Touchdown Boy

By the time blink-182 started working on their debut album, Cheshire Cat, the California skate-punk trio was already earning fans around their native San Diego - but they still weren't as lucky with the ladies as some other guys they knew. One in particular inspired "Touchdown Boy," a frenetic album cut sung by Tom DeLonge about a hometown hero who gets all the girls. According to Joe Shooman, author of Blink-182: The Bands, The Breakdown & The Return, the track originally included the guy's name, but the band decided against it and toned down the tune a bit.

Shooman also noted that the interlude, which features DeLonge and co-lead vocalist Mark Hoppus trading innuendo-laden barbs about their promiscuous friend, mirrored the outrageous banter that was becoming a staple of their live performances.

The band recorded the album with Canadian producer Steve Kravac at Westbeach Recorders in Los Angeles under a tight schedule that left little time for retakes or overdubs. They returned to San Diego and did additional recording at Doubletime Studios, where they'd cut their demo album, Buddha. The Doubletime sessions were led by producer Otis Barthoulameu (frontman of the punk act Fluf) - an early champion of the band who helped get them signed to the punk label Cargo Music.