Multi-platinum selling band Blink-182 was one of the leading bands on the early pop-punk scene in the late 1990s. Three of the band’s four major label records positioned within the top 10 on the Billboard 200 and helped earn the band an international audience.

In 2005, the band members announced the beginning of an indefinite hiatus for Blink-182. However, four years later in February 2009, the three reunited on stage at the Grammy Awards and announced plans for a new album and tour. During the band’s hiatus, guitarist Tom DeLonge, bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker all pursued various solo projects.

In September 2008, Barker was returning from a concert with collaborator DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) when the pair’s Learjet crashed shortly after take-off, killing two of Barker’s close friends as well as the pilot and co-pilot. Barker and Goldstein suffered from severe burns, though doctors projected both would fully recover after rehabilitation.