"What's My Age Again?" is a song by American rock band Blink-182. It was released in April 1999 as the lead single from the group's third studio album, Enema of the State (1999), released through MCA Records. "What's My Age Again?" shares writing credits between the band's guitarist Tom DeLonge and bassist Mark Hoppus, but Hoppus was the primary composer of the song. It was the band's first single to feature drummer Travis Barker. A mid-tempo pop-punk song, "What's My Age Again?" is memorable for its distinctive, arpeggiated guitar intro.
Lyrically, the song is about immaturity. Hoppus declined to label the song as autobiographical, but admitted that he spent his twenties acting immature. The trio recorded the song with producer Jerry Finn. It was originally titled "Peter Pan Complex", an allusion to the pop-psychology concept, but label MCA found the reference obscure and adjusted the title. The song's signature music video famously features the band running nude on the streets of Los Angeles. It received heavy rotation on MTV and other music video channels.
It became one of the band's best-performing singles, peaking at number two on the U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for 10 weeks. The song placed at number three in Italy and number 17 in the United Kingdom. Primarily an airplay hit, the song was the band's first to cross over to pop radio, hitting number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song received positive reviews and has been called a classic pop punk track; NME placed it at number 117 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years" in 2012.
Background and writing
Blink-182, consisting of bassist Mark Hoppus, guitarist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Scott Raynor, formed in the early 1990s, and by the end of the decade, had reached commercial success with their second album, 1997's Dude Ranch. Its lead single, "Dammit", became one of the most-played U.S. modern rock hits of 1998, sending its parent album to a gold certification and bringing the members newfound notoriety and wealth. With his first advance from major-label MCA, Hoppus purchased a home in the band's hometown of San Diego, California. Hoppus developed "What's My Age Again?" while sitting on the floor and playing guitar in his kitchen/living room. He was attempting to play the song "J.A.R." by Green Day, which has a distinctive intro on bass guitar. While practicing playing the riff, Hoppus came up with a new song derived from his failure to perform the part correctly.
Though he initially developed it as a vulgar joke song, he felt it had potential as a regular tune. Hoppus claims it took him five minutes to write. He later presented the song to the band while rehearsing at DML Studios in Escondido, California, where they had booked time for two weeks to write new songs. Earlier that year, Raynor had been expelled from the group and replaced with percussionist Travis Barker, previously of the ska-punk act the Aquabats. He and DeLonge found the composition agreeable and further developed it in the rehearsal space. The story in the song is not strictly autobiographical, but its central theme resonated with Hoppus, who spent his twenties by his own admission "acting like a jackass teenager". Barker agreed, later commenting: "[Mark] was a grown man but kept acting like a kid." Many Blink songs center on maturity—"more specifically, their lack of it, their attitude toward their lack of it, or their eventual wide-eyed exploration of it" according to writer Nitsuh Abebe.
Composition
"What's My Age Again?" is credited to Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus. Though Barker helped write the songs on Enema of the State, only Hoppus and DeLonge received songwriting credits, as Barker was technically a hired musician, not an official band member. The song is two minutes and twenty-eight seconds long. The song is composed in the key of G-flat major and is set in time signature of common time with a driving tempo of 158 beats per minute. Hoppus' vocal range spans from Db3 to Gb4. It follows a I–V–vi–IV chord progression, common across several genres of music. The band utilize the progression in numerous other singles; music educator and author Dan Bennett claims the progression is sometimes called the "pop-punk progression" because of its frequent use in the genre.Bennett, Dan (2008). The Total Rock Bassist, p. 63. The song is incredibly brief compared to most singles; within one minute, nearly two full verses and a chorus have been completed, and it in total runs two minutes and twenty-six seconds.
Instrumentation The song opens with an arpeggiated guitar hook, following the song's chord progression in playing the root notes of each chord. The part has been considered tricky to perform; given its quick, articulated nature, it can be difficult to skip over the strings properly. Hoppus's bass line, which has been compared to the Pixies' song "Debaser", also situates on the roots of each chord. The song combines Hoppus' melodic vocal with harmonized backing vocals by DeLonge, while Barker's drumming incorporates syncopated kick patterns and intricate fills. Barker based the song's drum rhythm on "Boxcar" by Jawbreaker. Double-tracked guitar parts contribute to the song's dense, polished sound. The song utilizes power chords in its chorus, and substitutes the arpeggiated intro for palm-muted power chords in the succeeding verse.
