Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Template:Use mdy dates Template:Good article Template:Infobox album
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is the fourth studio album by American rock band Blink-182, released on June 12, 2001, by MCA Records. The band had spent much of the previous year traveling and supporting their previous album Enema of the State (1999), which launched their mainstream career. The album's title is a tongue-in-cheek pun on male masturbation ("take off your pants and jack it"), and its cover art has icons for each member of the trio: an airplane ("take off"), a pair of pants, and a jacket. It is the band's final release through MCA before the label was absorbed into Geffen.
The album was recorded over three months at Signature Sound in San Diego with producer Jerry Finn. During the sessions, MCA executives pressured the band to retain the sound that helped their previous album sell millions. As such, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket continues the pop-punk tone that Blink-182 had honed and made famous, albeit with a heavier post-hardcore sound inspired by bands such as Fugazi and Refused. Regarding its lyrical content, it has been referred to as a concept album chronicling adolescence, with songs dedicated to first dates, fighting authority, and teenage parties. Due to differing opinions on direction, the trio worked in opposition to one another for the first time, and the sessions sometimes became contentious.
The album had near-immediate success, becoming the first punk rock record to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200 and achieving double platinum certification in May 2002. It produced three hit singles—"The Rock Show", "Stay Together for the Kids", and "First Date"—that were top-ten hits on modern rock charts. Critical impressions of the album were generally positive, commending its expansion on teenage themes, although others viewed this as its weakness. To support the album, the band co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Green Day. Take Off Your Pants and Jacket has sold over 14 million copies worldwide.
Background
[edit]At the onset of the millennium, Blink-182 became one of the biggest international rock acts with the release of their third album, the fast-paced, melodic Enema of the State (1999).<ref name="MTV influence">Template:Cite web</ref> It became an enormous worldwide success, moving over fifteen million copies.<ref name="Adams 2022 p555">Template:Cite web</ref> Singles "What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things", and "Adam's Song" became radio staples, with their music videos and relationship with MTV cementing their stardom.<ref name="rstruth">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="boybands">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=p98>Hoppus, 2001. p. 98</ref> It marked the beginning of their friendship with producer Jerry Finn, a key architect of their "polished" pop-punk rhythm; according to journalist James Montgomery, writing for MTV News, the veteran engineer "served as an invaluable member of the Blink team: part adviser, part impartial observer, he helped smooth out tensions and hone their multiplatinum sound."<ref name="Finn">Template:Cite web</ref> The glossy production set Blink-182 apart from the other crossover punk acts of the era, such as Green Day,<ref name="nyt">Template:Cite news</ref> and this style and sound made for an extensive impact on pop punk, igniting a new wave of the genre.<ref name="diehl">Template:Cite book</ref>
Behind the scenes, the three were adjusting to this new lifestyle. "After years of hard work, promotion, and nonstop touring, people knew who we were, and listened to what we were saying ... it scared the shit out of us," said bassist Mark Hoppus.<ref name="linernotes1">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref><ref name="av13">Template:Cite news</ref> Each musician was now wealthy and famous, which brought both comfort and challenges: DeLonge reacted to fame with a desire for privacy, and both Hoppus and Barker had been the subject of stalking.Template:Sfn<ref name="f182"/> It became a transitionary time for the group, adjusting to larger venues than before, including amphitheaters, arenas, and stadiums. At the beginning of the album's promotional cycle, the trio were driving from show to show in a van with a trailer attached for merchandise and equipment;Template:Sfn by its end, they were flying on private jets.Template:Sfn Hoppus recalled that "we had gone from playing small clubs and sleeping on people's floors to headlining amphitheaters and staying in five-star hotels."<ref name="linernotes1"/> On top of that, Blink was no longer simply responsible for their van and merchandise — as a newly minted "big" band, their operation employed accountants, attorneys, lighting, technicians, crew, carpenters, and more. The pressure was on: “Every day, there were 15 semitrucks and 15 buses carrying a crew of 70 people, plus the extensive local-venue staff, all depending on the three of us," Hoppus wrote in his memoir, adding: "We were running a large business that supported an entire economic infrastructure. Millions of dollars were at stake every single night."<ref name="f182">Template:Cite book</ref>
In the public eye, Blink became known for their juvenile antics, including running around nude;<ref name=ewnude>Template:Cite magazine</ref> the band made a cameo appearance in the similarly bawdy comedy American Pie (1999).<ref name="Compton 2022 l091">Template:Cite web</ref> While grateful for their success—which the trio parlayed into various business ventures, like Famous Stars and Straps, Atticus Clothing and Macbeth Footwear<ref name="Quihuiz 2023 u107">Template:Cite web</ref>—they gradually became unhappy with their goofy public image. In one instance, the European arm of UMG had taken photos shot lampooning boy bands and distributed them at face value, making their basis for parody appear thin.<ref name="Radio X 2021 b722">Template:Cite web</ref> In response, a conscious effort was made to make the trio appear more authentic with their next album. However, the relentless pace also was wearing on the group, and the growing divide between art and commerce began to frustrate them. The band was rushed into recording the follow-up, as according to DeLonge, "the president of MCA was penalizing us an obscene amount of money because our record wasn't going to be out in time for them to make their quarterly revenue statements. [...] And we were saying, 'Hey, we can't do this right now, we need to reorganize ourselves and really think about what we want to do and write the best record we can.' They didn't agree with us."<ref name="wp">Template:Cite news</ref> To satiate fans in the interim, the band issued a stopgap live album, The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!), displaying more of their high-energy antics, in November 2000.
