2001: The Summer Blink Took Over Everything. The scene was simple: bedroom floor, bowl of soggy cereal, Kerrang TV looping in the background. And there you were — waiting for First Date to come on for the third, maybe fourth time that afternoon. Mark, Tom and Travis goofing off in a convenience store wasn’t just entertainment. For millions of kids trying to survive their teenage years, it was something close to scripture. Take Off Your Pants and Jacket wasn’t just a record you played. It was a world you lived in.
Studio Mayhem: Turning Chaos Into Gold
Coming off the multi-platinum madness of Enema of the State, Blink entered Los Angeles’ Rubin’s House of Sound like kids given the keys to the sweet shop — only this sweet shop was filled with expensive studio gear, prank supplies, and mountains of fast food.
Jerry Finn — the man who got Blink — was back behind the mixing desk, somehow finding order inside the band’s usual chaos. The band’s process was half songwriting, half slapstick circus. Travis Barker’s drum tech famously kept tightening his snare until it sounded like a gunshot. Mark’s bass strings squeaked audibly on “Online Songs” — most producers would’ve edited that out. Not Jerry. Tom’s voice cracked intentionally on First Date. Left in. The laughter caught in the background of Happy Holidays, You Bastard? Absolutely staying.
Blink weren’t aiming for perfection. They wanted personality. And Finn captured every last ridiculous, brilliant imperfection.
Kerrang TV Royalty: When Blink Ruled The Airwaves
Before algorithms controlled your feed, we had Kerrang TV — and it was divine chaos. Thirty-minute video blocks where you and your mates would literally text each other: “Blink’s on. Five minutes.” During the Take Off Your Pants And Jacket era, Blink unleashed three music videos that became more than promos. They became cultural events.
The Rock Show:
It was every teenage fantasy, condensed into 3 minutes: lowriders, fast cash, Travis drumming on a moving car, and Blink literally blowing record label money in a shopping centre. At one point, they walk into a bank vault full of cash, grabbing handfuls to give away on the street. Tom and Mark belt out “Fell in love with the girl at the rock show” while causing absolute mayhem. Pure pop-punk euphoria.
First Date:
This was Blink at their comedic best — Tom puking fake vomit (based on his own pre-show nerves), Mark fumbling high-fives like the world’s most awkward boyfriend, and of course, the naked sushi scene that MTV barely allowed to air. It felt immature. It also felt perfect.
Stay Together For The Kids:
And then the left turn. Suddenly, Blink went monochrome. Black-and-white cinematography, an abandoned house collapsing, raw emotion bleeding through every frame. For countless 14-year-olds watching, this was their first taste of a “serious” video — and proof that Blink could pivot from fart jokes to heartbreak at a moment’s notice.
The Sound of Suburbia
Part of what made Take Off Your Pants and Jacket hit so hard was that it sounded like home — or at least, the weird version of home you knew as a teenager. The guitars didn’t shimmer — they buzzed, like the flickering strip lights outside a dodgy petrol station. Mark’s bass didn’t hum — it rumbled, like your mate’s clapped-out Vauxhall Corsa as you sped to nowhere. And Travis? His drumming didn’t keep time — it created adrenaline. Every fill felt like cutting class or narrowly dodging trouble.
Songs like Reckless Abandon didn’t just describe being 17. They were being 17. That terrifying, brilliant mix of feeling invincible and completely lost all at once.
24 Years Later: The Legacy That Refuses To Die
Two decades on, TOYPAJ still echoes through today’s music — whether the artists realise it or not.
Olivia Rodrigo’s videos are filled with the same suburban backdrops and slacker energy Blink immortalised. Paramore, who came up not long after take off your pants and jacket‘s release, took that same blend of raw emotion and pop-punk energy and turned it into something equally iconic — you can draw a straight line from Blink’s punchy hooks to the anthems Paramore’s Hayley Williams would belt out a few years later. Even hyperpop artists like Charli XCX borrow the sugar-rush momentum you hear in The Rock Show.
Yet for all the imitators, no one has truly recreated Blink’s particular brand of chaos. That Kerrang era was lightning in a bottle. Three goofballs with a camcorder, a fart joke budget, and zero dignity accidentally became the soundtrack for an entire lost generation.
What Take Off Your Pants and Jacket Still Teaches Us
Even 24 years later, Blink’s masterpiece leaves us with a few undeniable truths:
- Great videos require absolutely zero dignity.
- Real drums always hit harder than programmed beats.
- And yes — one album can soundtrack your breakup, your crush, your road trip, and your late-night Tesco Express snack run.
(We would’ve recreated First Date ourselves by now, but sadly, this is Britain — we don’t have 7-Elevens. Nearest Tesco will have to do.)
