All the Small Things
"All the Small Things" is a song by American rock band Blink-182. It was the second single and eighth track released from the band's third album, Enema of the State (1999). The track was composed primarily by guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge as an ode to his then girlfriend. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Jerry Finn, the song was created with the intention of shipping it to radio, as the trio felt they needed a single "really catchy and basic."

The single was released to radio on September 28, 1999, and promptly charted worldwide, becoming a number one hit on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart, and crossing over to pop radio and peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The song remains the band's most successful single to date, being their only song to break the Top 40. The song charted within the top 20 in ten other countries, and gained greater significance due to its accompanying music video, which parodies videos by boy bands such as Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, and 'N Sync as well as videos by pop singers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. The video was popular in rotation on MTV's Total Request Live, leading to criticism from those who felt their basis for parody was thin.

"All the Small Things" was selected by Rolling Stone as one of the "100 Greatest Pop Songs", and is listed in the 2010 book 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die.

Background
By the end of the 1990s, Blink-182 were on their way to becoming one of the biggest rock bands of the turn of the century. The trio—composed of vocalist/guitarist Tom DeLonge, vocalist/bassist Mark Hoppus, and new addition drummer Travis Barker—had come up playing in Southern Californian punk clubs and on the Warped Tour festival circuit. Their penchant for off-color humor and fast-paced punk rock had caught the interest of Universal Music Group, which signed the band to its MCA label. With a higher budget and assistance from the veteran engineer Jerry Finn—who mixed Green Day's Dookie (1994)—the band set out to make their next album, which came to be called Enema of the State.

"All the Small Things" can be traced back to when the trio first began developing songs for the album at their rehearsal space at DML Studios in their hometown of San Diego, California. DeLonge had just bought his first home there, and bought two to three thousand dollars worth of foam padding to insulate his room. By this point, most of the tracks on Enema of the State had been written, but DeLonge felt the album needed "just one song that was really catchy and basic." "I remember thinking, 'The label's gonna want a song for the radio – so here's one,'" said DeLonge. "It was obvious from the beginning it would fit that format." DeLonge had wanted to write a track including "na na na's" as an ode to one of his favorite bands, the Ramones. Early demos listed it as "Ramones-style song", and the original working title of the track was "Babycakes-Buttermuffin".

DeLonge wrote the track about his girlfriend Jennifer Jenkins, to whom he was later married from 2001 to 2019. The lyrics "She left me roses by the stairs / Surprises let me know she cares" are based on a time Jenkins did just that after DeLonge returned home late from recording.

Composition

"All the Small Things" is credited to Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus. Though Barker helped write the songs on Enema of the State, only Hoppus and DeLonge received songwriting credits, as Barker was technically a hired musician, not official band member. The song is two minutes and forty-eight seconds long. The song is composed in the key of C major and is set in time signature of common time with a driving tempo of 150 beats per minute. DeLonge's vocal range spans from G4 to F5. The guitar riff for the song cycles around chords C major, F and G (I, IV and V in C), a familiar chord progression. The texture on the track is due to several overdubs playing various inversions and extensions of the main chords. The bass guitar stays on C while the guitars move to F, creating a 2nd inversion chord. The song utilizes short lyrical phrases in each verse, sometimes only four to five syllables.

Reception
"All the Small Things" introduced Blink-182 to new listeners on a mass scale. "This was the song that took the band from theaters and clubs into arenas," observed Andy Greene at Rolling Stone. It has been credited with popularizing pop-punk in the mainstream. Initial critical reviews were positive. Q called the song "one of those power-pop tunes that the Americans get so right," joking, "[it] has more hooks than the Fishing Channel." Gavin Edwards of Rolling Stone termed it an "irresistible pop-punk anthem," while it was labeled "a pop punk watershed" by Jonah Weiner of Blender. Steve Appleford at the Los Angeles Times praised the song as "angsty, juvenile, endearingly cute and loaded with irresistible hooks," while Mikael Wood, writing for the same publication, observed that the tune "deliver[s] a potent mixture of humor and melancholy, hope and resignation."

The song is now widely viewed as cross-generational classic. Maeve McDermott, for USA Today, called it the band's defining hit. Steven Hyden, writing for now-defunct culture website Grantland, said "I've come to view Blink as arguably the best radio singles band of its era; songs like "All the Small Things" stand the test of time as ace pop tunes." Amanda Petrusich, in a piece analyzing the band's longevity for The New Yorker, writes: "[Blink's] finest moments are barked in aggrieved-teen shorthand, like this verse from "All the Small Things": 'Late night / Come home / Work sucks / I know.'" Tom Breihan at Stereogum ranked the "soaringly sincere" ballad at a 10/10, while Jeremy Gordon at Pitchfork viewed the song as "surprisingly sensitive [...] the fizzy pleasure of the melody captures the Hallmark simplicity of young love."