Recording and production
[edit]Pre-production
[edit]The band began pre-production in December 2000, using ideas they had been developing on the road over the past year.<ref name=drum01>Template:Cite magazine</ref> DeLonge joked to a BBC reporter that the material may not be so fresh: "About this time in our careers we start running out of guitar riffs and ideas, so we start pulling out of the archives," he laughed.<ref name="bbc01"/> They recorded demos at DML Studios, a small practice studio in Escondido, California, where the band had written 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"/><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]". DeLonge and 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="f485"/> Hoppus went home and wrote lead single "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>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Hoppus likened it to "anti-thought", with the goal of not overthinking it — simply making something friendly and enjoyable for a wide audience. "In a way, they ended up being the most fun," he conceded.<ref name="f182"/>
The three worked on the arrangements for those two songs at Barker's Famous Stars and Straps warehouse.<ref name="n590">Template:Cite web</ref> Barker also proposed being promoted to official partner in the band; prior to 2001, he had been considered a touring musician only, and while he had arranged the songs on Enema, he received no publishing residuals. Hoppus and DeLonge obliged — they wanted his input on songwriting.Template:Sfn Finn came into the process during the last week of pre-production, and was very fond of Barker's drum parts, which the other musicians found unconventional and "algebraic".<ref name=drum01/> Barker remembered going into the process was intimidating but exciting: "We had a lot more pressure on that album than we did before, when nobody seemed to be paying attention. We had this huge success, but that just made us feel like we had something to prove. Instead of saying, 'Let's write some simple songs that will be huge,' we thought we'd try something more technical and darker. We wanted to be taken seriously, and we wanted to challenge ourselves."Template:Sfn
Recording
[edit]
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket was recorded between December 2000 and March 2001. The band began proper tracking for drums not long after pre-production at Larrabee Studios West and Cello Studios in Hollywood. The working relationship with producer Jerry Finn had been so fruitful that the same team was largely engaged for Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, with Finn producing and Joe McGrath engineering.<ref name=shooman82>Shooman, 2010. p. 82</ref> Barker recorded his drum parts in "two or three days" while DeLonge and Hoppus watched television upstairs.<ref name="linernotes1"/> Barker recorded the songs from memory with no scratch tracks, largely in one take;<ref name=drum01/> Take Off was the first time he enabled a click track while recording to ensure timing.<ref name="Apple Podcasts 2024 c777">Template:Cite podcast</ref> When the drums were finished, the band returned to San Diego to record the majority of Take Off Your Pants and Jacket at Signature Sound, where they had also recorded its predecessor. While the band worked with few days off, the sessions also proved to be memorable: "We took long dinner breaks, ate Sombrero burritos, watched Family Guy and Mr. Show, and laughed way too hard," said Hoppus.<ref name="linernotes1"/> When MCA Records executives traveled to San Diego to hear the highly anticipated follow-up, the trio only played them joke songs—"Fuck a Dog" and "When You Fucked Hitler" (the subject of which later changed to a grandfather)—and the team responded incredulously: "[they] lost it," said DeLonge.<ref name=totalguitar>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="toronto1"/> MCA put pressure on the band to maintain the sound that made Enema of the State sell millions; as a result, DeLonge believed the album took no "creative leaps [or] bounds."<ref name="totalguitar"/> As such, DeLonge felt creatively stifled and was privately "bummed out" with the label's limitations.<ref name="totalguitar"/><ref name=shooman94>Shooman, 2010. p. 94</ref>
In 2013, Hoppus referred to Take Off Your Pants and Jacket as the "permanent record of a band in transition ... our confused, contentious, brilliant, painful, cathartic leap into the unknown."<ref name="linernotes1"/><ref name="av13"/> The creative struggle was evident from the outset. Hoppus loved everything regarding Enema of the State—including the music videos and live show—and "wanted to do it again," hoping to create a bigger, better and louder follow-up.<ref name="linernotes1"/> DeLonge's guitar style was becoming dirtier and heavier; Arpeggiated guitar hooks became frenetic 1/16th note spasms," observed Hoppus.<ref name="linernotes1"/> Meanwhile, drummer Travis Barker's were imbued a sense of hip hop and heavy metal into his technique.<ref name="linernotes1"/><ref name="av13"/> Hoppus felt his lyricism was largely darker and more introspective: "love songs became broken love songs," he remembered.<ref name="linernotes1"/><ref name="av13"/> DeLonge rewrote some of his lyrics after listening to songs by Alkaline Trio, feeling as though he needed to elevate himself.<ref name=audioboom>Template:Cite video</ref> Hoppus remembered that it was the first time the three had worked in opposition to one another, and noted that the sessions sometimes prompted arguments.<ref name="av13"/><ref name="u243">Template:Cite web</ref> He felt that the sessions created an unspoken competition between him and DeLonge, between who could write the superior lyrics: "Our confidence and insecurity begat some heated differences, sometime to the point where we had to leave rooms and cool down," he said in 2013.<ref name="linernotes1"/> Finn helped to resolve these situations by offering fresh insights and good humor.<ref name="linernotes1"/>
