This Is How Blink-182 Got Their Name
The name Blink-182 has become synonymous with pop-punk, brilliantly silly puns in album titles (Enema of the State indeed), and (frankly) hazardous amounts of angst. The band, purveyors of such iconic songs as “What’s My Age Again?,” “All The Small Things” (inspired by DeLonge’s wife Jennifer, from whom he has since split), and “I Miss You,” has carved itself an indelible place in music history.
As fans may already know, the group’s often-tragic odyssey began in California in 1992. The aforementioned founding members met at an 8th-grade class party (per The Los Angeles Times), and, together with the bass talents of Mark Hoppus, the band that would eventually become a worldwide sensation took off.
As Alternative Press reports, the troupe first dubbed themselves Duck Tape. This moniker was short-lived before the talented trio settled on Blink, a name that would eventually land the band in rather hot water.
An Irish band got there first
There was, unfortunately for them, already a band named Blink. An Irish outfit formed in Dublin in 1991, this band’s name is said to derive (per Let’s Sing It) from Barry Campbell, who played the drums for Blink, and his adoration of the Cocteau Twins’ “Iceblink Luck.” Neither group seemed to be aware of the other’s existence at first, and Cargo Music Inc. dropped DeLonge’s Blink’s debut album, Cheshire Cat, in 1995.
This record finally attracted the wrath of the Blink that was totally there first. Alerted to the danger of potential legal action, Cargo Music contacted DeLonge and Co. and insisted that they change their name. They weren’t quick about it, as Hoppus told Amy Schumer on Hoppus On Music (via Radio X): “…It finally got to the point where they said, ‘If you don’t change the name of your band on this phone call we’re gonna choose one for you.'”
Casting around desperately, they decided on Blink… 182. The number didn’t have any significance, Hoppus went on, with the mischievous group assigning a new meaning to it whenever the subject was broached: 182 has been everything from his ideal weight to the number of times Al Pacino said “f***” in Scarface.
Quite apart from the meaning of the name, its very pronunciation remains a bone of contention. On November 19, 2018, Tom DeLonge wrote on Twitter, “It’s actually- Blink eighteen-two. People have all gotten this wrong for years. Sometimes this can happen with very complex, thoughtful and elevated art.”
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