Chart performance
The single debuted at number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week of December 4, 1999 and eventually peaked at number six, the highest Blink-182 has received on that chart.   The song also reached number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks.  The song also achieved massive success in other countries, most notably in the United Kingdom, where it entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in March 2000, beaten to the top of the chart by "Bag It Up" by Geri Halliwell. "All the Small Things" has since sold 1,200,000 copies in the UK and been certified double Platinum. In Australia, "All the Small Things" peaked at number eight on the ARIA Singles Chart. The single was certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association. It was one of the top-selling singles in America in 2000, with Nielsen SoundScan estimating its sales at 500,000 copies. The song has accumulated over 500,000 plays on US pop radio as of December 2011.

Music video
The music video for "All the Small Things" was directed by Marcos Siega, and mocks boy bands and contemporary pop videos. It features the trio doing parodies of other popular boy-bands such as Backstreet Boys (most famously the "I Want It That Way" video), 98 Degrees, and NSYNC. The video also features parodies of Britney Spears' "Sometimes", and Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" video. It became the most successful video from Enema of the State, and its constant airplay on MTV cemented the band's image as video stars. The music video was shot on location from August 5–6 at Van Nuys Airport and Santa Monica State Beach. It premiered September 20, 1999, on MTV's Making the Video. The video was a major success on MTV's Total Request Live (TRL), where it was retired after 65 days on the countdown. Hoppus was originally uncertain if the idea was funny enough, and conceded he was then not as familiar with the teen-pop videos it aims to lampoon.

The video was named "Best Video" at the 2000 Kerrang! Awards, as well as nabbing "Best Group Video" at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. "I was a little surprised it went over so well," recalled Marcos Siega, director of the clip, commenting that he felt it would offend viewers of TRL and boy band fans. "I think we had the opposite effect. In some ways, I think that video put Blink at that sort of pop level with those other bands. We were making fun of them, but it kind of became [what it was making fun of]." "Blink now had the backing of a major record company […] just like the synthesized pop acts they were spoofing," said British journalist Tim Footman. "In what way were they less 'pop' than Sugar Ray and 98 Degrees?" Matt Diehl, author of the book My So-Called Punk, called the basis for satire thin: "To seasoned ears, Blink-182 sounded and looked just as manufactured as the pop idols they were poking fun at." In a similar vein, in 2011, The New York Times wrote, "Fame doesn’t discriminate based on origin, though: soon the group was as famous as those it was parodying." Kelefa Sanneh, writing for The New York Times, described the video as prescient, suggesting "in the next few years top-selling punk-inspired acts like Avril Lavigne and Good Charlotte helped turn Blink-182's parody into reality as punk rock became the new teen pop."

During rehearsals for the video, bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus met his future wife, Skye Everly. According to a 2004 interview, Everly – who was then an MTV talent executive – initially said no to dating Hoppus. "Tom [DeLonge] always used to embarrass me. Any girl he'd talk to, he'd say, 'Hey, you wanna go on a date with Mark?' He asked Skye [Everly], my wife, who looked at me and said 'No.' That's how it all started." Hoppus married Everly on December 2, 2000.

In the performance segment of the music video, model Jessica Jackson holds up a sign that reads "TRAVIS I'M PREGNANT". This part of the clip was referenced by Barker and his wife Kourtney Kardashian in June 2023; the couple revealed they were expecting a baby at a blink-182 show in Los Angeles by having Kardashian hold up the same sign.

Legacy
The song has been a staple of the band's live performances since its release. Its ubiquity has made it complex for the threesome: Barker noted that over time, playing the song became tiresome. "With 'All the Small Things,' my band at one point were like, 'We never want to play that song, and we never want to hear it ever again.' And then it comes around, and you’re like, 'This song is actually awesome.' And you’re proud of what you wrote." Hoppus concurred: "It’s a real a simple song, we’ve played it billion times, everyone’s sick of it. But now I just remember how lucky we are to be onstage playing them." DeLonge's voice has deepened over the years, leading him to mock the original recording in later years – in a 2022 interview, he compared his vocals on the song to Hanson and quipped, "I sound like I'm fucking four years old."

The song proved influential on the pop punk genre, with a host of young musicians emulating its sound. Former Simple Plan bassist David Desrosiers noted that the song "blended punk attitude with pop songwriting so much better than other bands." Judah & the Lion drummer Spencer Cross, meanwhile, has noted the song was "one of the first songs I remember getting hooked on, playing it over and over again."

The song has become a popular karaoke choice, particularly for millennials who came of age listening to the song. In a 2022 piece, GQ writer Chris Gayomali humorously suggests that "if you were born in the 1980s or early '90s, even if you were never a fan or a willful listener of a Blink song, the lyrics to their biggest hits—"All the Small Things", "I Miss You"—are somehow already encoded into your subconscious, sitting there, just a few blood-alcohol-content percentages away from being karaoke'd without a teleprompter." Billboard columnist Josh Glicksman ranked it among the best karaoke singalongs, observing: "Its communal nature affords it flexibility [...] Bring out every air instrument in the arsenal."

