Blink-182's co-lead vocalist and bassist Mark Hoppus recalls the time when The Cure's frontman Robert Smith tried to make out with him.
According to Hoppus' memoire 'Fahrenheit-182, which was published two days ago, the incident took place at a party in 2004, after Smith joined the punk band on stage at Wembley Arena to sing their collaborative song 'All of This'.
The Blink-182 frontman explained that "everyone was drinking" at the party and "having fun." Smith must have been “feeling saucy and having a good time” as the singer tried to kiss Hoppus before he left the after-party with his wife.
But there is no hard feelings as Hoppus joked that he regretted not kissing the goth-rock superstar. “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.'”
"I wasn’t bummed in the slightest” the American musician joked. “I was more, like, flabbergasted that nobody else saw it.”
Hoppus clarified to Us Weekly that Smith had no idea that he had included this moment in his book.
“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,” Hoppus told Us Weekly. “I’ve seen him several times since, and it’s been totally cool and nobody’s talked about it.”
Elsewhere in Hoppus' memoir, he details his battle with cancer after being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2021. In an interview with The Guardian, Hoppus reveals that he thought he "was going to die."
While the chemo left the then 49 year-old exhausted, he said the diagnosis “brought back friendships that I hadn’t had in years”. One such friend being his band co-founder Tom DeLonge, whom he has had a long tumultuous relationship with.
Hoppus was cleared of cancer in late 2021, and joined his band members for a world tour and the release of their 2023 come-back album 'One More Time'.
