All The Small Things Whats My Age Again Adams Song Blink182

All The Small Things Album: Enema Of The State (1999)
What's My Age Again Album: Enema Of The State (1999)
Adam's Song Album: Enema of the State (1999)
by blink-182

blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge wrote "All The Small Things" for his girlfriend after she complained that he always writes songs about other girls. He was afraid it wouldn't be good so he kept telling her it was terrible. It ended up being a hit and she was very pleased with it.

According to DeLonge, the lyrics are true. His girlfriend really did leave him roses by the stairs after a long night in the studio.

The music video, directed by Marcos Siega, finds blink-182 mocking boy bands and other TRL mainstays by parodying concepts from contemporary pop videos, such as identical outfits, choreographed dance routines, and romantic beach scenes.

For example, they don matching white suits and disembark from a private jet at Van Nuys airport a la the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way," and wear camo pants and tight black vests (with nothing underneath) as a jab at 98 Degrees.

In a riff on Britney Spears' "Sometimes" video (as well as Christina Aguilera's sandy "Genie In A Bottle" clip), a beach stroll goes wrong for Mark Hoppus when a little dog attacks him while Tom DeLonge, dressed as Spears, stands on a rock and clutches a beach ball. Travis Barker gets in on the action by rolling around the surf and sand with a sexy model.

The guys also run naked together across the sands of Santa Monica State Beach as a callback to their famous nude spree across Los Angeles for the "What's My Age Again?" promo.

According to Siega, the concept was meant as good-natured ribbing rather than a "f--ck you" to boy bands. "In some ways, they're poking fun at themselves," he explained to The Ringer. "Because they were a part of that. They were on TRL as well and running around naked. I think they just knew how to express themselves in a way that never came across as, 'We're bigger and better than those guys.'"

Blink-182 bass player Mark Hoppus met Skye Everly, the woman who would become his wife, on the shoot for All The Small Things video. At the time, Everly was a talent executive for MTV.

All The Small Things was used in the 2003 Simpsons episode "Barting Over" when Bart got a "split" from Homer and moved into the row under Tony Hawk's skate/party room. Blink-182 also made a cameo appearance in the episode.

Aside from appeasing his girlfriend, DeLonge had another aim when writing the song. He figured the record label would put the pressure on for a catchy radio hit, so he decided to craft an earworm that would fit the bill.

"It was obvious from the beginning it would fit that format," he noted in Total Guitar in 2006.

Tom DeLonge admitted to NME in 2014 that he can no longer listen to this song. "It came on the radio the other day," he said, "and I was like, 'I sound like I'm f--king 11.'"

"It's still played everywhere, but I don't know why," DeLonge added. "Blink has some really great songs that I think have legs to stand around for a long period of time. But that's not one of them and it haunts me!"

The band's naked hijinks weren't just for the camera - a fact a disgruntled sound engineer discovered when Hoppus stripped down in the studio during the recording of this tune. "We were in the booth singing and Mark did this naked handstand," DeLonge told Blender. "I'm holding his legs and his dick's right next to this expensive microphone. The engineer was so pissed!"

Enema Of The State producer Jerry Finn confirmed Blink's penchant for nudity, telling Entertainment Weekly, "I saw them naked more than I ever care to see anyone naked. In the mastering studio - pretty much anywhere."

The group performed All The Small Things at both the 1999 and 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. At the 2000 performance, where it won for Best Group Video, a bunch of "little people" joined the band. Many of them danced on stage, and a few swung from wires while pyrotechnics exploded overhead. Some of the same actors appeared in the video for "Man Overboard."

In 2010, Irish pop duo Jedward recorded their own version of All The Small Things on their album Planet Jedward. Their version reached #21 in the Irish singles charts. Hoppus told Spinner UK that he was happy for the former X-Factor finalists to cover the track. Said Hoppus: "I have heard the cover. It's funny 'cause all of a sudden on the online forums and my Twitter people started talking about this band covering 'All the Small Things' - it was everything from 'Finally a good band plays this song' to 'How did you guys ever let a band cover your song?' I think that bands can cover whatever songs - we never gave permission for them but I don't think we needed to, I think any band can cover anyone else's song." (If you're unfamiliar with Jedward, you can see them in action here. And Hoppus is correct, anyone can cover any song as long as they pay the mechanical licensing fee.)

All The Small Things was originally titled "Babycakes-Buttermuffin."

DeLonge said he incorporated the "na na na's" in the lyrics as a nod to the Ramones. It also helped because he couldn't think of any other words.

