20 Things Only Blink-182 Fans Understand

Starting out making music in a garage in a San Diego suburb back in the early €™90s, blink-182 went on to become total game-changers, with members Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Travis Barker gaining global recognition and selling tens of millions of records along the way. They changed the pop-punk music scene for good, and they did it in style, with a whole lot of immaturity along the way. Forced to pull out of headlining summer festivals three years ago to finish up work on their most recent album, 2011€™s Neighborhoods, the trio are back this year to play Reading and Leeds, following two warm-up shows in Brixton earlier in the month (which were awesome). They€™ve got the honour of headlining the last night of Reading over the Bank Holiday weekend - arguably the greatest set to have for any UK festival - and it€™s sure to be a real sight to see. If the warm-up shows are anything to go by, they€™ll have an amazing set, both musically and in terms of production, with some songs you might never have heard live before. The band has amassed one of the most dedicated and loyal followings over the years, touching so many people€™s lives for the better, and it€™s a testament to their awesomeness that they€™re still going strong over two decades later.

Honourable Mention: Pop Punk Today Wouldn€™t Exist Without Them

The likes of Green Day and The Offspring might well predate blink-182, but no one can claim having a bigger impact on the music scene than blink-182 have. They paved the way for bands like Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, and The All-American Rejects to emerge in the years that followed, with All Time Low, Tonight Alive and the appropriately-titled Man Overboard gaining recognition in more recent years. None of that would have been possible if it wasn€™t for everything blink-182 made and achieved before them, so there are so many reasons to be grateful for these guys.