Maps of Music

Cheshire Cat (1995)

Where the lyrics of Cheshire Cat take you, and where it was really made.

The album first came out under the name Blink, and the band added "-182" only after an Irish band of the same name threatened legal action.

Key places

Recorded at Westbeach Recorders (1995)

Recording site The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles — Most of the album was recorded at Westbeach Recorders in Los Angeles, a studio owned by members of Bad Religion. The label booked only three days for recording and mixing. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sessions resumed at Doubletime Studios (1995)

Recording site Doubletime Studios — After the three-day booking proved insufficient, recording resumed at Doubletime Studios in Santee, California. The band had earlier recorded its demo Buddha there. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Debut studio album by American rock band Blink-182, then known as Blink
• Released 17 February 1995 by Cargo Music
• Trio of Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Scott Raynor, formed in 1992
• Sixteen tracks recorded with minimal overdubs
• Produced by Otis Barthoulameu of local act Fluf
• Originally released as Blink until an Irish band of the same name threatened legal action

Background

• Band formed in San Diego in August 1992
• Three demos impressed the San Diego-based Cargo label
• Earlier demo tape Buddha drew regional success and caught the label's attention
• Cargo first offered only a seven-inch EP, which the band declined
• Cargo signed the band on a trial basis through its Grilled Cheese imprint
• Raynor was still a minor, so only Hoppus could legally sign

Recording

• Main sessions at Westbeach Recorders in Los Angeles, a Hollywood studio owned by members of Bad Religion
• Budget of $1,500 with only three days booked to record and mix
• Band became lost driving to the studio and arrived nearly three hours late
• Recording resumed at Doubletime Studios in Santee, California, where Buddha had been recorded
• Engineer Steve Kravac said the limited budget left almost no room for experimentation

Cover

• Title inspired by the Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
• Cat photo came from a calendar DeLonge bought from a door-to-door salesman
• Calendar company declined the licence, so Cargo's art department digitally altered the image
• Finished package featured the international accessibility symbol

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

• Christina Lee Knauss of The Sun News praised the melodic songwriting and the oddly introspective lyrics under the punk guitar
• The Age (1996) saw blink-182 as part of a new punk generation that stressed fun and personal experience over anger and political comment
• The Age also suggested the carefree outlook worked as an antidote to the angst and nihilism linked to grunge
• Mark Faulkner of The Florida Times-Union called it one of the most engaging punk rock efforts in recent years

Reappraisal

• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): three out of five stars, calling it scattershot but a sign of the band's potential
• Rolling Stone: two-and-a-half stars, describing it as an early attempt to fuse melodic hooks with skate punk
• The A.V. Club (Jason Heller): praised its refreshing sloppiness and wide-eyed exuberance
• Fuse later named it one of pop-punk's strongest debut albums
• Billboard (Joe Lynch) dubbed it an underground classic
• NME (Ali Shutler) described the sound of a young punk band whose ambition outran its talent
• Kerrang! ranked it last among the band's studio releases but still called it one of the most cherished records of the '90s pop-punk scene

Records

• Initial pressing of 1,000 copies, which sold out quickly
• Became Cargo's best-selling release
• Sold 70,000 copies within a year of release
• More than 250,000 units sold by 2001

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The band got lost driving to the studio and arrived nearly three hours late.
• The cover cat came from a calendar DeLonge bought from a door-to-door salesman, and Cargo's art department altered the photo to avoid copyright infringement.
• During the Blink name dispute, Hoppus suggested adding the number 182, and Cargo accepted the idea on the spot.
• Hoppus later acknowledged that the band's tongue-in-cheek explanations for the number 182 were intentionally fabricated.
• MTV declined to air the "M+M's" video after objecting to imagery of firearms.
• Future Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker first became familiar with the band during the Cheshire Cat era.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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