Blink 182 FAQ

I'll try and answer the most commonly asked questions people e-mail me with.

Flyswatter Flyswatter is a very early demo tape for Blink 182. It is *NOT* a cd, it is a cassette tape. It is very, very rare to find, because so little were made to begin with. I do not have the tape myself, nor do I know anyone with it. My only advice is to check Ebay or other similar auction sites if you are looking for it. There are mp3's out for download, but they are all of low quality, because that's the way they came off of the cassette by whomever turned them into mp3's. I doubt there are any high quality ones out there, or if you can even record them at high quality to begin with. The bottom line is that the best way to possess these songs is to download them in mp3 form off of the internet. What does the "182" stand for in "Blink 182"? The 182 is a random number they picked, because there was already a techno band in the UK called "Blink", and they had to change their name because the UK band held the rights to it. There are many stories as to what the 182 could stand for, but it's just a random number. What happened to original drummer Scott Raynor? Blink 182 never started out with their current member Travis Barker but with their original drummer Scott Raynor. Contrary to popular belief, Tom DeLonge and Scott started the band and then Mark Hoppus joined, quit, and then re-joined. While the band's success was growing and Blink 182 was on tour, arguments were forming between the members. Scott wanted to take the band in a different direction than Mark and Tom did, so all was not well within the trio. Scott started disappearing between shows and even skipped out on a few so Travis Barker of the Aquabats was asked to fill in a few times. Scott Raynor kept pulling further from his band mates and at the same time he was drinking excessively. He was told to clean up his act and he asked for the weekend to think about it. Scott decided to quit drinking, but it seemed that it was too late and he was already fired. The Blink 182 line-up was broken and Travis was hired permanently. The whole situation seems unfair, but that's pretty much the way it went down according to Scott's Absolute Punk interview. Mark and Tom remain silent on the subject so not many people know for sure what happened when the original Blink broke up. Scott is currently in another band and is still working with the organization Stand Up For Kids. Listen to Blink's song "Man Overboard"; it seems to explain the story pretty well. From: http://blink182.punk-online.net/info/scottstory.html Posted by Blink182RocksMySocks on the message board. TOYPAJ Bonus Tracks When "Take Off Your Pants And Jacket" was released, the first million copies (so I am told) were the "special" cd's. There were three different ones: Take Off (A red cd with the plane on it), Pants (A yellow cd with pants on it), and Jacket (A green cd with a jacket on it). To find out which one you were buying in the stores, there was a sticker on the front of the package that was either red, yellow, or green, corresponding to what cd was inside. The bonus tracks on these albums were tracks #14 and #15. Some cd players didn't play the tracks altogether, other players did, and some you had to just skip to those tracks to hear them. The record company later came out with regular cd's, ones that were not colored, and did not have any bonus tracks at all on them. I do not know how many different versions there are, and I do not know how they were sold overseas in other countries. But if you purchase a cd with no tracks #14 and #15 on them, then you do not have one of the bonus cd's. UK version of TOYPAJ The following info was e-mailed to me: "On the UK version of TOYPAJ, there was only one limited edition cd, not 3 like in USA, a yellow pants cd with 3 bonus tracks, "What Went Wrong, Time To Break Up, and "Fuck A Dog", plus a cdrom video of "Man Overboard". "Mothers Day" was later released as a b-side. I'm not sure about "Grandpa", but it probably was, and that was the only way the UK could get those songs. The cd is now sold with no bonus songs and is in a jewel case instead of the paper/card slip limited version." (contributed by Dave) Boxcar Racer Tom and Travis have a side project that is separate from Blink 182. They call their band "Boxcar Racer". No, the band didn't break up, it's a *side project*, something extra that Tom and Travis wanted to do. Their album is self-titled. If you want to find out more information about the project, head over to http://www.boxcarracer.com/ and check out the bio section. The Transplants Travis is also on a side project with members of Rancid. Their album is scheduled to debut on October 22, 2002. Lyrics Typos I pretty much took the time to type all these out myself, so it's possible there are mistakes I made here and there. If you do come across a lyrics that may be wrong, e-mail me and let me know so I can take a look at it. Your help is appreciated! Singles Albums & Albums not listed 7" albums such as "Lemmings", "They Came To Conquer Uranus", "Short Bus", overseas imports, some demo tapes, and some compilation albums have been left out of my discography for a couple reasons. Most of the songs on them are on official studio releases, so they do not need to be posted again. Also, if there are any songs that aren't on an official album, they are listed in the "Other Songs" section link at the bottom of the main page. I hope that helps in your lyrics search. "Fake" songs There are songs that are downloaded off of file sharing programs that are obviously labeled wrong. These are songs that are labeled by "Blink 182", but the song is by another band. People do this because they think the song sounds like one band, but are in fact another band altogether. I had a list at one time of all of these, but there's one called "Why" that everyone thinks is a Blink 182 song. I have searched far and wide on the internet, and downloaded and listened to the song myself, and I am not convinced it is done by Blink 182. If anyone has hard, solid proof that it is theirs, let me know. ***UPDATE*** I received an e-mail, stating that the song "Why" is actually done by a band called Reset. I think I read this before too somewhere else. That's one mystery solved! Credit where credit is due? People have brought attention to me about the following songs: "The Girl Next Door" on Buddha is a Screeching Weasel cover called "White Girl". (sent in by Sara) The Girl Next Door is in fact a Screeching Weasel song but its official title is "The Girl Next Door" and is on Screeching Weasel's album "Kill the Musicians". (sent in by Bill) "The Longest Line" on Flyswatter is a NOFX song. (sent in by Jay) The song was released on the "Longest Line Ep" by NOFX. I also find it funny that in latest NOFX cd "45 Or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough To Go On Our Other Records" (CD2), NOFX made fun of Blink 182 fans in the song "Fun Things To Fuck." (sent in by Frank) "Dancing With My Self" is actually a Billy Idol song that Blink 182 covered. (sent in by Boobu!) Romeo Retarded is the band that sings "High Road". Thanks to Vic and Chucky.X for the info! Jon added that it comes off the album "Nintendo Week". Thanks as well! I'm not too keen on this information, so it may or may not be true, but if you have any other info about these or other songs, please send it in so I can update this. Thanks! Who is Holly? Holly is mentioned in two songs on the self titled album, once in "Easy Target", and in the following song "All Of This". This caption is written sideways next to the lyrics for "Easy Target": Tom: A friend of ours told a story of when he was young, and got asked to go to the prettiest girl in high school's house. He rode his bike as fast as he could to get there, and she and her friend jumped out of the balcony and sprayed him with a hose. He rode home wet, sad, and humiliated. So, even though it's not fact, it's safe to assume that Holly is most likely the girl in this story. Who is singing on "All Of This"? Robert Smith from The Cure is a guest vocalist on this track, and Tom sings the chorus. Quite possibly the best track on the album, in my opinion :)