stores around the san diego area: and of course, cargo promoted the album by placing advertisements in local skate magazines and other punk outlets: well this concludes our little trip down memory lane to twenty five years before. i would not see blink live until the summer of 1995. i sure wish i had been there myself for the release of cheshire cat. what about you?

Yo! I decided to launch a blink-182 podcast and have been working hard the past few weeks to figure out how the hell to do it. The name I came up with is "182 News" and I hope it will be a great source of blink-182 and related side band news for the community. I bounced around making it based on the board, but for various reasons (namely you can't use the word "blink-182" in the title, and the equipment cost me a lot of money) ultimately felt I needed the freedom to do my own thing, on my own schedule. But, I am totally pointing all traffic here, to our social media, and also hope to have board members on, feature board discussions etc.!!!! Anyway, I just finished my first episode and am so stoked. I've submitted for iTunes/Spotify approval (which can take weeks), but wanted to post a direct link incase anyone wants to listen. I'm going to keep this thread as a running episode tracker, and point people here for discussions, questions, recommendations, feedback, etc. Appreciate anyone checking it out, hopefully this link works (below cover art): Episode 1 - "The First Time" Spotify Link YouTube Link Episode 2 - "The Mark, Matt, and Travis Show" Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube Episode 3 - "Tom Time" Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube (Also now available on iHeart Radio) Episode 4 - "MrTsurt Interview Part 1" YouTube (Links above will get you to the other platforms) Episode 5 - "MrTsurt Interview Part 2" YouTube Episode 6 - "David Goldman Interview" (The photographer who shot the EOTS album cover.) YouTube Episode 7 - "Christopher Holmes Interview Part 1" YouTube Episode 8 - "Christopher Holmes Interview Part 2" YouTube Episode 9 - "Dylan Anderson Interview" YouTube Episode 10 - "Terminal Radness Interview" YouTube Episode 11 - "David Stowe Interview" (Vannen Watches) YouTube

My biggest ongoing issue is: Mark, you've been married forever, and have a kid. Like, none of this is personal at all. I really Wish I Hated You is about nobody. Nothing. Darkside... "She's a girl I look back to what could've been" - No, you don't. I think Plus 44 is fucking amazing, partly because of how real it is. I can't wrap my head around them writing blink songs with other people. So many people. I don't understand. Especially... lyrics. He even had a lyricist work on Happy Days.

If someone told me this was a target commercial for back to school shopping, I wouldn’t think twice.

court jones, brother of cam jones. while we are on the topic, here are some preliminary sketches he made: here's a scan of his **original** final pen and ink drawing used to create the graphic: and he also drew the trio as three bunnies for a 95/96 shirt design: his brother cam as roadie was on the back:

Alright picture heavy, Marik I'll answer your stuff in a separate post later: Here are some cool shots of AVA I got: Here are the VIP gifts: Here's my merch booth haul: Here's my DW cd I had Ilan sign: Pic of me and Ilan. Hang around after the show and chat with him by the merch booth if you want - he's super cool and was genuinely just there to chat and hang with fans after back to back sets... Last but not least, this is how close I was to having one of the sickest signed blink pieces ever (literally have only seen 1 full band signed TOYPAJ vinyl, and it's my fav album all time)...looking like a f'n dweeb with my vinyl The picture haunts me, so I'll have to remember it as this:

Stay tuned for more info on this, Matt is sending me these handwritten lyrics to “Black Rain” to raise money with, 100% of the proceeds will go to the family of George Floyd.

Eh, I'm not comparing it to anything, I just like the song.

Wholesome af ❤️?

Rocked my whole world. I don’t know who I am anymore

Skiba is incredible in no heart to speak of. Fuck me he’s well and truly made me look a right cunt here. What a fucking song. An absolute force of nature. Tornados in my head

From a marketing perspective I am not sure how trying to stay relevant with teens will work for them. I think the casual teen has far better options than some washed up middle aged men. I think Blink's core base kind of aged with them and is now 20's-30's. So I am really not sure what the fuck they are looking to accomplish here. I think they'd be much better off writing music from the heart in an organic setting without all this bullshit.