The band wrote two more songs in the studio; for these songs, Barker looped and filtered his parts and recorded the live drums after the fact.<ref name=drum01/> One of these songs became the single "Stay Together for the Kids", which was developed only one day before the album was turned over for mixing.Template:Sfn
Technical
[edit]The engineering and post-production team behind Jacket remains largely unchanged from its predecessor. Finn and McGrath, exacting in acquiring the best sound, took two days to assess microphone placement, different compressors, and shifting EQs before committing Barker's drums to tape.<ref name="linernotes1"/> Barker had technician Mike Fasano sit in and complete the drum tuning because he disliked waiting for Finn and his team.<ref name=drum01/> It was the last Blink album recorded on analogue tape; their next effort involved the emerging Pro Tools software.<ref name="kr">Template:Cite AV media</ref> On the technical side, all of the vocals were recorded with Blue's Bottle condenser tube microphone.<ref name="eq01">Template:Cite news</ref> DeLonge augments his guitar setup with chorus pedals, flangers and delays – "just really light, tasteful touches", he felt.<ref name=totalguitar/> Barker used a variety of snare drums in his process, which he tuned tightly to his liking; the album uses brands like Ludwig Coliseum and Brady, and many came from Orange County Drum and Percussion. He liked using different snares to match what he felt the song required. To that end, the team rented a Tama snare called "Big Red" that Guns N' Roses used to make "November Rain".<ref name=drum01/>
According an EQ piece published after the album's release, Finn was so meticulous in quality that he A/B tested speaker wire from an independent hi-fi shop.<ref name="eq01"/> Hoppus grew wary of the painstaking approach: "You go out and spend [hundreds of thousands of dollars] on the best recording equipment in the world just to record onto tape how bad of a musician you really are."<ref name="bbc01"/> Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. returns to add keyboard parts, while Tom Lord-Alge served as the mixing engineer, which was conducted at Encore Studios in Burbank. He typically worked out of his Miami space, but the band had him mix the album in California instead.<ref name=drum01/> The band also returned to work with Brian Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood.<ref name="linernotes1"/> A writer for EQ magazine profiling Finn was present at the mastering session and characterized the atmosphere as "easygoing, the band was relaxed."<ref name="eq01"/>
Packaging
[edit]
The title is a tongue-in-cheek pun on male masturbation ("take off your pants and jack it"). Previous titles had included Epileptic Proctologist,<ref name=launch/> If You See Kay (a pun on the spelling of "fuck") and Genital Ben, accompanied by a bear on the cover of the album.<ref name="mtv"/> Stressed at being at a loss for a name, DeLonge asked guitar tech Larry Palm for suggestions.<ref name="mtv"/> The album's title was coined by Palm, who was snowboarding on a rainy day. Inside the lodge, Palm was congregating with friends when a young kid walked in completely drenched, to which his mother suggested he "take off [his] pants and jacket."<ref name="mtv"/> Palm was told by DeLonge that if the band were to use the name, he would "hook him up".<ref name="sdreader"/> Instead, Palm received a letter from manager Rick DeVoe for his contribution, which offered a $500 payout for the name. Palm scoffed at the amount, and filed suit in 2003 with the intellectual property attorney Ralph Loeb, alleging breach of contract and fraud against the band.<ref name="sdreader"/> Palm demanded $20,000; the band eventually settled out of court for $10,000.<ref name=sdreader>Template:Cite journal</ref> Journalist Joe Shooman called the title "a glint of sharp intelligence behind the boys' humour as it draws oblique attention to the fact that, latterly, Blink-182 had often been encouraged to get naked in order to promote themselves. It's a very self-aware album title in that context and a portent, perhaps, of what was to come".<ref name="shooman82"/>
The cover has three "Zoso-like"<ref name="c802">Template:Cite web</ref> icons for each band member: a jacket, a pair of pants and an airplane. Delonge and Hoppus' symbols became the pants and jacket, respectively, leaving Barker the airplane despite begging his bandmates not to assign him the symbol, citing his fear of flying,<ref name="l401">Template:Cite web</ref> but he took it anyway.Template:Sfn CD copies of the album were initially released in three separate configurations for the first million printings:<ref name="mtv"/> the "red plane", the "yellow pants" and the "green jacket" editions. Each release contained two separate bonus tracks, ranging from joke tracks to outtakes. The only outward signs to differentiate the three editions were three stickers.<ref name="toronto1"/> The concept was inspired by NOFX's Punk in Drublic, which had varying tracks on its corresponding cassette and CD versions.<ref name=launch/> The idea was for each fan of the band to receive something special on their copy that they could then share with their friends.<ref name="mtv"/> Executives hoped to market the three editions separately in order to boost sales ("buy all three"), but the band argued strongly against this tactic as they felt it was predatory to their fans.<ref name=launch>Template:Cite AV media</ref> The multiple bonus-track versions were only available for a limited time before being replaced by an edition without any bonus tracks.<ref name=toronto1>Template:Cite news</ref>
