Enema of the State

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Enema of the State
Studio album by Blink-182
Released	June 1, 1999 (CD) December 1, 2009 (LP)
Recorded	December 1998–February 1999 at Mad Hatter, Signature Sound, Big Fish, Conway Recording Studios, The Bomb Factory and Studio West
Genre	Pop punk, Punk rock
Length	35:23
Label	MCA MTS Records (Vinyl Re-release)
Producer	Jerry Finn
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (A-) link Rolling Stone link
Blink-182 chronology
Dude Ranch (1997) Enema of the State (1999) The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!) (2000)
Original cover
Featuring the Red Cross, removed from later pressings.
Singles from Enema of the State
"What's My Age Again?" Released: November 9, 1999 "All the Small Things" Released: January 18, 2000 "Adam's Song" Released: August 29, 2000

Enema of the State is the third album by Blink-182. It was released on June 1, 1999, on MCA Records and features the hits "What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things" and "Adam's Song", which would later appear on their greatest hits compilation. It was Blink-182's first album recorded with drummer Travis Barker. The album was highly successful; it has sold 15 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling album. This album is an Enhanced CD which contains a bonus music video and web links. In commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the album's release, Enema of the State will be released for the first time on vinyl by independent record label Mightier Than Sword.

Production

Cover

Porn star Janine Lindemulder is the nurse depicted on the cover of this album. She is also featured in the music videos for "What's My Age Again?" and "Man Overboard". An emblem of the Red Cross was depicted on the nurse's cap on early pressings of the album cover. Shortly after, the Red Cross demanded that their symbol be removed from the cover^{[citation needed]} as it currently is on all printings. Similarly, early printings of the album were not given Parental Advisory stickers (neither on the case nor printed on the cover) until shortly after the major success of the record. The album cover was conceived and art directed by Tim Stedman.

Title

The title is a play on the term "Enemy of the State". The CD of this album contains a hidden second title on the internal spine of the CD inlay, in white on a yellow background is the text "Viking Wizard Eyes, Wizard Full of Lies" - there is some debate as to whether this was an intended name for the album which was abandoned, lyrics from an unfinished/abandoned song or a reference to a poem.^{[citation needed]}

"Viking Wizard Eyes, Wizard Full of Lies" was also the screen name used by Mark Hoppus within Yahoo chat in 2000-2001.^{[citation needed]}

Recording & Gear

An Enema of the State Demo was originally recorded sometime between 1998 and 1999. The band recorded versions of "Mutt" and "Aliens Exist" with Scott Raynor on drums, but the songs were re-recorded with Raynor's replacement Travis Barker.

While recording Enema Of The State, Mark Hoppus used both Fender Jazz and Precision Basses as well as the Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray basses he had used with the band prior to recording the album. The Stingray bass can be heard on both 'Dumpweed' and 'Mutt'. Tom DeLonge used Gibson Les Paul guitars, a Custom Fender Telecaster Junior, and his signature Fender Stratocaster.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus,Travis Barker. 

Singles

• "What's My Age Again?" was released as a single in April 1999, and was Blink-182's second hit.
• "All the Small Things" came out in January 2000, and was Blink-182's first number one.
• "Adam's Song" came out in August 2000.

Music videos

The official music videos made for Enema of the State were "What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things" and "Adam's Song" respectively. There have been rumors that there have been videos for "Going Away To College", "Aliens Exist" and "Mutt" among others. The "Going Away To College" music video is actually the introduction to The Urethra Chronicles and in a recent interview with Mark Hoppus, on the fansite 44Disasters, he stated that a video was never made for "Mutt" or "Aliens Exist". ^[1]

Accolades

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• Second best selling pop punk/punk rock album of all time (behind Green Day's Dookie.)^{[citation needed]}
• #66 on Guitar World magazine's reader's choice list of the 100 greatest guitar albums of all time.^[2]
• Included in Blender magazine's - 500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die^[3]
• #34 on VH1's Greatest Album Covers of all time^[4]
• The Top 40 Tracks ranked this album number 1 for their Top 10 Pop Punk Albums list.

Personnel

• Tom DeLonge - Guitar, Vocals
• Mark Hoppus - Bass, Vocals
• Travis Barker - Drums
• Brian Gardner - Mastering
• Robert Read - Assistant Engineer
• Jerry Finn - Producer, Mixing
• Sean O'Dwyer - Engineer
• Tom Lord-Alge - Mixing
• Blink-182 - Arranger
• Tim Stedman - Art Direction, Design
• Keith Tamashiro - Design
• Mike Fasano - Drum Technician
• Roger Joseph Manning Jr. - Keyboards
• John Nelson - Assistant Engineer
• Gary Ashley - A+R

Charts

Album

Singles

Demo

The Enema of the State Demo is a collection of demos recorded by the band Blink-182 just after drummer Scott Raynor left the band and Travis Barker joined in 1998. This demo had many songs that would later be re-recorded and released on the Enema of the State album.

Two songs from these demos were not featured on the Enema of the State album:

• "Man Overboard" (later re-recorded for The Mark, Tom, And Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back)
• "Life's So Boring" (instrumental, unreleased)

The demos have only been leaked in lossy MP3 format. There were technical problems while ripping the cassette of the original demo onto MP3, and as a result, the files fluctuate in tempo and key.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Blink-182. 

Notes