Blink-182

California trio Blink-182 ushered in a new wave of punk-pop at the turn of the century with a teen-friendly blend of infectious hooks, three-chord riffs and unashamedly juvenile humor. The original line-up of vocalist/guitarist Tom DeLonge, bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus and drummer Scott Raynor formed under the name Blink in Poway in 1992 and soon became regulars on the SoCal circuit, going on to release their debut album, Cheshire Cat, through the scene's most dominant label, Cargo Records. Championed by Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge, the band subsequently landed a spot on the 1996 Warped Tour and sparked a major bidding war which resulted in a deal with MCA, by which point the threat of a lawsuit from a same-named Irish act had forced the band to add a random number, 182, to their moniker.

1997 sophomore Dude Ranch eventually went gold, but would prove to be Raynor's final album with the group when he was sacked over his heavy drinking habit a year later. After hiring The Aquabats drummer Travis Barker as his replacement, the group made the step up into the big league with 1999's Enema of the State, a hugely influential third LP which peaked at No.6 on the Billboard 200 and went on to shift a staggering 15 million copies. Accompanied by comical videos which saw the band streaking across the streets of Los Angeles and parodying various boybands, the singles "What's My Age Again" and "All the Small Things" also saw Blink-182 become MTV staples, while a brief cameo in "American Pie" (1999) also cemented their status as the poster boys for mainstream punk-pop.

The group then returned to their SoCal roots for 2001's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, which sold 350,000 copies in its first week to reportedly become the first ever punk album to debut at the top of the US charts. Although Barker's contribution to DeLonge's post-hardcore side project Box Car Racer caused tensions between Hoppus and his bandmates, the trio managed to put on a united front for a more mature eponymous 2003 LP inspired by each member's new-found fatherhoods. The record received the strongest reviews of their career, but just two years later the group announced an indefinite hiatus, with DeLonge going on to form space rock supergroup Angels and Airwaves, and Hoppus and Barker releasing an album together under the guise of +44.

In 2008, the latter suffered second and third-degree burns in a South Carolina small plane crash which killed two of his fellow passengers, and after long-time producer Jerry Finn passed away that same year, the band decided to resolve their differences and reunite. A North American tour with Weezer followed, as did a sixth studio effort, Neighborhoods, in 2011, a 20th anniversary trek and a string of festival sets. However, in 2015, Hoppus and Barker announced that DeLonge had left the group to be replaced by Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba, with the new line-up's studio debut, California, hitting shelves a year later.