"Always" is a song by American rock band Blink-182, released on November 15, 2004 as the fourth and final single from the group's untitled fifth studio album. The song was the lowest charting single from the album, but the song's music video received extensive play on music video channels. Like much of the album, the song shows the band's 1980s influences, with the multiple-layered, heavily effected guitars and new wave synthesizers. The song can also be found on the band's 2005 compilation Greatest Hits. Background All three of the band members associated the song with the music of the 1980s. Tom DeLonge, in an interview with MTV News, described the song as a "love song." In another interview with MTV News, DeLonge explained the song and addressed the lyrics of the choruses, jokingly: Composition "Always" was written by bassist Mark Hoppus, drummer Travis Barker, and guitarist Tom DeLonge, while sung by DeLonge and Hoppus and produced by Jerry Finn. The song is composed in the key of B major and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 158 beats per minute. The vocal range spans from A3 to D7. Referred to as "the '80s song" during production, "Always" features an uptempo backbeat combined with a New Romantic-era keyboard, and pulls from new wave influences. Mike Rampton of Louder Sound described the song as "power-pop perfection". The song's outro features four separate bass guitars being played; Hoppus uses a Fender Bass VI, a Fender Precision Bass "doing two different things," and a Roland Synth Bass. Barker pulled from Missing Persons for inspiration whilst creating the song's percussion. Journalist Joe Shooman pointed out that the song's central guitar riff is remescient of The Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet" (1979). He called it "the thickest-textured Blink track of all-time," and acknowledged its tribute to 1980s synth-driven pop. Chart success and live history "Always" was announced as the fourth and final single from Blink-182 in August 2004. "It's gonna change people's lives and might actually change the world forever," guitarist Tom DeLonge jokingly predicted. It was first serviced to radio in mid-November 2004. The song was only performed twice in its original release, prior to the band’s "indefinite hiatus." It has nonetheless been performed regularly since the band's return. Reception A.D. Amorosi of The Philadelphia Inquirer, in his 2003 review of Blink-182, called the song "contagious." Consequence of