In this early blink-182 hit, bassist Mark Hoppus learns that having his heart broken is a part of growing up. "'Dammit' is about when you break up with someone, and then you see them all over town with someone new," he told Billboard in 1998. "It really hurts when you aren't the person feeling the love, but you have to act like it's cool to save face."
When Hoppus broke his silence about blink-182's breakup in his b182.com interview in 2006, he was asked, "What's the most personal song you've written?" Mark's reply: "'Adam's Song,' 'Apple Shampoo,' 'Dammit,' 'Every Time I Look For You,' 'Go,' 'Lemmings,' 'M+Ms,' 'Man Overboard,' 'Stockholm Syndrome,' and 'Wendy Clear' from blink-182."
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Suggestion credit:
Evan - Philadelphia, PA
Peaking at #11 on the Modern Rock chart, this was blink-182's first hit single. MCA Records, which signed the band on the strength of their debut album,
Cheshire Cat, timed the single's release with their return from the Vans Warped Tour, where they took the main stage in the summer of 1997. MTV also picked up the music video and put it in heavy rotation (after previously refusing to air the playfully violent clip for "
M+M's").
Hoppus wasn't really in the depths of despair over a girl when he wrote the song, which concerns a fictional breakup. He was just sitting around plucking the guitar when a flash of inspiration struck. "In only 10 minutes, I wrote the lyrics and music," he recalled.
The band had to take a break from recording the album because Hoppus strained his vocal chords while cutting this track, which was written out of his range. His voice already wasn't in the best shape due to his smoking habit and lack of vocal warm-ups. To avoid further damage, guitarist Tom DeLonge (or Matt Skiba after DeLonge's departure) took over lead vocals on the chorus in live performances.
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In the music video, directed by Darren Doane and Ken Daurio, the band goes to the movie theater to watch a sneak preview of "Dammit" and runs into Hoppus' ex-girlfriend and her date. Hoppus attempts to fight him to win her back, but in the chaos she ends up falling for the snack bar attendant (played by the band's manager, Rick DeVoe).
Blink-182's first recording contract was with Cargo Music, a San Diego-based punk label founded by Eric Goodis. He didn't really like the band, but his son was into the skate-punk scene and convinced him to give them a deal. When other acts on the label's roster voiced their support, Goodis relented but claimed the band would never succeed. Blink proved them wrong and got signed to MCA, a major label, after their debut album got them some attention in Australia. But no one at MCA liked them either.
In a
2020 interview with 91X San Diego, DeLonge said all of the big wigs at the label were having a great time at the
Dude Ranch launch party until the album actually started playing. In less than a minute into the first song, everyone but Blink and the guy who signed them left the room. Luckily the execs' opinions didn't mirror the public's, with the album selling a million copies in the US alone.
This was included on the official soundtrack to the 1998 teen comedy Can't Hardly Wait, which takes place during a high school graduation party. In the movie, it plays when the cops show up to break it up.
It was also used in these movies:
Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003)
Bubble Boy (2001)
And these TV shows:
9-1-1 ("7.1" - 2018)
Dawson's Creek ("Boyfriend" - 1998)
Several artists have covered this song, including All Time Low, Good Charlotte, Of Mice & Men, and Pierce The Veil.
The album's producer, Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World), took credit for pushing Hoppus' vocals to the brink. "I went into it knowing Cheshire Cat and knowing Mark's style: that sing-song, talk-singing," he told MTV News in 2017. "I went into Dude Ranch thinking, I want to put some intensity behind Mark. I pushed him to the point of screaming, basically."