Pop-punk rock fans can rejoice at the return of one of the most iconic bands of the modern music scene.

Blink-182 has returned after one of the most controversial break-ups in a long time. Six years after the split, Blink-182 delivered one of its most powerful albums yet.

Neighborhoods was released on Sept. 27 and after my first listen, all I could think was the Blink I had grown up on was back. Though Blink-182 started in 1992, the first album Cheshire Cat wasn’t released until 1994. However, the band didn’t find great success until 1997’s release of Dude Ranch. 1.5 million copies of the album were sold worldwide and “Dammit” became one of Blink’s biggest hits.

With 1998 brought one of the greatest albums from Blink, Enema of the State. Three hit singles came from Enema: “What’s My Age Again,” “All the Small Things” and “Adam’s Song”. Over 15 million copies were sold worldwide  helping solidify Blink as one of the most influential bands of the time.

“Enema of the State was that forbidden fruit for a young, clueless kid in middle school looking for a bit of hidden angst and rebellion. This was around the time when ‘explicit content’ labels began showing up on compact disks and Blink-182 was a band that I loved to listen to out of auditory range of my parents,” said Greg Vollmer, an SDSU senior. “Little did I know that this potty-mouthed, punk rock band from Southern California would slowly evolve in maturity just as I have.”

Before Neighborhoods, Blink’s last album was released in 2003. In 2005, tragedy struck the music world when Blink-182 announced an indefinite hiatus, which is simply a nice euphemism for “break up.”

Each member went his separate way and found individual success, until September 2008, when drummer Travis Barker nearly lost his life in a devastating plane crash. Through visits from bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus and frontman and guitarist Tom DeLonge, the trio was able to begin to patch up the differences left hanging from 2005.

At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Hoppus announced the reunion of Blink-182, and in May 2009, the band returned to the stage for the first time since 2005.

Without Blink-182, many of the bands we all enjoy today would not exist. Read any interview with the pop-punk bands of the 21st Century and a majority will tell you Blink-182 is one of their biggest influences.

Blink didn’t just change the music scene. This band has changed people.

“Blink-182 will forever hold a special place in my punk-rock heart and the side of my ribs. This summer, I decided to get their notorious smiley face logo tattooed on my side,” Vollmer said.

Neighborhoods is a powerful album that displays the energy and passion for music that Blink-182 set the stage with when they started back in 1992. These guys have honed their skills and now, they have returned with a vengeance for a brand new era of music.