Composition
[edit]
While Take Off Your Pants and Jacket fits squarely within the band's "commercial and conventional"<ref name="f485">Template:Cite web</ref> pop-punk mold,<ref name="Kyle Ryan">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Evelyn Lau">Template:Cite news</ref> it quietly introduces disparate elements into the band's sound. It ranges from bracingly fast-paced numbers to slower, more emo-indebted songs.<ref name="mtv"/> Hoppus felt it was a "darker, harder album that pushed the boundaries of what blink-182 could do."<ref name="x615">Template:Cite web</ref> Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant said the album boasts "tight little anthems, with precision playing, staccato lyrics and sing-along choruses."<ref name="y616">Template:Cite web</ref> Joshua Klein from The Washington Post described its familiar "sturdy pop elements — chiming guitars, exciting drums, endearing vocals and ear-catching chord changes."<ref name="y837">Template:Cite web</ref>
DeLonge's droning guitar style was influenced by post-hardcore bands Fugazi and Refused.<ref name="mtv">Template:Cite web</ref> "As Blink grew, I wanted to contribute progressive elements: bring some modernism into the band and change what everyone thought we were capable of," DeLonge said.Template:Sfn Part of that stemmed from the band's desire to illustrate they were not a boy band, as they felt had been marketed.Template:Sfn Additionally, DeLonge's adenoidal vocal twang, with its "cartoonish California diction", is prominent.<ref name="x410">Template:Cite web</ref> Barker's drumming is more technical than before; "Don't Tell Me It's Over" uses an Afro-Cuban bass drum and hi-hat pattern,<ref name="APCoverStory"/><ref name=drum01/> and another song takes the beat from James Brown's "Funky Drummer". One song that developed midway through recording used looping for a danceable drum 'n' bass style.<ref name=drum01/> Barker used these affectations to differentiate the band from the rest of the pop-punk pack: "Every punk rock band sounds recycled," he confided to Modern Drummer in 2001. "It's the same recycled beats. Believe me, I know where you took that fill from. I'm trying to bring more to the table."<ref name=drum01/>
Songs
[edit]Template:Quote box Template:Listen Take Off Your Pants and Jacket has been called a concept album chronicling adolescence and associated feelings.<ref name=newrs>Nathan Brackett. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York: Fireside, 904 pp. First edition, 2004.</ref> The band did not consider them explicitly teenage songs: "The things that happen to you in high school are the same things that happen your entire life," said Hoppus. "You can fall in love at sixty; you can get rejected at eighty."<ref name="mh18"/><ref name="shooman85"/> The record begins with "Anthem Part Two", which touches on disenchantment and blames adults for teenage problems.<ref name="a536">Template:Cite web</ref> It serves as the opposite of the band's typical "party" image presented to the media, with heavily politically-charged lyrics.<ref name="shooman83"/> Joe Shooman called it a "generational manifesto that exhorts kids to be wary of the system that surrounds them".<ref name=shooman83>Shooman, 2010. p. 83</ref> "Online Songs" was written by Hoppus about "the thoughts that drive you crazy" in the aftermath of a breakup, and is essentially a follow-up to "Josie".<ref name="shooman83"/><ref name="tourprogram"/> "First Date" was inspired by DeLonge and then wife Jennifer Jenkins' first date at SeaWorld in San Diego.<ref name="Kerrang05"/> "I was about 21 at the time and it was an excuse for me to take her somewhere because I wanted to hang out with her," said DeLonge. The track was written as a summary of neurotic teen angst and awkwardness.<ref name="Kerrang05"/> "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" is a joke track intended to "piss parents off."<ref name="tourprogram"/> The fifth track, "Story of a Lonely Guy", concerns heartache and rejection prior to the high school prom.<ref name="av13"/><ref name="tourprogram">Template:Cite book</ref> The song is downbeat and melancholy, filtered through "tuneful guitar lines reminiscent of the Cure and hefty drum patterns".<ref name="shooman83"/>