The band played All The Small Things on Saturday Night Live on January 8, 2000.
This was also used in these TV shows:

In The Dark ("The Big Break" - 2019)
Family Guy ("It's A Trap!" - 2011)
Boston Legal ("'Til We Meat Again" - 2005)
Meet The Barkers ("It's Moving Day For The Barkers!" - 2005)
Tru Calling ("Reunion" - 2004)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer ("Something Blue" - 1999)

And these movies:

Hope Springs (2003)
Clockstoppers (2002)
Charlie's Angels (2000)

US singer Mike Geier covered "All The Small Things" for the 2022 UK John Lewis Christmas advert. The commercial, sountracked by Geier's delicate version of the song, follows a middle-aged man learning how to skateboard. The UK department store John Lewis' Christmas ad has become a staple of the festive period. In the past, it has featured songs by the likes of Taken By Trees, Ellie Goulding, Slow Moving Millie, Gabrielle Aplin, Lily Allen, Tom Odell, Aurora, Vaults, Elbow, Dan Smith and Celeste.

Near the end of the video, we see some of the band's devoted fans holding up signs, including one that says "Travis I'm Pregnant." To announce her baby news, Travis Barker's wife, Kourtney Kardashian, held up a similar sign at the band's June 16, 2023 concert in Los Angeles.

"What's My Age Again?" was inspired by blink bass player Mark Hoppus, who was often told (usually by women) that he was immature. By the end of the song, the meaning becomes clear: It's OK, you shouldn't care what people think of you.
The original title was "Peter Pan Complex," but their record company (MCA) changed it during production because they thought the audience wouldn't understand (a "Peter Pan Complex" describes someone who doesn't want to grow up). The band was not happy with this decision.

In the What's My Age Again video, the band members are naked and causing all kinds of mischief. Adult film star Janine Lindemulder also appears, which got a lot of attention. Responding to a question about nudity in the clip, Mark Hoppus said, "The scene with the butt shots, when we were running down the street, were actually the only real nude scenes. We wore skin-colored Speedos for most of the scenes and when we were running, I realized how unattractive male genitals are. Everything dangling and such. I didn't think I could be embarrassed easily, but I really was."

While the nudity was concealed in comedic ways throughout the video, at the end of the video it is uncensored.
This is the first Blink single to feature Travis Barker on drums. The former Aquabats stickman filled in for their original drummer, Scott Raynor, while he was MIA during a mini tour of the West Coast in mid-1998. After Raynor was fired for his excessive drinking, Barker became his permanent replacement.

Janine Lindemulder also appears on the Enema Of The State album cover in a nurse uniform. Since hooking up with blink-182 for the video and album artwork, the porn actress has led a colorful life. In the early 2000s, Lindemulder was married to West Coast Choppers founder Jesse James before he wed Sandra Bullock. However, their marriage ended after Lindemulder was arrested for assaulting James. She was arrested again on tax evasion charges in 2008 and sentenced to spend six months in a federal prison. In 2011, Lindemulder found herself in trouble with the law again after sending threatening emails and voicemails to her former husband.

blink-182 acolytes Simple Plan were heavily influenced by What's My Age Again, as were many pop-punk bands of the '00s. Their lead singer, Pierre Bouvier, says "What's My Age Again" and "Basket Case" are the defining songs of the genre. "Those two songs paved the way for bands like Simple Plan and Good Charlotte and New Found Glory, and all the ones that came afterward, like Yellowcard,"... "I think we owe a huge debt of gratitude to those two songs - those are the ones that really solidified the pop-punk genre and created a whole scene for us."

The opening riff of What's My Age Again was inspired by the bass intro for Green Day's 1995 song "J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)." Hoppus explained to Less Than Jake co-frontman Chris Demakes on his Chris Demakes A Podcast he was trying to play it on his guitar but messed up the progression and played it incorrectly. However, he thought the end result was "kinda cool" and it became the basis for the start of this track.

In early pressings of the Enema Of The State album, Janine Lindemulder's nurse's hat on the cover has a red cross, the symbol of the American Red Cross. blink-182 had the cross removed on later pressings when the organization told them it violated the Geneva Convention.

blink-182 already had a reputation for their juvenile antics on tour, which involved crass jokes and asking the ladies in the crowd to "show their boobies." After the album blew up and the spotlight shone more brightly on the band, the latter request got them in a bit of hot water in the press, who claimed they were misogynists. Hoppus thought the claim was overblown, considering what he witnessed from other acts that they toured with.

"We were on the Warped tour with Ice-T," he told Melody Maker in 1999, "and he's up onstage going, 'This next song's called 'Shut Up And Suck Dick, Bitch.' We get up there and go, 'Hey, we like boobies and everyone's like, 'Blink are sexist!' I think we're easy targets because we're three suburban white kids."
I think we're easy targets because we're three suburban white kids.
I think we're easy targets because we're three suburban white kids.

Mark Hoppus' band +44 sometimes covered What's My Age Again when they toured.