I don't see a single reason to debate, or argue or goad someone who's opinion is: this was wrong. The guy stabbed many, literally heartbreakingly tortured his partner, the list goes on and on. I see a lot of the justification from his die-hard fans ignoring the situations themselves in favor of "He sounds/looks so sad i hate it so much". It's simply no excuse. To me, at least. Alive or not, I don't like that they did this, and I'm grateful I feel the way I do. Abuse is abuse is abuse, and I couldn't ever agree nor deny that I'm perhaps biased based on a situation of constant emotional abuse that I faced. It wasn't physical, but it was brutal- And I felt trapped, in a prison. And when I hear him address his actions, when I hear him speak with her- I hear the person who hurt me. It's eerily parallel. I think, I struggle with a lot of factors in regards to this. One of the biggest being, as others have pointed out Mark has seemed to really speak out against many things and situations that contradict agreeing to something like this. Travis does a million and one collaborative things with artists outside of Blink, I can't for the life of me understand why they tag teamed for this. Just affects me, I guess. Hurts my head. I won't say fuck you to a single friend who shrugs this off, or appreciates and likes the song and isn't afraid to say it. It's catchy all the way through, to me. I love the mumbling. I wish Mark wrote songs like this more often. In fact, it was the first song I've heard him part of in years that REALLY surprised me. But it hurts to listen to, and that outweighs all of those points as far as what I personally am capable of embracing, and taking in. Call it a weakness, it may very well be one. I've had a long few months. Things are a little ugly in my world, and if you know me well enough, you know that during these times things get to me far more than most might imagine they should get to anyone. And that's fair, but it's just who I am and I'm doing my best to embrace it. To like it.

Damn I'm listening to Untitled for the first time in a long time right now and I mean... it's just so clear that this doesn't remotely feel like the same band anymore. I respect that Mark feels the need to keep the name alive and all but holy shit. Sometimes it hits me all over again how much Blink 182 has devolved. Even though Nine was pretty good haha, it still just doesn't compute as Blink when I compare it to the "real" Blink albums, especially at the top of their game.

here ya are. bought it just this morning for it

Quarantine Do you know what I mean? Running low on ice cream Stuck in this teenage dream (whoa oh, whoa oh) Wanna run, down to the skate park No fun, summertime lost its spark Covid, wanna buy a cool mask We're all teens, do you even have to ask? Met a girl, couldn't even kiss her Took a Xanax, so I wouldn't miss her We love, parties on the weekend Sit around, staring at the wall again Quarantine Do you know what I mean? I've looked at every meme Stuck in this teenage dream (whoa oh, whoa oh) There, I just wrote it for them California style!

I was scrollin' on FB and saw this. Love the take on the meme! -

im new here but you are retarded

Lol trump sucks. Go drink some bleach. Insane how you can call these guys clowns but yet you support Trump

We’re famous. Sorry to spam this but you guys have to listen to this, it’s exactly what I hoped to do for us and hopefully just the beginning!

"When Tom left the second toaime, Travis and I had a conversation because we could very easily ride off into the sunset and play greatest hits sets into infinity, but that's not what we wanna do". -Mark Hoppus. ???

shouldn't they play "touchdown boy" though? that would be great.

I'm on a Facebook group where people chat about tunes and give music recommendations and I just saw a video of a young guy who played with blink on stage last night. He said that during the soundcheck he talked a bit to Mark about playing bass, he told him that he's doing the best he can to learn and Mark asked him if he has a band but he said he doesn't have one and never played in front of people so Mark told him "you could do it tonight" and invited him to play ATST on stage with them. It was his first time ever playing in front of people and he played with blink! How cool is that? He did a great job and Skiba sounded amazing. The kid said: "I was nervous, at times I felt like I was slipping up but Skiba kept coming up to me to give reassurance." I wish I could share the video but it's on Facebook. Maybe someone will post it on YouTube later. But I thought it was a nice thing to share here. I'm always happy to hear things like this or that Cheerio, Ry, Ghent, JarJar etc had a great time seeing blink on this tour (as I am happy to see that Tom is making music that people like and he's doing good on tour.) I think that sometimes the hostile attititude towards the new music tarnishes everything else the band does and the way you feel about Mark, Travis and Skiba. Why can't we all just be happy for everyone who is having fun instead of always comparing and competing? (which is a pointless thing to do anyway)

Huge album news!

Meltdown coming: This song is absolute ass. Simple Creatures has 10x more guitar/instruments/drums (and they don't even have a drummer). I like this era, but this is the first time I truly felt there is no blink in this song. Zero. (BIOMY was close, Darkside about 10% blink, this is 0%). How do you even manage to ruin Trav? This is Mark karaoking garbage a teen bop writer wrote, in hopes that it connects with teens breaking up with their first bf/gf. Makes ATST/Sober sound like death metal in comparison. There is NO WAY Skiba wants to write this crap. Just none. How in the hell are you Mark Hoppus, Matt Skiba, and Travis Barker and when you wake up to jam that day, and call these dingleberries to write your music? Or even be in the same room? As I predicted, we're gonna be begging for the original ~30 Feldy songs they ditched.

Listened to the Neighborhoods album today after a long time. Fuck it! That album was awesome. I might be alone with that opinion but that’s a really great adult rock record. Always loved it and it has aged very well. Thinking about the disfunction in the band at that time and how it was recorded makes it even better.

So, @daveyjones and I spoke for 4 hours last night and haven't even gotten into the Josie video and Scott's departure... (Lasagna was covered.) This may become a #saga.

