Blink-182, formerly known as simply Blink, is a Southern-Californian punk rock band that was formed in 1992 by Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus. The group is notable for the lyrical content of their songs which is humorous and often uplifting. The history of Blink began in 1992 when Hoppus moved to San Diego, California, and was thinking of starting a band, and was fortunately introduced to Delonge. The two of them later decided that they needed to look for a drummer, and DeLonge discovered Scott Raynor at his school who played drums. Thus the three of them started considering a number of names, before they agreed to call themselves just "blink." So, they started a trio band, which later on consists of Thomas (Tom) Matthew DeLonge on guitar, Markus (Mark) Allan Hoppus on bass, and Travis Landon Barker on drums.

Towards the end of 1992, the band released an EP known as "Flyswatter," which was recorded using a boom box in Scott's bedroom, because of which the sound quality was poor. Before the end of the year, the band released another demo cassette, which was dubbed "Buddha." Compared to the previous record, this demo was better as around 1,000 copies of this were eventually produced by Cargo Filter Records. And in early 1994, Blink released their first full-length album "Cheshire Cat" with Grilled Cheese Records. The album contained many new versions of songs that had appeared on the "Buddha" demo. From this point on, the group did quite well, so they started to think about further records and believed that their hopes and dreams could soon come true.

Unfortunately, shortly after they outed "Cheshire Cat," Blink were threatened with legal action brought by a techno band in Ireland of the same name. In order to avoid a lengthy lawsuit, blink added the numbers 182 to the end of their name. Many questions raised on the added number, which all the band members insisted to be picked randomly. That being so, the trio started their career as Blink-182.

During the punk rock boom of the 1990s, Blink-182 were signed by MCA and received wide exposure, touring with established punk groups, like Pennywise and NOFX on the 1996-1997 Warped Tour. Apart from that, they were also widely known in the skating and snowboarding scenes from their appearances in related videos and live events. After moving to Encinitas, California, the band recorded their second studio album "Dude Ranch" with producer Mark Trombino and released it in 1997. The album was a hit, and its two singles "Josie" and "Dammit" rose to the top of the U.S. airplay charts with the "Dammit (Growing Up)" also became a radio hit.

In 1998, Blink-182 met a minor problem, which prevented the group progress. By means of which, Raynor, who at the time had a serious drinking problem, was reportedly asked to leave the band and go to rehab, although there were also reports saying he decided to leave to go to college and earn a degree. The fact was, he left midway through a U.S. tour, resulting in his replacement by Travis Barker, who had been playing with band The Aquabats. This phenomenon pushed Blink-182 to once again begin things from dawn. Yet, they could stand still and in 1999 they released the band's 3rd album named "Enema of the State." The album's CD was successful thanks to its hit singles "What's My Age Again?," "Adam's Song," and "All the Small Things," all of which pushing forwards Blink-182 to punk rock fame, and gaining a large amount of airtime on MTV and Total Request Live.

In continuation, Blink-182 released a live album in 2000 dubbed "The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show," featured in it is the live versions of band's radio hits mixed with comedy bits and the new song "Man Overboard." Coming after that in 2001 was the band 4th album "Take off Your Pants & Jacket," which followed the same basic formulas as "Enema of the State." That same year, Blink-182 also appeared on the cover of CosmoGirl, and won a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award. Moreover, during the same time, Tom Delonge and Travis Barker were involved in side-projects The Transplants and Box Car Racer, bands which explored other musical styles.

The group 5th album was next released in the year of 2003 via Geffen and was described as a self-meditation on romantic decay. This was their untitled fifth record, in which it featured the hit singles "Feeling This", "I Miss You", "Down", and the 80s-influenced "Always". Detailing on the reason, Travis Barker had confirmed that the band left the album untitled rather than self-titled to represent a whole new blink-182. The album showcased a style of music deeper than anything blink-182 had done previously, but still got a good deal of play on pop stations and MTV. In fact, this album had raised many critics claiming the group's sound similar to that of The Police and U2, although members of the band insisted they took most of their influence from The Cure, whose front man Robert Smith had appeared on their track "All of This". Despite the minor comments, many listeners said the album contained a heavier riffs and more profound lyrics.

In the summer of 2004, Blink-182 toured with No Doubt and it was very successful. For everyone's surprise, on February 21, 2005, the group announced that they would not be able to play at the "Music For Relief" Tsunami benefit show in Anaheim, California, due to 'unexpected circumstances'. In chain of that, the following day they stated on the band's official website that they would take an indefinite break in order to spend more time with their close friends and loved ones. The statement has since been confirmed by Travis Barker, who during a recent interview with KROQ, said that they were taking a rest from their normal activities to focus on some alternative projects: DeLonge would continue directing music videos, Hoppus would be producing records, and Barker himself would be busy with the Transplants and the summer's Warped Tour. Subsequent to those, in an interview held with MTV News, Mark Hoppus announced that he and Travis Barker were working on a side-project called +44, and that a female singer would be on the band. DeLonge meanwhile, went successful with his new band Angels & Airwaves that spawned a debut album 'We Don't Need to Whisper' in 2006 that went to #4 on Billboard Hot 200 chart. After their respective success there was a silent agreement that the band possibly wouldn't reunite with the original line-up or with Travis in the drum.

In September 2008, Barker was injured when a plane in which he was a passenger crashed outside of Columbia, South Carolina. Barker suffered second and third degree burns. Hoppus and DeLonge visited Barker in the hospital, and in February 2009, the band made their first live appearance since 2005 at the Grammy Awards and announced they were reforming. They kicked off their reunion tour, with Fall Out Boy and Weezer as openers, in July 2009.

They then spent months working on their sixth album in between working on their side projects. The record called "Neighborhood" eventually came out in 2011 and peaked at No. 2 on Billboard 200. The project spawned no big hits and it disappointed their label Interscope, which they later left in October 2011.

As an independent artist, they released an EP called "Dogs Eating Dogs" in December 2012 and embarked on a tour, which included shows in Australia in 2013. At the time, Brooks Wackerman was hired to replace Barker on drums as he was unwilling to fly after his near death experience in the 2008 plane crash.

The band already planned a seventh album before Barker and Hoppus announced in early 2015 that DeLonge had "indefinitely" quit the band and that they'd replaced him with Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio. Fans were later left confused when DeLonge himself denied his departure.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Barker and Hoppus explained what really happened between them and DeLonge, saying that the musician had been complicated to work with. Hoppus said that DeLonge's attitude toward new music was passive, while Barker asserted, "Why Blink even got back together in the first place is questionable."

Following the drama, Hoppus, Barker and Skiba toured together before recording Blink-182's first album without DeLonge. They released "Bored to Death" in April as the first preview of the LP, which was announced as "California" and entered the Billboard 200 chart at No. 1 following its release in July.