blink‐182 by blink-182

blink-182, the pop-punk trio's untitled fifth album, came out on Geffen on November 18, 2003, and it's the sound of the class clowns growing up in real time. After the runaway success of Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, the band took a break and scattered into side projects such as Box Car Racer and Transplants, then came back determined to care about song structure and bigger arrangements.

They set up shop in a rented San Diego mansion with producer Jerry Finn and turned it into a sonic laboratory stuffed with vintage gear, odd instruments and old-school analog tricks. The project ballooned into more than a year of work, two record labels and over a million dollars. What came out is their longest and darkest record: songs that bleed into one another, moody textures, and a sound that smudges the line between pop-punk and post-hardcore. DeLonge and Mark Hoppus trade vocals over Barker's dizzying drums, singing about adulthood, rough luck, growing up and a world in turmoil. "Feeling This" is a frantic rush of adrenaline, "I Miss You" a spooky, hushed lament, "Down" a rainy-night slow burn, and Robert Smith of the Cure turns up for a gothic collaboration.

Reviewers welcomed the change of tone, "Feeling This" and "I Miss You" led the way on radio, and it sold 2.2 million copies in the US. The tour took them to Japan, Australia and to American troops stationed in the Middle East. It turned out to be their final record with Finn and their last new music before their first breakup, and a decade later fans packed sold-out anniversary shows to celebrate it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.