I got goosebumps, and Tom turned to look at me and mouthed 'What the fuck?' When Tom started the first notes to 'Dammit,' all 10,000 kids screamed and threw their hands in the air. On the Warped Tour in Australia Blink-182 walked out on stage and started playing to 10,000 people and this was when I realized they had made it. The song follows a common chord progression sequence of I–V–vi–IV. It is composed in the key of C major with Hoppus's vocals spanning the tonal nodes of C 4 to G 4. 'Dammit' is set in the time signature of common time, with a fast tempo of 215 beats per minute. Guitarist/vocalist Matt Skiba would also take the lead on the chorus after replacing DeLonge in 2015. You know, smoking, yelling, all that.' As a result of this incident, the chorus has always been sung by Tom DeLonge in live performances. 'But it's not a technique I would recommend for getting a good vocal sound. It sounds really raw and cool,' said Hoppus in 2001. 'I actually like my voice a lot on 'Dammit'. These factors, combined with the stress of recording 'Dammit', led Hoppus to strain his vocal cords significantly, forcing the band to cancel the final week of recording the album in December 1996.

Hoppus was having vocal problems during the recording of the album regardless, due to lack of vocal warm-ups and constant smoking.

The song was written just outside Hoppus' vocal range, requiring him to strain to sing it (the song has a noticeably rougher and scratchier vocal track than the rest of the album). The song was recorded between December 1996 and January 1997 at Big Fish Studios in Encinitas, California. Guitarist Tom DeLonge considered the song a breakthrough in the band's songwriting. Hoppus described a scenario, detailed in the lyrics, where former lovers meet in public and one is with someone new, 'It really hurts when you aren't the person feeling the love, but you have to act like it's cool to save face.' He felt the song's creation, which was spontaneous, worked to its favor: 'If you work on a song for weeks and weeks, you're forcing it.' The signature guitar line for 'Dammit' was created on an acoustic guitar that was missing two strings. The song was composed by bassist Mark Hoppusīlink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus wrote the song in a short span of time concerning a fictional breakup with a girlfriend. 'Dammit' was later featured on the band's Greatest Hits (with a drumroll added), and it has been covered by a number of artists. The song's music video was shot by directors Darren Doane and Ken Daurio, previous collaborators with the group, and depicts the trio attending a 'sneak preview' at a cinema where Hoppus attempts to win his ex-girlfriend back. The song became the band's first hit single, reaching number 11 on Billboard 's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, and receiving heavy airplay on several key US stations. It was written about a fictional breakup and the difficulty of seeing a former partner with another. Written by bassist Mark Hoppus, the song concerns maturity and growing older. ' Dammit' (sometimes subtitled ' Growing Up') is a song by American rock band Blink-182, released on September 23, 1997, as the second single from the group's second studio album, Dude Ranch (1997).

Dammit means