Blink-182 (album)

Untitled

Blink-182 is the self titled or untitled fifth studio album, by Blink-182 and their last full-length record before an ongoing hiatus. Recorded under the working title of Use Your Erection I & II (a pun of Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion albums), the album was released through Geffen Records on November 18, 2003. The album includes guest vocals by The Cure's Robert Smith on the track "All of This".

At almost 50 minutes long, it is Blink-182's longest studio album. It features four hits; "Down", "Always", "Feeling This", and charting at #1, "I Miss You". It is said that this album represents a more "mature" Blink than seen in the past, such as not having the album contain any toilet humor or joke songs. It was somewhat of a departure from their previous musical atmosphere, the album was described as a "self-meditation on romantic decay." Mark Hoppus, the bassist for the band said in an interview with MTV Album Launch, that the desired effect of the album was for people to listen to it and say "Wait a minute...that's Blink-182?" The band infused experimentalist elements into their usual pop punk sound, inspired by lifestyle changes (Mark, Tom and Travis all became fathers before the album was released) and side-projects (Box Car Racer and Transplants).

The singles received very high airplay from radio and music video channels, the album sold 313,000 copies in its first week debuting #3 on the charts in the United States, which was less than their previous album Take off Your Pants and Jacket, which sold more than 350,000 copies in its first week and topped the charts. Although some criticized the change in musical atmosphere, the album was met with a positive reception from both critics and fans. Most notably Rolling Stone magazine, which gave it 4 out of 5 stars and an average user rating of 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Production

Recording and writing sessions for this album lasted from January to October 2003, making it the longest time blink-182 has ever spent recording an album. Most notably, finishing up the album was extremely stressful for all of the members of blink-182. While they initially took their time writing songs, they only completed the final mixes minutes before the record label's deadline.

The album was released as an Enhanced CD, featuring some of the band's self-made videos, including "Down/The Fallen interlude", "Stockholm Syndrome", "Feeling This", "Obvious" and "Violence". They were all shot in one small room, or by using a selection of clips from Blink-182's live shows or trip to the Middle East, and incorporate shots of the band members simply miming the songs.

Album title

Due to many contradicting sources, the name of this album (or lack there of) is hotly debated among fans. Drummer Travis Barker recently announced that the album was actually untitled but fans still speculate. Some believe that the album is self-titled, citing sources like the band's official website and many online stores, such as Amazon. Others believe the album is untitled citing direct quotes from the bandmates themselves or from other interviews. The original working title for the album was Use Your Erection I & II, a parody of the Guns And Roses album Use Your Illusion. The album name is rumoured to be dropped for one of two reasons; Axl Rose threatened to sue the band for the title; The band decided to drop the title because the album sounded more grown up and the title did not reflect that.

Smiley face logo

To support the new album, Blink-182 created an entirely new logo. Thus, the smiley face was born. This logo somehow seemed to reflect the band's new, mature style. There have been complaints that the new logo is a take from Seattle grunge band Nirvana's smiley face logo.

According to Barker the origin of the Smiley face logo came from him and some of his designers from his own personal clothing line. He wanted to brand an icon for the band. "It just had to be a cool kind of happy face but I wanted arrows. You know, like The Jam were my favorite band, they always had arrows in their logos and stuff. It was just kind of inspired by pop-art."

Track listing

1. "Feeling This" – 2:52 (Tom DeLonge,Mark Hoppus)
2. "Obvious" – 2:43 (Tom Delonge)
3. "I Miss You" – 3:47 (Mark Hoppus,Tom Delonge)
4. "Violence" – 3:52 (Tom Delonge)
   • "Stockholm Syndrome Dialog" (pregap hidden track) – 1:28
5. "Stockholm Syndrome" – 2:41 (Mark Hoppus,Tom DeLonge)
6. "Down" – 3:03 (Tom Delonge,Mark Hoppus)
7. "The Fallen Interlude" – 2:12 (Jacken)
8. "Go" – 1:53 (Mark Hoppus,Tom DeLonge)
9. "Asthenia" – 4:19 (Tom Delonge)
10. "Always" – 4:11 (Tom Delonge)
11. "Easy Target" – 2:20 (Tom DeLonge,Mark Hoppus)
12. "All of This" – 4:40 (Robert Smith,Tom Delonge)
13. "Here's Your Letter" – 2:54 (Mark Hoppus)
14. "I'm Lost Without You" – 6:20 (Tom Delonge)

International Bonus

15. "Anthem Part Two" (Live in Chicago)

UK Bonus Tracks

15. "Not Now" (Tom Delonge)
16. "Anthem Part Two" (Live in Chicago)

Japan Bonus Tracks

15. "The Rock Show" (Live in Chicago)

Australian tour edition Bonus Tracks

15. "The Rock Show" (Live in Minneapolis)
16. "I Miss You" (Live in Minneapolis)

Track Details

Feeling This

Main article: Feeling This

"Feeling This" was the first single off the album. An early version of the song, called Action, was included on soundtrack for the video game Madden NFL 2004.

