NEED TO KNOW
- Mark Hoppus recalls the rivalry between Blink-182 and Green Day during the Pop Disaster Tour in 2002
- Green Day served as the opener for Blink-182 since their career was in a different place than Hoppus’ band was
- Hoppus goes into more detail about the competitive nature in his memoir Fahrenheit-182
Mark Hoppus knows there’s nothing wrong with a little competition.
In an interview with NME published on Friday, May 16, the Blink-182 guitarist reflected on his experience touring with Green Day in 2002. Hoppus, 53, called it “very strange” since he was such a big fan of the band, made up of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool, growing up.
“I literally waited for the day that Dookie came out, and I was in line waiting to buy it,” Hoppus, who released his memoir Fahrenheit-182 in April, told the publication.
When Green Day and Blink-182 (Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker) went on the Pop Disaster Tour together in 2002, the bands were in different places in their careers and an unspoken rivalry was born.
In 2002, Green Day was two years away from releasing one of their most enduring albums, American Idiot, in 2004. Two years earlier, they had released Warning, which tanked.
Blink-182, meanwhile, was hot off their first albums Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket ahead of the April to June 2002 tour that stopped throughout the U.S. and Canada.
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“We were billed as co-headliners, but Blink were closing every night, and that was a strange sensation for us,” Hoppus said. “Headlining over your idols is a little strange.”
Hoppus added that they thought they were “hot s—” as the first punk band to ever had a No. 1 record. “Green Day walked in ready to fight – musically of course, they were super cool to us the whole time.”
Offstage, Armstrong, 53, was “super nice” but there was a shift in character when it was showtime. “It’s like athletes,” Hoppus explained. “We could be on different teams, but when we get on the field we’re going to try and kick your ass.”
“We didn’t come with that attitude, but they did. They blew us off the stage the first few nights and we were like, ‘Oh s—, we have to up our game.’ “
“Then it was this battle back-and-forth about who could put on the better show and who could win people over. It definitely made us a better band,” Hoppus continued. He added that their competitiveness might have inspired their next album, American Idiot.
Hoppus’ book features anecdotes about his music career and personal life, along with his health journey after being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2021 and the evolution of Blink-182.
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Fahrenheit-182 goes into deeper detail about the tension offstage, where “some nights we drank together like old war buddies. Other nights we got into screaming matches with their manager in the hallways,” per Rolling Stone.
Hoppus said opening for Blink-182 must have been “a difficult pill to swallow” for Green Day. The two bands haven’t toured together since.
Up next for Blink-182 is their Missionary Impossible Tour, kicking off in Florida in late August and hitting several cities with a final stop in California in October.
Fahrenheit-182 is available for purchase wherever books are sold.
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