Take Off Your Pants and Jacket by blink-182

Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, blink-182's fourth album, came out on MCA in 2001, and the title tells you the band hadn't completely grown up: say it fast and you'll get the joke. But the record itself is a band caught mid-growth spurt. Riding the multiplatinum wave of Enema of the State, Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker went back to work with producer Jerry Finn, cutting most of it at home in San Diego while fighting off burnout, a label leaning on its deadlines, and a trio that couldn't quite agree on where it was headed.

What came out is still glossy pop-punk at heart, big, bright and built for shouting along, but with darker, sharper post-hardcore guitars and a streak of emo creeping in at the edges. The songs are all about being a teenager: the prom, sticking it to the grown-ups, parties. "The Rock Show" is a breathless, fist-pumping blast, "First Date" crackles with nervous excitement, and "Stay Together for the Kids" drops the grin for something much heavier and sadder.

It became the first punk album ever to top the US charts and has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide. The CD came in three collectible versions, each with its own bonus tracks, and the band hit the road with Green Day on the Pop Disaster Tour. Critics were split on whether the teenage focus was a strength or a rut, but the loud, irreverent pop-punk wave it rode in on is still cited by critics and musicians as a lasting influence.

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