Blink-182: Buddha (picture disc) [KUNG FU]

Why you'll love it

This picture disc of the remastered Kung Fu edition comes in a PVC sleeve. Buddha was the band's first recording to be sold, and "Carousel" went on to their debut album Cheshire Cat.

This edition

• Picture disc
• Remastered
• PVC sleeve

About the album

Plenty of bands get going on a credit card. Blink-182 got going on a $1,000 loan from Mark Hoppus's manager at the Wherehouse Music store in San Diego, Pat Secor, who fronted the cash from his savings. In January 1994 the trio, then just called Blink, booked three evenings at Doubletime Studios in Santee, working around Tom DeLonge's full-time construction job and drummer Scott Raynor's high school timetable.

Engineer Jeff Forrest captured most of it live in a take or two, and the result is pure Southern California skate punk, Hoppus and DeLonge swapping lead vocals over fast three-chord songs about girls, boredom and growing up. "Carousel," "Strings," "Romeo & Rebecca" and "21 Days" are the keepers, the Descendents were the model, and DeLonge later admitted the band spent more time perfecting joke tracks like "Reebok Commercial" and "Toast & Bananas" than anything else.

First sold on cassette through local shops and at gigs, Buddha built the following that carried them out of San Diego, and Kung Fu Records remixed it for a wide reissue in 1998. They also borrowed laughter and applause from a sound effects tape they found lying around the studio, which saves a lot of time waiting for an audience.

Also at Kops: more Blink-182 on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Kung Fu (cat# 78765-1), a reissue of the 1994 album.