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Mark Hoppus' new memoir Fahrenheit-182 reflects a lot on his battle with cancer, but he of course had to throw in some funny stories, including the time Robert Smith "tried to make out with" him at a party in 2004. According to Hoppus, the attempted kiss happened after The Cure frontman performed "All of This," his 2003 collab with blink-182, with the band at Wembley Stadium. He expanded on the awkward incident during a recent US Weekly interview.
"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," Hoppus recalled. "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?'" he admitted. "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. 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," Hoppus continued. "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.'"
Hoppus went on to explain how he's seen Smith several times since then and never brought it up. He also never warned him that the story was going to be published 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. I’ve seen him several times since, and it’s been totally cool and nobody’s talked about it," Hoppus said. "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, what the f**k was that?"
In more recent news, blink-182 is hitting the road with Alkaline Trio this summer. See a full list of tour dates here.