We often like to keep our favourite bands in time capsules. We don't see them as people, but timeless and ageless rockstars whose music stays young as we grow old.
But this isn't really the case.
By 2003, the members of Blink 182 had done something that nobody had expected. They had grown up. Travis Barker, Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus had all become fathers since their last album. The band that used to sing about being grounded, about prank calling people, about living on a tour bus with no responsibility was suddenly faced with the very real responsibility of parenthood.
Constant touring had sapped the bands energy, and when Hoppus was left out of DeLonge's side project Box Car Racer, Hoppus felt betrayed creating tension in the group. Despite the creative arguments, the lifestyle changes and the marching on of time, the band decided to regroup for one more album. It would be their last album together for 8 years.
The band worked collaboratively, combining experimentation with their signature sound, and as Travis Barker would later write in his memoir: “It was a perfect happy medium, and it's the Blink album that Mark, Tom, and I are most proud of."
On November 18, 2003, Blink 182 released Untitled, and it has gone on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide.
Fan reaction was mixed, with some fans dismissing their new darker direction. But as the decade rolled on, it was clear that Untitled had fundamentally changed the course of the punk genre. Bands like Fall Out Boy, Paramore and My Chemical Romance that dominated the airwaves during the 2000s all owe a tremendous debt to blink 182's untitled as a pioneering moment in emo music and pop punk.
And when the band reunited to play the album in full at an anniversary show 10 years later, tickets sold out in 32 seconds. Untitled had become a classic.
Which is why it's almost a bit of a shame that it didn't debut at the top of the Billboard Charts that week. But unfortunately it happened to come out the same week as In the Zone, the fourth Studio album by Britney Spears which was also wildly successful and positioned her as the biggest pop star on planet earth.
Just how did Britney bounce back from her breakup with JT? How did fatherhood affect Blink 182? And which of these two artists writes the best masturbation themed songs? We're gonna find out. Welcome to When Albums Collide.