Editing First Date (Blink-182 song) (section)

==Background==
Prior to recording their fourth studio album, ''[[Take Off Your Pants and Jacket]]'', Blink-182 recorded [[Demo (music)|demos]] at DML Studios, a small practice studio in [[Escondido, California]], where the band had written ''[[Dude Ranch (album)|Dude Ranch]]'' and ''[[Enema of the State]]''.<ref name="linernotes1"/> The group had written a dozen songs after three weeks and invited their manager, Rick DeVoe, to be the first person outside Blink-182 to hear the new material, which the band found "catchy [but with] a definitive edge".<ref name="mtv">{{cite web|author=Roger Coletti |url=http://www.mtv.com/bands/archive/b/blink01/ |title=Blink-182: No Jacket Required |publisher=MTV News |year=2001 |access-date=June 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104230934/http://www.mtv.com/bands/archive/b/blink01/ |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="linernotes1"/><ref name="Kerrang05"/> DeVoe sat in the control room and quietly listened to the recordings, and pressed the band at the end on why there was no "Blink-182 good-time summer anthem [thing]". [[Tom DeLonge]] and [[Mark Hoppus]] were furious, remarking, "You want a fucking single? I'll write you the cheesiest, catchiest, throwaway fucking summertime single you've ever heard!"<ref name="linernotes1">{{cite AV media notes | title=Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2013 Vinyl Reissue)| year=2013 | others=[[Blink-182]] | type=liner notes | publisher=Geffen / Universal Music Special Markets | location=[[United States|US]] | id=SRC025/SRC026/SRC027/SRC028|quote=This reference primarily cites the Mark Hoppus foreword.}}</ref><ref name="av13">{{cite news|url=https://www.avclub.com/blink-182-took-punk-to-no-1-for-the-first-time-with-a-1798241295|title=Blink-182 took punk to No. 1 for the first time with a masturbation pun|author= Kyle Ryan |date= October 8, 2013|newspaper=[[The A.V. Club]]|access-date=October 8, 2013}}</ref> Hoppus went home and wrote "[[The Rock Show]]" in ten minutes, and DeLonge similarly wrote "First Date", which became the most successful singles from the record and future live staples.<ref name=Kerrang05>{{cite journal| author =Nichola Browne | date = November 20, 2005| title = Punk Rock! Nudity! Filthy Sex! Tom DeLonge Looks Back On Blink-182's Greatest Moments| journal = [[Kerrang!]]| issue = 1083| publisher = [[Bauer Media Group]]| location =[[London]] | issn =0262-6624 }}<!--| access-date =January 7, 2013 --></ref> The song's arrangement was worked in the [[Famous Stars and Straps]] warehouse in San Diego.<ref name="canisay">{{cite book|last1= Barker|first1= Travis|last2 = Edwards|first2 = Gavin|title= Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums|year= 2015|publisher = William Morrow|isbn= 978-0-062-31942-5|page=158}}</ref>

The song was inspired by DeLonge's then-wife, Jennifer Jenkins, who he wed in 2001. When they were first dating, their first outing was to [[SeaWorld San Diego]].<ref name="Kerrang05"/> DeLonge remembered how awkward it was: "We just hung out and walked around looking at fish." He pulled from these experiences to write the tune, a summary of "going on a first date with a girl and not necessarily knowing how to act, what to wear or what to say."<ref name="spi01">{{cite news|url=https://www.seattlepi.com/ae/music/article/Blink-182-is-older-but-still-mining-teen-issues-1062866.php|title=Blink 182 is older but still mining teen issues|first=Michael|last=Mehle|date=August 16, 2001|newspaper=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]|agency=[[E. W. Scripps Company|Scripps Howard News Service]]|access-date=January 14, 2021}}</ref>