The following track, "The Rock Show", is the opposite: an upbeat "effervescent celebration of love, life and music". It was written as a "fast punk-rock love song" in the vein of the Ramones and Screeching Weasel.<ref name=shooman86>Shooman, 2010. p. 86</ref> The song tells the story of two teenagers meeting a rock concert, and, despite failing grades and disapproving parents, falling and staying in love.<ref name=shooman84>Shooman, 2010. p. 84</ref> It was inspired by the band's early days in San Diego's all-ages venue SOMA.<ref name="tourprogram"/> The dysfunctional "Stay Together for the Kids" follows and is written about divorce from the point of view of a helpless child.<ref name="y616"/><ref name="APCoverStory"/> Inspired by DeLonge's parents' divorce, it is one of the band's darker songs.<ref name="av13"/><ref name="shooman84"/> "Roller Coaster" was written when Hoppus had a nightmare when he and his wife, Skye, first began dating; the song is about finding something ideal but fearing for its certain departure.<ref name=APCoverStory>Template:Cite magazine</ref> "Reckless Abandon" was penned by DeLonge as a reflection on summer memories, including parties, skateboarding and trips to the beach.<ref name="tourprogram"/> "Everytime I Look for You" has no specific lyrical basis, according to Hoppus, and "Give Me One Good Reason" was written about punk music and nonconformity in a high school setting.<ref name="tourprogram"/> Spin columnist Tim Coffman called it "practically a pop-punk answer to "Come On Eileen" [...] "Many of the great pop-punk songs are about rallying against your parents. No one really talked about what to do once the rebellion was over, though."<ref name="w875">Template:Cite web</ref> "Shut Up", a "broken-family snapshot", revisits the territory of youthful woes, described by Shooman as a "fairly familiar rites-of-passage tale" that "adds to general themes of isolation, alienation and moving on to a new place that pervade Take Off Your Pants and Jacket".<ref name=shooman85>Shooman, 2010. p. 85</ref><ref name="rs"/> "Please Take Me Home" concludes the standard edition of the album and was written about the consequences of a friendship developing into a relationship.<ref name="av13"/><ref name="tourprogram"/>
Several bonus tracks follow on separate editions; some continue the teenage theme, while others are joke tracks. Notably, "What Went Wrong" is an acoustic track; while DeLonge felt "staple acoustic songs" were big for groups at the time (such as Green Day's "Good Riddance"), the band wrote all of their songs from their inception on acoustic guitars, and he felt he would rather have "What Went Wrong" in its original form.<ref name="APCoverStory"/> "You grow up and realize, 'Fuck! Who gives a fuck about punk rock?'" he said. "There are so many great forms of music out there, and you grow beyond wanting to listen to or write something because your parents will hate it."<ref name="APCoverStory"/> Producer Jerry Finn suggested lyrics for the song after viewing a documentary on the first Soviet nuclear test; in the film, an aged Soviet physicist says of watching the explosion, "There was a loud boom, and then the bomb began fiercely kicking at the world."<ref name="APCoverStory"/>
Promotion
[edit]To promote Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, Pictures HI-FI, MCA Records released three singles: "The Rock Show", "First Date" and "Stay Together for the Kids", all of which were top-ten hits on BillboardTemplate:'s Modern Rock Tracks chart. The band recorded a television commercial for the LP, starring Hoppus as a proctologist and Barker as his patient.<ref name="g080">Template:Cite web</ref> Blink-182 performed on the Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien in support of Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.<ref name="shooman82"/> The band also appeared in a MADtv sketch, in which the trio stars as misfits in an all-American 1950s family in a parody Leave It to Beaver.<ref name="stftkvideo"/> The trio also sanctioned a band biography, Tales from Beneath Your Mom (2001), which was written by the trio and Anne Hoppus (sister of Mark Hoppus).<ref name="stftkvideo">Template:Cite web</ref>
Commercial performance
[edit]
Take Off was a marquee rock release of the season,<ref name="x380">Template:Cite web</ref> alongside acts like Staind and Tool;<ref name="c313">Template:Cite web</ref> writer Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times viewed it an "unlikely modern-rock radio blockbuster in an era otherwise dominated by vapid nu-metal."<ref name="cst">Template:Cite web</ref> Like many high profile releases of the era, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket was leaked on the Internet prior to release. The album's leak is mentioned in the book How Music Got Free, which profiles the warez group Rabid Neurosis, as well as the North Carolina CD manufacturing facility from which the album leaked.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Steven Hyden, in a piece for Uproxx, recounts its leak in the context of record company greed, opining that "Take Off Your Pants And Jacket is a particularly apt signifier of this unceremonious crash-and-burn climax to a depraved and decadent time."<ref name="o345">Template:Cite web</ref>
