Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is the fourth studio album by 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.
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.
Tracklist:
- Anthem Part Two
- Online Songs
- First Date
- Happy Holidays, You Bastard
- Story Of A Lonely Guy
- The Rock Show
- Stay Together For The Kids
- Roller Coaster
- Reckless Abandon
- Everytime I Look For You
- Give Me One Good Reason
- Shut Up
- Please Take Me Home
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
