Bowling For Soup have changed some of their older lyrics which “are not politically correct anymore”.
The ‘1985’ pop punk legends have announced their biggest UK headline show to date at London’s Wembley Arena on December 13, 2025 following their upcoming tour celebrating 20 years of ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve’, and frontman Jaret Reddick has admitted he’s made a conscious decision to alter some of the words for these performances.
He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: “Lyrically, for me, there’s a few things on there that are not politically correct anymore.
“And, you know, we just change those, because 20 years is a long time, certain things are not really acceptable to say.”
Despite altering a line in deep cut ‘Next Ex Girlfriend’ and other tracks during gigs in the US, the 52-year-old rocker has only noticed a positive response from the group’s loyal fans.
He added: “I haven’t had any negative backlash at all. I’ve definitely had people who have thanked me, ‘Hey, that was very respectful. Thank you for changing that lyric’.
“I certainly would never put anything like that in a song this day and age. You know, I’m I am sympathetic to to any and all things you know that I put in my lyrics. I want to make sure that I’m being respectful to people.’ “
Jaret has always been conscious of the band and their audience, even though BFS have always “tested the boundaries”.
‘1985’ – which started life as a single for SR-71 before singer Mitch Allen let Jaret put his own stamp on it – is a perfect example of that.
He explained: “It’s just there’s a harshness, I think, to some things [in the original]. And SR-71 certainly didn’t mind pushing that envelope.
“And so he was super gracious in allowing me to to change that to the way that I that I did and and obviously it benefited everybody, because the song became an insane hit.”
Meanwhile, Jaret and bandmates Gary Wiseman and Rob Felicetti are learning to play their songs in a new way after the retirement of founding member Chris Burney due to health reasons, which was confirmed earlier this week.
It means Jaret is having to “make some adjustments” to how he plays guitar to make up for the “thickness” Chris brought to their sound with the group pushing on as a trio.
But he added: “It changes what I have to play and what Rob has to play. I’m really locked to the microphone now, I can’t really move around as much – which is fine, because I got bad knees and a bad back anyway, so I’m pretty much just singing the songs.
“But what I miss the most about him is the banter [on stage], because it’s such a big part of our band, and he’s been my security blanket for 30 years.”
Although bittersweet, it’s an exciting time for BFS, with the Wembley Arena show coming in the midst of a real upswing for them and pop punk as a whole.
Jaret said: “Even 30 years in, you’re doing the biggest show of your career. I just can’t say how thankful we are that things continue to grow and that people are still loving it, that we bring so many people together. It’s just going to be a hell of a night.”
BFS will be supported by Wheatus and Punk Rock Factory for the Wembley show, while their UK tour with the ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ group kicks off on February 5 at Blackpool’s Empress Ballroom.