Maps of Music

Blink-182 (untitled album) (2003)

Where the lyrics of Blink-182 (untitled album) take you, and where it was really made.

The album has no official title: the band called it untitled, while fans and stores mostly call it self-titled.

Key places

Moved to Conway after the house (2003)

Recording site Conway Recording Studios — After the band was kicked out of the San Diego house, they moved operations to Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles. It was one of Finn's favorite locales. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The house recording plan (2003)

Recording site Rancho Santa Fe mansion — The band first planned to record the whole album in a mansion rented in Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego. The point is placed at the town centre, not the exact house. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Blink-182 (also called the untitled album): fifth studio album by the American rock band Blink-182
• Released 18 November 2003 by Geffen Records
• Their longest album, marking a shift toward a darker, more expansive and complex sound
• Songs are interconnected, with a cinematic structure that blurs pop-punk and post-hardcore
• Recording lasted from January to October 2003, across nearly a year and two record labels
• Cost more than one million dollars to produce, far more than earlier albums
• Produced by Jerry Finn, the band's longtime producer; the last album he made with them

Background

• Follows Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, both huge sellers
• The trio went on hiatus and took part in side projects such as Box Car Racer and Transplants
• Box Car Racer's heavier sound helped shape the new album's tone and experimental approach
• Tension between Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge continued, but the two got along during the making of the record
• Released as the band reached a peak of emo's cultural popularity
• The album was the band's last before their first breakup

Recording

• The first plan was to record the whole album in a rented house in Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego
• The band recorded at the home until April 2003, when the owners of the house kicked them out
• After that they worked at other San Diego studios and then moved to Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles
• Used an extensive collection of vintage gear, experimental instruments and unusual analog techniques
• Ryan Hewitt was the main engineer; Andy Wallace and Tom Lord-Alge also mixed tracks
• Robert Smith of The Cure sang on All of This, recording his parts in England

Cover

• Introduced a new "smiley" logo, with X eyes and five arrows, to support the album
• Travis Barker said the arrows were inspired by his favorite band, The Jam, and by pop art
• Barker's tattoo artist Mister Cartoon created artwork for the record

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in August 1992 in Poway, California, a northern suburb of San Diego County.
• Tom DeLonge was introduced to Mark Hoppus through Hoppus's sister Anne, and they first recorded with drummer Scott Raynor.
• Early releases came through independent label Cargo Records, with the debut Cheshire Cat in 1995 and Dude Ranch in 1997.
• The band was renamed 182 after a threat from an Irish band named Blink.

Members

• Mark Hoppus (bass, vocals) is the only member to have stayed in the band throughout its history.
• Tom DeLonge (guitar, vocals) left twice and returned in 2022.
• Travis Barker (drums) replaced Scott Raynor in 1998.
• Matt Skiba (guitar, vocals) was a member from 2015 to 2022.

Career

• Enema of the State (1999) reached over fifteen million copies sold worldwide and made the band major international stars.
• Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001) became the first punk rock album to reach number one in the U.S.
• The band announced an indefinite hiatus in 2005, and they reunited in 2009.
• California (2016) and Nine (2019) were recorded with Matt Skiba.
• One More Time... (2023) was released after DeLonge's return and became the band's third number-one album on the Billboard 200.
• Sales reportedly total 50 million albums worldwide.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone: Jenny Eliscu gave the album four stars and wrote that the band is more experimental and harder-hitting than anything else it has done
• AllMusic: Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album four stars and called it an unexpected and welcome maturation
• USA Today: Edna Gundersen said the album bravely sticks to a single sober theme, a disintegrating romance
• The Village Voice: Nick Catucci called the album brilliant
• Spin described the record as emotionally intense and best heard through headphones
• Tom Bryant of Kerrang! wrote of a weightier, more experimental and ambitious sound
• Metacritic: average score of 71 from 12 reviews
• Critics widely welcomed the change in tone, and many were surprised by the band's new maturity

Reappraisal

• Chris Lee of the Los Angeles Times called it the band's underrated masterwork
• Jon Blistein of Radio.com called it an unquestionable masterpiece
• Fans and band members consider it their best work and an important turning point in their career
• The band performed the album in full for its tenth anniversary in November 2013, with shows that sold out

Records

• Debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 313,000 copies
• Topped the chart in Canada, debuted in the top ten in Australia and New Zealand
• According to the IFPI, the forty-ninth highest-selling album worldwide in 2003
• Certified platinum by the RIAA for shipments of over one million copies in 2004
• Has sold over 2.2 million copies in the US and 7 million worldwide
• Also certified double platinum by Music Canada and ARIA; platinum in the UK

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title was once rumored to be Use Your Erection I & II, a parody of Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion albums, but Barker revealed it was a joke.
• Barker brought a copy of Pink Floyd's The Wall as a reference, and the band sent mixes to James Guthrie, who engineered The Wall.
• The recording plan began with a house in Rancho Santa Fe, and the band had worked there for sixty days with only two finished songs when the owners kicked them out.
• The band recorded the entire album without its usual method, writing and recording several songs together instead of one instrument at a time.
• The final mixes were still being judged the night before the album went to the pressing plant.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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