Wow Trav just dropped a drum video of “What Went Wrong”, love that song!

I have documented and studied blink-182 autographs for over 7+ years at this point, and I thought it’d be cool to do a “Top 10” of some sort showing off what I consider the rarest and most sought after items. If you are ever bored to death and fading fast, here is the entire SIGNATURE STUDY. If you have items signed by the band, I would love to see them! In regards to blink-182 autographs, it is important to note that full band signed items are overall quite rare (and often forged, be careful). For the purposes of this “Top 10”, I quickly realized I needed some rules in place which are: 1. Items must be blink-182 (I’ll do a “Top 10” on their side bands at some point) 2. Must be signed by the entire band. 3. Must be signed in the correct time period. (I.e. not a Cheshire album someone got signed last week) Please note that I do not personally own all of these, if you do please let me know so I can add your name if you’d like. My estimated value is a ballpark range of what I believe the item would go for at auction. Without further ado, here are my Top 10 rarest and most valuable blink-182 signed items I have come across in the last 7+ years of compiling examples! #10. TOYPAJ Signed CDs blink’s follow up to EOTS was the 2001 TOYPAJ release. At launch there were several “in store/mall” signings where you could get your copy signed by the band. These were often wristband events, with the first 500 people getting access. Because of this, signed copies are definitely out there and pop up occasionally. You’ll notice these are usually signed on the back, because the front is black. Why didn’t they use silver/gold sharpies you may ask? That’s because they weren’t invented yet! Estimated value: $100 #9. Neighborhoods Signed CDs /182 blink was back together and in 2011 they were finally ready to release their new album “Neighborhoods”. One of the bonuses for pre-ordering the album was the chance to receive a signed version, numbered to /182. These do not pop-up very often, as only 182 exist. Estimated value: $115 #8 Josie Signed CD Released towards the end of 1998, this is Travis Barker’s first “official” appearance in blink-182 album artwork. (He’s on the inside). As if that isn’t a cool enough collectible, this particular copy was signed by all 3, making it very rare. Estimated Value: $125 #7 Untitled Signed CDs Considered their best work by many, the Untitled album is incredibly popular among fans. By this point the band was absolutely HUGE…but things weren’t so great internally. With tons of touring, you would think there would be a lot of signed CDs popping up, but there aren’t. A full band signed “Untitled” cd is very rare, here is a great example of one: Estimated value: $150 #6 EOTS Signed CDs The boys absolutely blew up in 1999 with the release of arguably the most iconic pop-punk album of all time “Enema Of The State”. Their hard work had finally paid off, with over 15 million albums sold worldwide. With endless touring, plenty of meet & greets, press, appearances etc. there should be tons of signed stuff from 1999 available, right? Wrong. In fact, I can count the number of full band signed EOTS CDs I have seen on one hand which absolutely blows my mind. Estimated value: $150 #5 Dude Ranch Promo Signed CD I have only seen one of these signed by the full band, what makes this piece so cool to me is the extremely early Travis Barker autograph. He was brand new to blink and still trying to figure out how to sign his name. This CD alone goes for $75+, this is truly an amazing piece of blink history as they were just switching drummers, with no idea what was going to come in the next year... (Spoiler alert: They got famous af) Estimated value: $165 #4 Wasting Time Australian Tour Signed EP Mark has often said Australia was one of the first places to fully embrace blink outside of California. This EP was released alongside shows in Australia during the summer of 1996. This is one of the nicest early full band signed pieces I have ever seen, with all 3 signatures boldy on the front. Estimated value: $200 #3 Dude Ranch Signed Grilled Cheese Vinyl This is the newest addition to this list, an item I didn’t even think would exist until I saw it with my own eyes. This is a first press “Grilled Cheese” Dude Ranch vinyl signed by the band in late 1997 as a promo for a local radio station. No one was carrying around vinyl to club shows or festivals back then, and our very own Davey Jones (OG fan, tons of cool stories) confirmed these weren’t even sold at shows. The chances of getting a vinyl signed by the entire band back then are so slim that it would almost have to be for a promo or friend. Yes, traditionally in the autograph world a “personalization” (Ex: To Ryan) will knock the value down some, but this still cracks the Top 3 due to its rarity. Estimated value: $250 #2 Dude Ranch Signed CD This is an amazing early example, I have only seen a few of these even partially signed from that era. Items signed by Tom/Mark/Scott are rare enough, but to get all 3 on the front of a CD is like finding a needle in a haystack. This belongs in a blink-182 museum, or my basement: Estimated value: $265 #1 Cheshire Cat Signed CD Coming in at #1, the rarest of the rare…a full band signed Cheshire Cat album from 1995. As if this isn’t rare enough, this particular copy is a “pre-182” copy which is a highly sought after collectible in itself. (and worth about $100 on its own). Even though they were routinely available (often selling their own merch) it is extremely rare to see anything signed from these early days. If you do see something, it’s typically a t-shirt. (Weird 90s thing, don’t know why people did that!). To make matters worse, our resident old school fan Davey Jones has said that in that particular scene it was pretty much absurd to even want an autograph, much less ask. Needless to say, there are many factors involved that make this one of the rarest blink-182 signed items of all time!!!! Estimated value: $300 Epilogue: It should be noted, I have not seen ONE full band signed original Buddha Tape, or Short Bus vinyl (from any time period), but either of these would likely dethrone #1. This may be something I put together yearly as new items get discovered. I hope you enjoyed this, if you are new, stick around! Feel free to share your autographs/stories below. I will likely put together a "Top 10 Side Band" autographs at some point, as there is definitely some rare and valuable BCR/+44/AVA stuff. Happy New Years, blink-182 life for life. -Ry Bread

