Background and Recording
Beginning in the summer of 1997, Blink-182 would enter an extended period of touring to support their second studio album, Dude Ranch. The group had played a handful of dates on the Vans Warped Tour 1996, a lifestyle tour promoting skateboarding and punk rock music. However, upon Dude Ranch's release and popularity, Blink-182 would play every date of the 1997 tour worldwide with influences NOFX and Social Distortion. In late 1997 and early 1998, the band would be on the road for nine months straight, only coming home to San Diego for days at a time before striking out on the next tour. "When we did our longest tour stretch, it was right when I started dating my fiancee," recalled guitarist Tom DeLonge. "We were all new and in love, and I had to leave. It was just, 'Hey, I'll see you in nine months.' It was really hard."
Hoppus penned "Adam's Song" to vent these frustrations and the loneliness he experienced on the tour; while the other members had longtime girlfriends to return home to, Hoppus was single. In addition, the song was inspired by an article about a teenager's suicide and the note he left for his parents. When Hoppus brought the song to the band, the trio reacted positively but showed reluctance to add it to the record, believing the dark subject matter might off-put listeners. Although usually vocals would take many alternate takes to complete, Hoppus completed the vocal track for "Adam's Song" in a single take. The song is written in C major, with the strings on the guitar tuned a whole step down. The song makes a reference to "Come as You Are" by Nirvana, which includes the lyric "Take your time, hurry up, the choice is yours, don't be late." "Adam's Song," in turn, includes the lyric "I took my time, I hurried up, The choice was mine, I didn't think enough."
"Adam's Song" is commonly referred to as the song when Blink-182 got "serious", being their first well-known slow-paced song. The song is placed in between the catchy and fast-paced songs "Dysentery Gary" and "All the Small Things" on Enema of the State. The song caused a stir in 2000 when it was set to replay indefinitely on a nearby stereo as 17-year-old Greg Barnes, a survivor of the Columbine High School massacre, hanged himself in the garage of his family's home. Hoppus, the song's writer, has insisted that the song is anti-suicide. During their 2009 summer tour, after the passing of DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, Blink-182 stopped playing "Adam's Song" for the remainder of the tour and have not played it live since. In 2012 Hoppus stated that the song may be "permanently retired" from their setlist because of the history attached to it.
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