Obvious

This song was meant to sound like "Failure meets Led Zeppelin meets The Police".

I Miss You

Main article: I Miss You (Blink-182 song)

"I Miss You" was released in March 2004 as the second single from the Untitled album. It was their most successful single of all time, reaching the #1 spot on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart and being certified platinum after selling over 200,000 copies.

Violence

The intro features a sample of "Theme from Ironside" by Quincy Jones. During the bridge section, Mark speaks a few lines very quietly behind Tom's vocals. The official transcription of these words can be found in the official guitar tablature book for the album.

At the end of "Violence" and leading into "Stockholm Syndrome", Joanne Whalley is reading letters that Mark Hoppus' grandfather wrote to his grandmother during World War II.

Stockholm Syndrome

According to Mark Hoppus, this song is about paranoia, being afraid of the outside world and about being convinced that people can hear your thoughts.

Down

Main article: Down (Blink-182 song)

The third single from this album. The song peaked at #10 on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart.

The Fallen Interlude

This track was produced by Sick Jacken and the few lyrics were sung by Menno.

Go

The most up-tempo song of the album, which, according to the liner notes, is deserved to be played loud.

Asthenia

NASA transmissions are played before the start. It's a song about an astronaut battling loneliness. The line "Should I go back?" is adapted from the song's original title "Shoulda Got Caught", which was originally about a similar topic to "Down". According to Tom DeLonge, "This song is about one thing only, an astronaut sitting in a space capsule about the size of a car, floating above the earth. He's contemplating if coming back or not will make a difference on such a negative place. A song about the loss of hope. A term was coined for the breakdown of life in space and it is called Asthenia, the name of the track." Some of the best sounds, according to the band, is Tom's guitar riff before the drums kick in about 50 seconds into Asthenia. This was recorded through a 1960s era Leslie speaker that had a tube dying out and glowing purple.

Always

Main article: Always (Blink-182 song)

"Always" is the fourth, longest and last single of this album. It was also the last video the group shot together. The song is heavily influenced by 80's music.

Easy Target

This song is based around the story of one of the band's techs first crushes. Allegedly, the girl, who was named Holly, invited the band tech around to her house on a date. The tech rode his bicycle there as fast as he could, but upon arriving, Holly and her friends jumped out and sprayed him with a water hose. The tech went home, embarrassed and humiliated. The story has also been brought up in past interviews, where allegedly, the girl Holly was actually Tom's first girlfriend, who left him for his older brother.

Travis's favorite part of the CD is how unbelievably easily he did the drums at the beginning of this song.

All of This

Main article: All of This

"All of This" was supposed to be the fifth and final single for Blink-182's Untitled album, if the band didn't go on hiatus. On this song they collaborate with one their biggest inspirations: The Cure's frontman Robert Smith.

This song also references the girl "Holly," and seems to be about the same incident as "Easy Target"

Here's Your Letter

This song is about people's inability to communicate with one another and how words and explanations only confuse the issue. Aside from Tom backing him up in the chorus, Mark Hoppus sings the entire song almost solo.

I'm Lost Without You

There are two drum solos layered on top of each other during the last 45 seconds of this song. Tom sings into a rotating microphone, which makes it sound like he's underwater.

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Peak position
2003	The Billboard Top 200	3
2003	Top Internet Albums	3
2003	Top Canadian Albums	1

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Peak position
2003	"Feeling This"	Modern Rock Tracks	2
2004	"I Miss You"	Billboard Hot 100	42
2004	"I Miss You"	Modern Rock Tracks	1
2004	"I Miss You"	Top 40 Mainstream	15
2004	"I Miss You"	Top 40 Tracks	25
2004	"I Miss You"	Adult Top 40	24
2004	"Down"	Modern Rock Tracks	10
2005	"Always"	Modern Rock Tracks	39