Blink-182's Mark Hoppus recalls 'awkward' moment The Cure's Robert Smith 'tried to kiss' him
Mark Hoppus details the night his "hero" Robert Smith tried to kiss him in London in his tell-all memoir, 'Fahrenheit-182', out now.
Blink-182's Mark Hoppus has recalled the time The Cure's Robert Smith allegedly "tried to kiss him" after sharing a stage together in London.
The veteran pop punk trio - completed by Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker - had performed their 2003 collaboration with the 'Kiss' singer, 'All of This', at their gig at London's Wembley Arena in 2004, and afterwards, the strangest thing happened.
In his new tell-all memoir, 'Fahrenheit-182', co-frontman and bassist Hoppus, 53, recounted the bizarre moment the 65-year-old rocker seemingly tried to "make out" with him and how he has "never addressed it" with the 'Just Like Heaven' hitmaker.
The 'All The Small Things' singer further explained that the pair have meet "several times since", and though they never discussed that night, they are "totally cool".
Asked if he warned Smith about including the tale in his tome, Hoppus told Us Weekly: "No, I didn’t. I should have called him or given some kind of warning or something, but I don’t know — how do you have that conversation? 'Hey, remember when you tried to make out with me?' Because we’ve never addressed it. I’ve seen him several times since, and it’s been totally cool and nobody’s talked about it. It was just like this thing at a party after the show [in] a room full of people. Everyone was drinking, everyone was having fun. My wife and I are like, 'Alright, we’re out. See you later,' and then Robert tries to kiss me. Nobody sees it except for our drum tech and my bass tech in a room packed full of people. He was my hero. I grew up listening to this guy’s music and it changed my life forever. Then he tries to kiss me at a party and I’m like, 'I should have done that. Why not?' It’s a much better story than he tried to kiss me and it was awkward. It would’ve been rad to be like, 'Yeah, made out with my hero.'"
Asked if it was a case of never meet your heroes, he replied: "Nah, it wasn’t at all. I wasn’t bummed in the slightest. I was more, like, flabbergasted that nobody else saw it. To the point where I was just laying in bed, Skye had gone to sleep [and] finally I just picked up my phone and I called my drum tech. He answers the phone wide awake [at] 3:30 in the morning and he’s just laughing. I’m like, 'So you saw that, right?' And he goes, 'Oh, yeah, the grown man trying to make out with you? I saw that.'"
And quizzed on why he thinks Smith made the move, he suggested: "I think that he was just on one that night, feeling saucy and having a good time. He was inspired. It was such a fun show. It meant so much to us that he was on stage with us, that he sang a song on our album. Just all these dreams coming true at the same time, all coalescing at this one show in London, and then it ends in this weird thing and I just walk away, [like] what the f*** was that?"
A blurb from HarperCollins, the book's publisher, reads: "A memoir that paints a vivid picture of what it was like to grow up in the 1980s as a latchkey kid hooked on punk rock, skateboards, and MTV; Mark Hoppus shares how he came of age and forms one of the biggest bands of his generation.
"Threaded through with the very human story of a constant battle with anxiety and Mark’s public battle and triumph over cancer, 'Fahrenheit-182' is a delight for fans and also a funny, smart, and relatable memoir for anyone who has wanted to quit but kept going."
'Fahrenheit-182' is out now.
