Mark Hoppus found Blink-182’s rivalry with Green Day to be “weird”.
The 53-year-old musician “grew up listening to Green Day” and was a huge fan of their music during his younger years, but friction developed between the bands during their co-headline Pop Disaster Tour in 2002.
Mark – who stars in Blink-182 alongside Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker – told NME: “That was very strange because I grew up listening to Green Day. I literally waited for the day that ‘Dookie’ came out, and I was in line waiting to buy it.
“I was a huge fan, then we’re touring with them, but it was a weird thing where Green Day were dipping at the time and Blink were ascendent.
“We were billed as co-headliners, but Blink were closing every night, and that was a strange sensation for us. Headlining over your idols is a little strange.”
Mark likened the dynamic to sporting rivals going head-to-head for victory.
The bassist also feels that the rivalry made Blink-182 “a better band”.
He explained: “It’s like athletes: we could be on different teams, but when we get on the field we’re going to try and kick your a**.
“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.”
Mark joked that the rivalry inspired Green Day to make ‘American Idiot’, their 2004 album that featured hits like ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ and ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’.
He quipped: “I think I inspired them so much they were like, ‘We have to kill Blink-182 with an awesome album called ‘American Idiot’.”
Meanwhile, Mark recently claimed that Blink-182 have found a “common goal”.
The chart-topping rock band reunited after Mark was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, and the group now cherish the time they spend together.
Mark – who is now cancer-free – told The Independent: “Everybody really respects and cherishes one another.
“We all love Blink and what we built, and we don’t want to mess that up anymore. We have a common goal.”