Accolades

* denotes an unordered list

In popular culture
"All the Small Things" has seen extensive use in popular culture, covered by a number of artists from different genres, and soundtracking video games, movies, and television programs. The band has performed the song on several late-night talk shows, including twice on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno a decade apart, and on Saturday Night Live during the song's original promotional push. The song was synched for usage in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Boston Legal, and for the band's 2003 guest appearance on The Simpsons; it has also been referenced in the Family Guy episode It's A Trap!, where Peter Griffin mistakes it as a Sum 41 song. In film, the song was licensed for use in Charlie's Angels (2000),Clockstoppers (2002),  and Hope Springs (2003). The song has been used frequently in music video games; "All the Small Things" is a playable track in Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: On Tour, Guitar Hero Live, Rock Band, Rock Band Track Pack Volume 1 and its iOS port. When the Guitar Hero series relaunched with Guitar Hero Live in 2015, it was among the game's most-played tracks on its online service. Covers are present in the video games Rock Revolution and Donkey Konga.

A 2020 advertising campaign from Dunkin', announcing autumn drinks, used a pun alluding to the tune: "All the Fall Things". It was used that same year in a commercial for BMW. The song has been covered by All Time Low, Kelly Clarkson, Charlie Puth, GFOTY, Evan Stephens Hall, Kidz Bop, Nick and Joe Jonas, Avril Lavigne, Machine Gun Kelly, Middle Kids, Twenty One Pilots, Weezer,  and Postmodern Jukebox (which is used in the 2022 John Lewis Christmas advert). It has also seen a dance remix by DJ Sharkoffs. The virtual band Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for their 2008 album Undeniable, and the song was used for the characters' live-action film and accompanying video game. The song's association with the characters has prompted Hoppus to joke at concerts, "Not to brag, [but] you might recognize this next song from the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie."

Like many famous rock songs, "All the Small Things" has come to be used in chants at sporting events. In 2019, the NHL team the Colorado Avalanche began playing the song during the third period of home games with a comfortable lead and after overtime wins. The tradition has gained more prominence as the 2021–22 team won the Stanley Cup final. The Athletic book about the 2021-22 team was titled Carry Me Home, a lyric from the song's refrain. Hoppus acknowledged the Avalanche's tradition on Twitter, calling it "amazing", and appeared at the 2022 home opener to lead the crowd in singing the song, and remarking, "Thank you so much for taking our band along or the ride, it means the absolute world to us."

Stand-up comedian Adam Devine referenced the song in a routine that aired on Comedy Central's Goddamn Comedy Jam, where he revealed that he had lost his virginity to the song in high school.

Track listings

All live tracks on the UK release were recorded at the Electric Ballroom, London, England, on November 30, 1999.

Credits and personnel

Original version
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Enema of the State.

Locations
Recorded at Signature Sound, Studio West, San Diego California; Mad Hatter Studios, The Bomb Factory, Los Angeles, California; Conway Recording Studios, Hollywood, California; Big Fish Studios, Encinitas, California
Mixed at Conway Recording Studios, Hollywood, California; South Beach Studios, Miami, Florida

Personnel

Blink-182
Tom DeLonge – lead guitar, lead vocals, songwriting
Mark Hoppus – bass guitar, backing vocals, songwriting
Travis Barker – drums, percussion
Additional musicians
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – keyboards
Production
Jerry Finn – production
Tom Lord-Alge – mixing engineer
Sean O'Dwyer – recording engineer
Darrel Harvey – assistant engineer
John Nelson – assistant engineer
Robert Read – assistant engineer
Mike Fasano – drum technician
Rick DeVoe – management
Gary Ashley – A&R
Brian Gardner – mastering engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Jedward version

"All the Small Things" served as the second single from Irish pop rap duo Jedward's debut studio album, Planet Jedward. The single was released on July 16, 2010. The song performed relatively modestly, peaking at number 21 on the Irish Charts and at number 6 on the UK Indie Chart.

Music video
The music video for "All The Small Things" premiered on YouTube on July 15, 2010. The video was filmed in June 2010. The video is inspired by the original video by Blink-182, parodying popular music videos that have been seen worldwide. The videos parodied by Jedward include "SOS" by the Jonas Brothers, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" by Beyoncé, "Telephone" by Lady Gaga, and "...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears. The video was given its first television airplay by 4Music on July 16, 2010. Since its premiere, the video has more than 2 million views on YouTube.

Charts

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links
 

1999 singles
1999 songs
2010 singles
American power pop songs
Blink-182 songs
Colorado Avalanche
Cultural depictions of Britney Spears
Jedward songs
MCA Records singles
Music videos directed by Marcos Siega
Songs written by Mark Hoppus
Songs written by Tom DeLonge
Universal Music Group singles