Blink 182 - Buddha

Before the arenas, before the MTV airplay, before "What's My Age Again?" changed everything, there was this. Recorded in January 1994 at Doubletime Studios in Santee, California, Buddha is where it all began, the first recording by Blink-182 to ever be sold and distributed, and one of the most charming and essential origin stories in pop-punk history.

The circumstances were about as DIY as it gets. Mark Hoppus worked at a San Diego record store called The Wherehouse, where his supervisor Pat Secor, hoping to start his own label, pulled money from his savings to finance and produce the session. The resulting cassette, originally released under the band's name at the time, simply Blink, was locally distributed to a handful of San Diego record stores and sold at early concerts. Around 1,000 copies were pressed. Nobody could have predicted that Kung Fu Records would remaster and reissue the demo in 1998, where it would go on to sell 300,000 copies, or that the band who made it would become one of the bestselling rock acts of their generation.

Across 13 tracks of raw, energetic skate punk, Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and drummer Scott Raynor tear through nearly everything the trio had written up to that point, including early versions of songs that would later be re-recorded for Cheshire Cat and Dude Ranch. Rough, irreverent, and bursting with the youthful energy that would define the band's entire career, Buddha is a fascinating document of a band figuring out exactly who they were, and already being very good at it.

Now available on split splatter vinyl in blue, red, and yellow, as loud and fun as the music deserves.