Blink-182 - Blink-182

This is the one where blink-182 stopped being a joke band. Released in 2003 with no title, no cartoon cover, and no punchlines, the untitled album arrived after a two year gap and a lot of internal upheaval, and it remains the most adventurous record the band ever made.

Jerry Finn produced, and the palette expanded in every direction. "Feeling This" opens with Travis Barker's drum pattern doing something closer to hip hop than skate punk. "I Miss You" is a stand up bass and brushed drums murder ballad that somehow became the band's most enduring song. "Violence" and "Stockholm Syndrome" push into Cure territory, which makes sense given that Robert Smith himself turns up singing on "All of This." Andy Wallace and Tom Lord-Alge split mixing duties, and the record sounds enormous without ever sounding slick.

The band broke up shortly after touring it, which turned the album into a kind of accidental last will and testament. Two decades on it is widely regarded as their best work and the record that gave a generation of pop punk bands permission to grow up.

This 2LP reissue spreads the album across three sides of 180 gram vinyl with the fourth side etched with the smiley face logo, housed in a gatefold jacket. Lacquers cut by Richard Simpson.