The band performed What's My Age Again on the January 8, 2000 episode of Saturday Night Live.
This was used on the sitcom Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Place ("Au Revoir Pizza Place" - 1999) and the romantic comedy Loser (2000), starring Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari.

Adam's Song is a departure for Blink-182, a skate-punk trio known for their goofy antics and love of toilet humor. The band's bass player, Mark Hoppus, wrote it when he was in a state of depression about being on tour and having no one to go home to. "Tom [DeLonge, guitarist] and Travis [Barker, drummer] always had girlfriends waiting back home, so they had something to look forward to at the end of the tour. But I didn't, so it was always like, I was lonely on tour, but then I got home and it didn't matter because there was nothing there for me anyway," he told Rolling Stone in 2000.

Although the lyrics to Adam's Song unfold like a suicide note, the end of the song is a message that things will get better - which was true for Hoppus, who met his future wife on the set of the Enema Of The State video "All The Small Things."

Hoppus was also influenced by a tale of teen suicide. Guitarist Tom DeLonge explained: "The story behind that is Mark read a letter someone sent him as an email, that a kid wrote before he committed suicide to his parents. We kind of got together and wrote this sad, slow song. It came out sadder than we ever thought it would, which is good too. Any song that moves you is good. Some people listen to it and go 'Wow, that's a real bum-out of a song.' But it's one of those things, a story of a kid not being happy in his life, crossed with us being really lonely on tour. At the end of it there's a better way out, there are better things to do than kill yourself."

The lyrics, "I traced the cord back to the wall, no wonder it was never plugged in at all," were inspired when guitarist Tom Delonge was playing in his garage and he and his amp were in a puddle. Luckily, the amp was not plugged in or he could have been electrocuted.

The line, "I took my time, I hurried up, the choice was mine, I didn't think enough," refers to the 1991 Nirvana's song "Come As You Are." There, the line is, "Take your time, hurry up, the choice is yours, don't be late."

Mark Hoppus explained during a Twitter Q&A session that one of the lyrics referred back to an incident in his childhood days when his parents were "headed for divorce."

Remember the time that I spilled the cup
Of apple juice in the hall

"They were arguing in their room behind a closed door and I was in the hallway listening, frightened, to their muffled voices," Hoppus said. "Suddenly the noise stopped, their door opened, and I ran, spilling my apple juice."

The song came under fire after 17-year-old Greg Barnes played it on repeat as he committed suicide in his family's garage. Barnes, a Columbine High School student, was grieving the loss of his best friend who was murdered in the mass shooting at the school a year earlier. The band was devastated by the news, but took to MTV to stress the song's anti-suicide theme. Hoppus told MTV News:

"I was actually out shopping, and management called me up and told me the story of what happened, and I was like, 'But that's an anti-suicide song!' It felt awful. I mean, the things that the kid had had to go through in his life were very saddening, and then to end it that way was really depressing. But 'Adam's Song,' the heart of the song is about having hard times in your life, being depressed, and going through a difficult period, but then finding the strength to go on and finding a better place at the other side of that."

According to Travis Barker, despite the song's anti-suicide message, its title was inspired by a sketch from the '90s comedy series Mr. Show where the metal band Titannica plays a song encouraging a fan to commit suicide.

This was the album's third single, following "What's My Age Again?" and "All The Small Things." It peaked at #2 on the Modern Rock chart.

The album was produced by Jerry Finn, who mixed Green Day's hit 1994 album, Dookie, and produced Rancid's And Out Come The Wolves... in 1995. Punk rock was heading towards a more polished sound, and Blink hoped Finn would help take them to the next level.

"He was involved with the cooler punk rock bands that were doing really big, produced albums," DeLonge told Wondering Sound in 2014. "So that was the thing to do, was to elevate the art form, and we wanted to be on par with the most elevated."

The band worked with Finn through two more albums until he died of a brain hemorrhage in the summer of 2008.
Roger Joseph Manning Jr., a session musician who played in Beck's backing band for several years, played piano on the track.
The music video, directed by Liz Friedlander (Celine Dion, Deftones), features the band performing in a warehouse decorated with photos that tell stories of quiet desperation from unnoticed folks in their vicinity - from a man being left alone after an argument with his girlfriend at a Blink show to a sad-looking woman attempting to make a phone call outside of a convenience store where the guys browse magazines inside.

For Friedlander, it was important to highlight the people who typically go unnoticed in our day-to-day routines.

"We never know what's going on in other people's lives - people who we have relationships with, but also the people you sit next to at a concert or pass on the street, these humans you brush up against," she told NPR in 2018. "We all are dealing with our stuff, and we don't look, and don't see, and so then we don't notice."

This was used in the 2022 movie Good Mourning, starring Colson Baker and Megan Fox. It was also featured in the TV shows Daria ("Just Add Water" - 1999, "Of Human Bonding" - 2000) and Roswell ("Blind Date" - 2000).