Blink 182, an American pop punk trio, was formed in Poway (a northern suburb of San Diego), California, in 1992. Originally known as "Blink", founding members were vocalist and guitarist Tom DeLonge, vocalist and bassist Mark Hoppus, and drummer Scott Raynor. Blink recorded its first demo tape, "Flyswatter", in May 1993 in Raynor's bedroom - only a small number of demos were released, primarily to their family and friends. A second demo tape, simply known as "Demo 2" was then released, featuring re-recordings of some "Flyswatter" songs, and also some new songs, some of which would go on to be re-recorded and re-released on the band's "Buddha" album. "Buddha" was released on cassette in 1993 with around 1,000 copies of the tape being produced by Filter Records, an independent record company headed by Hoppus's boss. It was later re-released in 1998, remastered and with a different tracklisting.
In 1994, Blink signed with Cargo Music. The band recorded their debut full-length album, "Cheshire Cat" in 3 days, but shortly after it's release, Blink were threatened with legal action by a pop band in Ireland of the same name. In order to avoid a dispute, Blink appended "182" to the end of their name - although there are many theories suggested by the band as to why that number was chosen, DeLonge has stated that it is just a number that meant nothing.
After the release of "Cheshire Cat", they released "Buddha Promo", a promotional cassette intended to promote the re-release of the "Buddha" album, which contained old songs from the "Flyswatter" sessions, and a few early versions of songs that appeared on "Cheshire Cat" and would later appear on "Dude Ranch". A 3 track EP, "They Came to Conquer Uranus" followed in 1995, and in 1996, a split EP titled "Short Bus" was released along with the band Iconoclasts.

After moving to Encinitas, California in 1996, "Dude Ranch" was recorded with producer Mark Trombino. Blink 182 recorded the album under Cargo Records, but signed with MCA in 1998 in order to handle increased distribution. Released the following year, it went on to sell 1.5 million copies worldwide. After the album's release, midway through a US tour in 1998, drummer Scott Raynor left the band, and Hoppus and DeLonge asked drummer Travis Barker of Blink 182's support band The Aquabats to fill in for Raynor for the remainder of the tour (meaning Barker had to learn all of the songs in a matter of hours before the show). Barker was eventually offered the position and consequently left The Aquabats.

1999 LP "Enema of the State" was the band's ticket to the mainstream - singles "What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things", and "Adam's Song" helped the album to sell over 15 million copies worldwide making it the band's bestselling album. In 2000, the band released "The Urethra Chronicles", a DVD featuring behind the scenes information, and "The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back", the group's sole live album, featuring all their greatest hits coupled with previously unreleased material, including 1 new studio song, "Man Overboard". The album quickly went out of print, making it a much sought after item, and a limited edition was printed in October 2006.
Blink 182 continued their commercial success with "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket" in 2001, which sold more than 350,000 copies in it's first week (it was released on 3 different CD's: yellow, red and green versions, each featuring 2 unique bonus tracks.

Early 2003 saw the band back in the studio, with the result, untitled/self titled "Blink 182" released in November 2003. Singles "Feeling This", "I Miss You", "Down", and "Always" came from this LP, and according to Barker, the album was supposed to represent a new Blink 182. During late 2003 through 2004 the band embarked on the memorable "DollaBill" tour, named for the inexpensive ticket costs which were originally planned to be completely free. A tour with No Doubt in the summer of 2004 was also very successful. However cracks started to appear, and in February 2005 the band inexplicably cancelled a performance at Music for Relief's Concert for South Asia (a show put on by Linkin Park to aid victims of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake), making the show before in Dublin, Ireland, their last live performance. A planned tour was cancelled and on February 22, 2005, after much tension, their band manager called Hoppus and Barker to tell them that Tom had quit the band - the label portrayed it as an "indefinite hiatus", while it was, in fact, a full break-up. DeLonge confirmed at the time that "Blink 182 was dead" and "...people ask me if I'm ever going back to Blink, there's just no possible way".

Geffen Records released a "Greatest Hits" compilation in November 2005 - after many criticisms about the tracklisting from disappointed fans, the song "Carousel" was added. A previously unreleased track was included on the CD, "Another Girl Another Planet" (a cover song originally by The Only Ones), which was also used as the theme song to Barker's new reality TV show, "Meet the Barkers". The album reached number 6 on the Billboard 200. In the same month, DeLonge announced his new band, Angels & Airwaves, and they released their debut album "We Don't Need to Whisper" in May 2006, debuting at number 4 on the Billboard 200, with second album "I-Empire" arriving in November 2007. They also released a DVD, entitled "Start the Machine", about the final days of Blink 182 and the genesis of Angels & Airwaves. Hoppus and Barker's new project +44 surfaced in December 2005, with the song "No It Isn't", releasing their first album "When Your Heart Stops Beating" in November 2006, which debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200.

When asked in an interview with Metromix Los Angeles about a possible Blink 182 reunion, Barker offered "I don't know. You know, to be honest with you, I haven't spoken to Tom in 5 years. I speak to Mark every day, he's one of my greatest friends, so...that's the status of that. I think everyone would have to be friends, and I think we'd all have to want to do it in order for it to happen."