At any rate, the assured success allowed the band, according to Brittany Spanos at Rolling Stone to "fully settle into their status as one of the biggest rock bands in the world."<ref name="t536">Template:Cite web</ref> "There's nowhere to go but down," Hoppus joked.<ref name="i197">Template:Cite web</ref> In an attempt to game the charts, Blink-182 did dozens of CD signings in the week of its release, at large chains like Tower Records.<ref name="f182"/> Upon its official June 2001 bow,<ref name="vv"/> the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 350,000 copies. Billboard attributed the success of the record overall as a result of the success of the first single, "The Rock Show".<ref name="toypaj">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 47,390 copies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It also reached number one on Germany's Top 100 Albums.<ref name="germany">Chartverfolgung / Blink-182 / Longplay Template:Webarchive. Musicline.de (in German). Retrieved on January 18, 2014.</ref> The album was the first album by a punk rock band to debut at number one in the United States.<ref name="linernotes1"/><ref name="av13"/> The record shipped enough units to be certified platinum, and it sold through those million copies by August.<ref name="m411">Template:Cite web</ref> It was later certified double platinum in May 2002.Template:Certification Cite Ref It had moved three million units worldwide by December.<ref name="c929">Template:Cite web</ref> Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is the second-highest selling album in the band's catalogue,<ref name="p555">Template:Cite web</ref> and has sold over 14 million copies worldwide.<ref name="p311">Template:Cite web</ref>
Critical reception
[edit]Critical reception of Take Off Your Pants and Jacket in 2001 was generally positive. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone was generally the most effusive of the positive reviews, praising the unpretentious attitude of the band: "As they plow in their relatively un-self-conscious way through the emotional hurdles of lust, terror, pain and rage, they reveal more about themselves and their audience than they even intend to, turning adolescent malaise into a friendly joke rather than a spiritual crisis."<ref name=rs>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Darren Ratner of AllMusic felt likewise, writing that the record is "one of their finest works to date, with almost every track sporting a commanding articulation and new-school punk sounds. They've definitely put a big-time notch in the win column".<ref name="allmusic"/> People commended the "adrenaline-laced sonic gems reveling in Blink's patented, potty-mouthed humor, recommended only for adolescents of all ages".<ref name=people>Template:Cite magazine</ref> British publication Q offered the sentiment that "when they stop arsing around for the sake of it, Blink-182 write some very good pop songs".<ref name=q>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
The Village Voice called the sound "emo-core ... intercut with elegiac little pauses that align Blink 182 with a branch of punk rock you could trace back through The Replacements and Ramones Leave Home, to the more ethereal of early Who songs".<ref name=vv>Template:Cite journal</ref> Aaron Scott of Slant Magazine, however, found the sound to be recycled from the band's previous efforts, writing, "Blink shines when they deviate from their formula, but it is awfully rare ... The album seems to be more concerned with maintaining the band's large teenage fanbase than with expanding their overall audience."<ref name=slant>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Joshua Klein from The Washington Post felt it was stagnant, critiquing its formula and "cookie-cutter" approach.<ref name="y837"/> Kerrang!Template:'s Ian Fortnam critiqued its lack of risks, its "money-in-the-bank commercialism. [It's] eminently hummable dummy-spitting tantrum rock for the emo generation."<ref name="s255">Template:Cite web</ref> Entertainment Weekly felt similarly, with David Browne opining that "the album is angrier and more teeth gnashing than you'd expect. The band work so hard at it, and the music is such processed sounding mainstream rock played fast, that the album becomes a paradox: adolescent energy and rebellion made joyless".<ref name=ew>Template:Cite magazine</ref> British magazine New Musical Express, who heavily criticized the band in their previous efforts, felt no more negative this time, saying "Blink-182 are now indistinguishable from the increasingly tedious 'teenage dirtbag' genre they helped spawn". The magazine continued, "It Template:Em like all that sanitised, castrated, shrink-wrapped 'new wave' crap that the major US record companies pumped out circa 1981 in their belated attempt to jump on the 'punk' bandwagon."<ref name=nme>Template:Cite journal</ref>
More recent reviews have subsequently been positive. Music critic Kelefa Sanneh complimented the album in a New Yorker profile: "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is by turns peppy, sulky, and stupid—Blink-182 at its finest."<ref name="p844">Template:Cite web</ref> Website AbsolutePunk, in part of their "Retro Reviews" project in 2011, called Take Off Your Pants and Jacket the band's best effort; reviewer Thomas Nassiff referred to it as "a transitory record for Blink-182, but you can't tell just by listening to it on its own. It's developed and it's full – it feels holistically complete, dick jokes and all".<ref name=abpunk>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2005, the album was ranked number 452 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> in 2021, Stereogum's Grant Sharples felt it improved on its predecessor; "it's an endearing time capsule [...] replete with refined songwriting and incredibly infectious hooks."<ref name="z332">Template:Cite web</ref> Richard Blenkinsop of Reverb.com called the album "a masterclass in pop punk writing."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Conversely, Hyden, in the aforementioned Uproxx article, suggests the album is middling: "[Take Off] had some hits but [is] also a record no fan would ever consider their best work."<ref name="o345"/>