Lyrics The lyrics follow an immature young man whose inability to behave like an adult repeatedly sabotages his relationships. In the opening verse, the narrator prepares for a date by putting on cologne in hopes of impressing his girlfriend, but loses her interest after choosing to watch television during a romantic encounter. The chorus concludes that "nobody likes you when you're 23"—a lyric Hoppus wrote at age 26 simply because the number rhymed. Although the protagonist briefly questions his own behavior ("What the hell is wrong with me?"), he ultimately embraces his immaturity, dismissing the pressure to "act my age" in favor of taking his time growing up.
The second verse continues the narrator's juvenile behavior as he prank-calls his ex-girlfriend's mother from a payphone, falsely claiming that her husband has been arrested for sodomy, before joking, "What the hell is call ID?" Hoppus intentionally wrote each chorus with different lyrics to advance the story rather than repeating the same refrain. He later explained that he wanted the familiar hook to evolve with each repetition, reflecting an artistic philosophy that "the best art is the evolution of familiarity": introducing an idea, allowing the audience to connect with it, and then subtly altering it to keep it engaging.
Recording and production
After further development, the group presented it to producer Jerry Finn. A veteran engineer, Finn came to fame mixing Green Day's breakthrough album Dookie (1994). Finn was suggested by major label MCA as an option for producing Enema of the State; the band got along with him immediately, and continued to work with him on their future projects. Finn would suggest and make adjustments where necessary, though in the case of "What's My Age Again?", he had little notes. By the time Hoppus presented the song to his bandmates, the first verse and chorus were written, with its second verse and bridge section needing further work. Hoppus and DeLonge crafted an instrumental bridge that went on for eight measures, which all agreed felt too long. Finn assisted in shortening the section, and the group recorded a demo at DML Studios.
Within the new year, the group recorded the song proper. The drums on Enema of the State were tracked at Mad Hatter Studios in North Hollywood, a space once owned by jazz musician Chick Corea. Hoppus remembered that Finn was meticulous in recording the kit, spending hours on microphone placement, as well as picking compressors and at which rate they would run. Barker recorded his drum portions, as well as the rest of the album's twelve songs, in eight hours. From there, Hoppus and DeLonge recorded their bass and guitar tracks at multiple studios throughout Los Angeles and San Diego. The band brought in session musician Roger Joseph Manning Jr.—best known for his career in the band Jellyfish and work with Beck—to add keyboard parts in the background of the song.
The song originally concluded after its final chorus. While recording, Hoppus liked how the arpeggiated chord progression continued over the rhythm guitar line in the last chorus, and wished to extend its length to highlight this element. In the pre-digital recording environment, this required the team to "bounce" the mix from the analog tape recorder (a 24 track 2-inch tape) to another tape, and splice the recordings together. With recording complete, the song was sent to engineer Tom Lord-Alge, who mixed the song at his South Beach Studios facility in Miami Beach, Florida. Lord-Alge had previously remixed the Dude Ranch singles "Dammit" and "Josie" for radio, and would work with the group frequently in the future. Lord-Alge added subtle touches, including a panning effect for the title phrase in the last chorus.
Release
Although Blink-182 retained creative control over Enema of the State, MCA Records insisted on approving the album's lead single, believing the choice would be pivotal to its parent album's long-term commercial prospects. Band manager Rick DeVoe and label executives viewed "What's My Age Again?" as the album's strongest commercial prospect, and MCA president Jay Boberg ultimately selected it as the lead single. DeLonge, however, was initially unconvinced by the decision, later recalling, "I didn't understand it, because up to that point, we hadn't had a big single."
The working title for the song was "Peter Pan Complex", referencing the popular psychology concept of an adult who is socially immature. Executives at MCA Records were uncertain that listeners would connect with the title, given it goes unmentioned in the song's lyrics. Previously, the label had appended parentheses to its two stateside singles from Dude Ranch: "Dammit (Growing Up)" and "Josie (Everything's Gonna Be Fine)". The label was also concerned about litigation from the Walt Disney Company, who held rights to the name following their film adaption. The band disliked the suggestion, but given the creative freedom MCA had afforded them throughout recording, agreed to the change. Hoppus later conceded the new title made more sense and "feels right". Commercial performance Commercially, "What's My Age Again?" became one of the band's best-performing singles. It was picked as the lead single from Enema of the State. It was first serviced to radio in April 1999, and premiered on KROQ-FM, an influential Los Angeles alternative station. Hoppus remembered the group were finalizing mixing the album when the song debuted. The song did best on Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart; the song first entered the chart during the week of May 8, where it debuted at number 21. It entered the top five during the week of June 5, and reached number two on July 24, where it remained for ten weeks behind the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Scar Tissue". The song crossed over to mainstream domestic radio in mid-1999, where it debuted at number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 17. It later peaked at number 58 in the issue dated October 23. The song had previously peaked at number 51 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart on September 11.