In b4 Oliver’s “a rare alpha move by mark not acknowledging toms post” statement.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year everyone!

mark hoppus has a personal tragedy singing: Angel wings at the bus stop Halos left on top of the bar Helen doesn't want me now Helen doesn't want me

Tom added Reckless/Wishing Well to his acoustic medley last night, so cool:

the vibe from the nine tracks released so far... i dunno, i think @Kay might have mentioned this, but there's just an overwhelming sense of uncertainty. like, they're guessing. guessing what pop is right now, guessing what "the kids are listening too" etc. and for an artist, right or wrong, bad or good, if you're not doing something authentic, it's over. just stop. it's the difference between an artist—any kind—saying fuck all this is who i am, and an artist trying to "give an audience what they want." and from the comments on these boards, many feel that the band has guessed wrong. whatever this nine album turns out to be, what it will likely not feel like is real.

It's not even that it's formulaic, Blink has always been formulaic but they had a unique sound and style that no other band could pull off and I feel like that bit of charm and charisma is missing now. It's not even that these songs are bad, they're technically good, catchy songs but they don't have any real character, at least not the character the band used to have and that's not an "I miss Tom" statement. Mark, Matt and Travis are very capable and talented musicians and songwriters. So why is everything coming off so disingenuous. I don't believe it's working with other writers and artists, as much as others would like to believe it is. I feel like they never built their chemistry the way a normal band would and it just isn't meshing together well. I would love to see them take a year off, hang out together, write music together and build that chemistry, come out with 12 to 15 songs for demos and hit the studio after that. I just don't think Skiba has really had the chance to grow into the band the way he should havr or as any other replacement member would. I get the hesitation to do so, this band has quite the legacy behind it and maybe it means they produce something subpar but at least it will be their own voice for once and not something stale. I'd rather sacrifice an album to build that character and chemistry than string along collaboration after collaboration of the same mediocrity and generic plastic rock. It's becoming an imitation and, to quote the great Laura Jane Grace, "an imitation of an original defeats the fucking purpose".

Pretty Little Girl is a creepy enough song title; Pretty Little Girls is absolutely horrifying.

if someone has the dude ranch demos and doesn't want to share them, i think it's pretty lame, personally, but whatever. that's their prerogative. i don't have a right to tell them what to do with their mp3 collection. what does bother me is: 1.) that blink is a band who doesn't try to connect with multiple generations of their fans and doesn't honor their own creative legacy by choosing to not release deluxe anniversary editions of albums, b-side collections, or copious live records. you know, like just about every other band in the rock genre. mark and tom have always been forward thinking and almost never backward thinking. in fact, the only reason blink re-released buddha on kung fu in 1998 was to reassert their ownership of the master recordings and force pat secor's hand (who was still selling the tape through the mail). it had nothing to do with legacy or the fans. it's the same with live sets... just about every other band in the rock genre peppers their sets with deep cuts. not blink. they forget a song like "touchdown boy" or "apple shampoo" even exists. but pearl jam will drop an unreleased song from 1993 into their live performance even today, something off an import CD single or bootleg, just for the fans. like, all the time. it's almost like they give a shit about their own music. 2.) people who openly brag about possessing the dude ranch demos (or having access to them) or anything else rare and unreleased. and then in the same sentence telling the fan community that they would "never share them." it's fine if you don't want to share, but it's rather impolite to wave it in other fans' faces. in fact, it just makes you look like a total tool. 3.) bootleggers who bait that they have the demos by posting little short snippets with audio watermarks on them advertising themselves. i put them in the same category as bootleggers who watermark images of things they found online, pissing on them like a dog marks their territory: these people are scum.

Single old man trying to tell people in happy relationships how relationships should be

this thread is embarrassing.

Thanks JRR Tolkien

I fucking love Matt Skiba. He’s smashed this album. This is blink 182 and I love it.

Hard to say, I can’t hear the new songs over the sound of Jerry Finn turning in his grave.