Accolades
[edit]| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kerrang! | United Kingdom | The 50 Best Rock Albums of the 2000s<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 2016 | 14 |
* denotes an unordered list
Touring
[edit]
The Take Off Your Pants and Jacket supporting tour began in April 2001 in Australia and New Zealand.<ref name="shooman82"/> Afterwards, the band played two weeks of club shows at small venues across America in an effort to decrease ticket prices and get back to their roots.<ref name="bbc01">Template:Cite news</ref> The band returned to the US to promote their new record on the Late Show with David Letterman in June 2001.<ref name="shooman82"/> Afterwards, the band set out on the 2001 Honda Civic Tour with No Motiv, Sum 41, the Ataris, and Bodyjar, for which the trio designed a Honda Civic to promote the company.<ref name="honda">Template:Cite web</ref> The band again received criticism for "selling out", but the band argued by way of mitigation that their tickets were consistently offered at lower prices than those of other groups of their stature, and by accepting corporate links they could continue to give fans a good deal.<ref name=shooman87>Shooman, 2010. p. 87</ref> Likewise, the band partnered with Ticketmaster, setting up a special website where fans could purchase pre-sale tickets for each show.<ref name="tour"/>
The main headlining tour visited arenas and amphitheaters between July and August 2001, and was supported by New Found Glory,<ref name="tour">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Jimmy Eat World, Alkaline Trio<ref name="t905">Template:Cite web</ref> and Midtown. Each show winkingly began with the overture of "Also sprach Zarathustra" and debuted a flaming sign reading "FUCK".<ref name="n248">Template:Cite web</ref> The band had initially contacted Eminem in hopes of partnering for a tour, but he was too busy. For Barker, he would have preferred to tour with a stylistically different artist: "If it was my choice, we wouldn't tour with other punk bands," he said in 2001.<ref name=drum01/> In December 2001, the trio played at a series of radio-sponsored holiday concerts—which Barker liked because of their variety—and also appeared as presenters at the 2001 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas.<ref name="disk">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The band rescheduled European tour dates in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. "After the attacks the world kind of went into freeze mode and we didn't know whether to carry on with things or not ... so we decided we'd rather everyone was safe and play the shows a little later instead," said Hoppus shortly thereafter.<ref name=shooman89>Shooman, 2010. p. 89</ref> In the wake of the tragedy, the band draped an American flag over a set of amplifiers and drummer Barker played on a red, white, and blue drum kit. At one concert, DeLonge invited the crowd to join him in his cheers of "Fuck Osama bin Laden!"<ref name="lat">Template:Cite web</ref> The European dates were canceled a second time after DeLonge suffered a herniated disc in his back.<ref name=shooman90>Shooman, 2010. p. 90</ref>
In 2002, the band co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Green Day. The tour was conceived by Blink-182 to echo the famous Monsters of Rock tours; the idea was to have, effectively, a Monsters of Punk tour.<ref name=shooman99>Shooman, 2010. p. 99</ref> The tour, from the band's point of view, had been put together as a show of unity in the face of consistent accusations of rivalry between the two bands, especially in Europe.<ref name=shooman101>Shooman, 2010. p. 101</ref> Instead, Green Day's Tré Cool acknowledged in a Kerrang! interview that they committed to the tour as an opportunity to regain their reputation as a great live band, as they felt their spotlight had faded over the years.<ref name="shooman101"/> "We set out to reclaim our throne as the most incredible live punk band from you know who," said Cool.<ref name="Kerrang06"/> Cool contended that "we heard they were going to quit the tour because they were getting smoked so badly ... We didn't want them to quit the tour. They're good for filling up the seats up front."<ref name=Kerrang06>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Several reviewers were unimpressed with Blink-182's headlining set following Green Day. "Sometimes playing last at a rock show is more a curse than a privilege ... Pity the headliner, for instance, that gets blown off the stage by the band before it. Blink-182 endured that indignity Saturday at the Shoreline Amphitheatre," a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote in 2002.<ref name=shooman100>Shooman, 2010. p. 100</ref>
The band released a second DVD of home videos, live performances and music videos titled The Urethra Chronicles II: Harder Faster Faster Harder in 2002.<ref name=shooman97>Shooman, 2010. p. 97</ref> Likewise, the 2003 film Riding in Vans with Boys follows the Pop Disaster Tour throughout the U.S.<ref name="shooman101"/>
Legacy
[edit]
