Blink-182 Taking "Hiatus"

San Diego pop-punk trio Blink-182 have decided to take "an indefinite hiatus," a spokesperson for their label, Geffen, announced today. The desire to focus on their personal lives was cited as the main incentive for the break.

"For over a decade, Blink-182 [have] toured, recorded and promoted non-stop, all while trying to balance relationships with family and friends," the statement continues. This break will allow the band members "to spend some time enjoying the fruits of their labors with loved ones."

Blink-182 -- frontman-guitarist Tom Delonge, bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Scott Raynor -- formed in 1993, with instant appeal to the skateboarding/surfing set. The band raised their profile in the mid-Nineties through their Warped Tour sets, finally releasing their major-label debut, Enema of the State, in 1999. (At this point, Travis Barker replaced Raynor on drums.) Enema, their fourth LP, went on to sell four million copies, and the band became known for as much for their sound, as for their irreverent sense of humor. The video for 1999's "What's My Age Again" infamously featured the trio running through the Hollywood streets naked, and that same year the band wickedly parodied the Backstreet Boys in the clip for "All the Small Things."

Blink-182's spokesperson added that "there is no set plan for the band to begin working together again."

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Song Stories

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette | 1973

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."

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