10 Rock Songs That Waited Years Before Being Released
8. Up All Night - Blink-182
No member of Blink-182 really wants to remember the recording process going into making Neighborhoods. While the album did have a sense of maturity that was sorely lacking from the earlier era of Blink, having Tom DeLonge record separate from the rest of the guys made for a much more scattered result, with great songs put alongside a couple of duds. When fans heard the first single drop though, some of the more keen listeners probably heard something familiar.
Long before Neighborhoods had even become a thought, Blink were already trying to make something much more adult on their self titled album, which became the last record they made before going on indefinite hiatus. If you look at the mini documentary that they made for MTV about the recording process, you can clearly hear Tom playing the riff to Up All Night in between takes, knowing that there’s something to it that hasn’t been fully realized.
It may have taken over half a decade to get there, but Up All Night is the right kind of song to use that riff, introducing Blink back to the world with a sound that’s a bit more ferocious than what we’ve heard from them in the past. You can call it lazy if you want to, but there’s more to it than just recycling riffs. This was a song that sat in the oven for years and finally found a way back from the dead.