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket arrived at the apex of an early aughts, pre-9/11 moment for youth culture.<ref name="d765">Template:Cite web</ref> A 2001 Federal Trade Commission report condemned the entertainment industry for marketing lewd lyrics to American youth, specifically naming Blink-182 as among the most explicit acts.<ref name="Burr 2001 m610">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Adweek 2001 q725">Template:Cite web</ref> It debuted at the peak of a musical moment the band helped foment, a brand of snotty pop-punk popularized with progenitors like Sum 41, Simple Plan and Good Charlotte,<ref name="Gupta 2015 p561">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="j673">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="t057">Template:Cite web</ref> all of whom released seminal albums in 2001–02.<ref name="y231">Template:Cite web</ref> Its songs became common on peer-to-peer sites like Kazaa and LimeWire,<ref name="l463">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="z509">Template:Cite web</ref> and its sound proved influential: its ubiquity made it a "sonic bible for many millennials" according to Kat Bein of Billboard.<ref name="z484">Template:Cite web</ref> Others agreed: “If you're part of a certain twenty-something age bracket, you can recite every chorus [of the album]" replied Zach Schonfeld of The Atlantic.<ref name="u644">Template:Cite web</ref> The album was an influence on artists like Avril Lavigne,<ref name="c139">Template:Cite web</ref> Mod Sun<ref name="v772">Template:Cite web</ref> You Me at Six,<ref name="t298">Template:Cite web</ref> Knuckle Puck,<ref name="o406">Template:Cite web</ref> and Neck Deep,<ref name="t244">Template:Cite web</ref> who covered "Don't Tell Me That It's Over" in 2019.<ref name="h588">Template:Cite web</ref>
It also marked a transitionary period in the group, being the first time the trio began to fracture. Shortly after the album's release, the 9/11 attacks prompted a pause in the band's schedule, which led DeLonge to explore a slower, more heavy musical style—which became the album Box Car Racer (2002). Blink producer Jerry Finn naturally returned to engineer, and DeLonge, ostensibly trying to avoid paying a session player,<ref name=shooman94>Shooman, 2010. p. 94</ref> invited Barker to record drums—making Hoppus the odd man out. It marked a major rift in their friendship: while DeLonge claimed he was not intentionally omitted, Hoppus nonetheless felt betrayed.<ref name=shooman94>Shooman, 2010. p. 94</ref> "At the end of 2001, it felt like Blink-182 had broken up. It wasn't spoken about, but it felt over", said Hoppus later.<ref name=k!>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Track listing
[edit]Template:Track listing Template:Track listing
Template:Track listing Template:Track listing
- Notes
- On the clean version of the album the track "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" is listed as just "Happy Holidays", and is an instrumental with the exception of the very last line, due to nearly every other line containing strong language and/or crude sexual references.
- On the limited edition bonus track versions, "Please Take Me Home" has 182 seconds (roughly 3 minutes) of silence at the end, likely to hide the hidden tracks, which are not listed on the back cover, and also to reference the band's name.
- The clean version omits the second bonus track on each edition.
Personnel
[edit]Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2
- Blink-182
- Mark Hoppus – bass, vocals
- Tom DeLonge – guitars, vocals
- Travis Barker – drums
- Artwork
- Tim Stedman – art direction, design
- Marcos Orozco – design
- Justin Stephens – photography
- Intersection Studio – symbol design
- Additional musicians
- Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. – keyboards
- Production
- Jerry Finn – production
- Tom Lord-Alge – mixing
- Joe McGrath – engineering
- Joe Marlett – assistant engineer
- Ted Reiger – assistant engineer
- Robert Read – assistant engineer
- Femio Hernandez – mixing assistant
- Mike "Sack" Fasano – drum tech
- Brian Gardner – mastering
Charts
[edit]Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2
Weekly charts
[edit]| Chart (2001–02) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| European Albums (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 3 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 31 |
Year-end charts
[edit]| Chart (2001) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 49 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 74 |
| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 19 |
| European Albums (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 63 |
| French Albums (SNEP)<ref>"Top Albums annuel (physique + téléchargement + streaming)" (in French). SNEP. 2001. Retrieved August 29, 2018.</ref> | 139 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 45 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 47 |
| UK Albums (OCC)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 67 |
| US Billboard 200<ref name="Year-End">Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 62 |
| Worldwide Albums (IFPI)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 29 |
| Chart (2002) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 139 |
| Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref name = "CANALTYE02">Template:Cite web</ref> | 44 |
| US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 154 |
Certifications
[edit]Template:Certification Table Top Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Bottom
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]General and cited references
[edit]External links
[edit]- Take Off Your Pants and Jacket at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
- Template:Official website