Cheshire Cat

Cheshire Cat is the debut studio album by blink-182, released in February 1995 on Cargo Records, recorded for approximately $5,000 and capturing the San Diego pop-punk trio at their most stripped and raw, before the mainstream commercial breakthrough that would arrive with Enema of the State in 1999. Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and Scott Raynor wrote all material; the album's 14 tracks are shorter, faster, and closer to hardcore punk influences than the melodic pop-punk of the later catalog, with 'M+Ms,' 'Carousel,' and 'Sometimes' among the principal tracks. The album did not chart on initial release but accumulated substantial sales after Enema of the State made the band famous, demonstrating the commercial long-tail of debut albums by artists who achieve subsequent major-label success. Cheshire Cat is primarily significant as a historical document of the band's pre-major-label period and as evidence of the punk and hardcore influences that the cleaner Enema production would subsequently smooth over. The album has been certified platinum in the United States through cumulative sales driven by the retrospective audience.