Mark Hoppus

Summary

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Pod Meets World: Mark Hoppus

Podcast: Pod Meets World
Host: Danielle Fishel (with guest Mark Hoppus)
Episode Date: January 7, 2026
Summary by: Podcast Summarizer

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Episode Overview

Danielle Fishel (Topanga from Boy Meets World) launches her new Teen Beat interview series with an intimate, humorous, and nostalgia-filled conversation with Mark Hoppus, the iconic co-founder of Blink-182. Danielle and Mark discuss their formative, often awkward adolescent years, the grind of building a band, family influences, parenting, and the throughlines from the ‘90s to today. Mark reflects on his unlikely rise from goth teen to pop punk royalty, his musical beginnings, and the small, meaningful moments that colored his journey. The episode debuts the original "Teen Beat" theme song, written and performed by Hoppus.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Theme Song Origin and Collaboration

• Danielle reveals Mark wrote and performed the official Teen Beat theme song, debuting at episode’s end.
• Mark’s inspiration:
  • The theme grew from a late-night riff. Connected via Danielle’s husband Jensen (“your kind husband and my friend,” 06:16), he shaped an old idea into an energetic jingle.
  • Quote:

    "I love being creative, and I. Working with my friends, and I'm very glad that it will live. Live with you." (Mark, 07:04)

  • Reflects the playful, DIY spirit at the heart of both their careers.

2. Teenage Firsts: Kisses, Goth Phase, and Parental Rebellion

• Mark shares his first kiss:

  • 14 years old, awkward, “French kiss” from a girl he didn’t reciprocate feelings for.
  • Quote:

    "Her tongue was very invasive, and I didn't really feel like kissing her… I went inside and I was really disturbed by it, and I turned up the Cure song, ‘The Kiss’... ‘your tongue's like poison, so swollen it fills up my mouth.’ And that's exactly how it felt." (Mark, 07:24)

  • Danielle counters with her own “40s movie-style” on-set first kiss at age 12.

• Mark’s “goth” transformation:

  • Inspired by the Cure; black eyeliner, red lipstick, teased hair.
  • Tension with his conservative, “baby boomer” dad, who nonetheless took it in stride.
  • Quote:

    "He just kind of shook his head and was like, just, okay, just whatever. Plus, I'm Gen X. And my parents really just mostly left me alone." (Mark, 13:20)

3. Early Musical Influences and Family

• Parents' classic music taste (Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder).
• Hearing the Cure was pivotal—sparked Mark’s desire to play bass and adopt a musical identity.
• Acquiring his first bass:
  • In exchange for painting his stepmom’s DC condo in humid summer (with makeup melting off his face).
  • Bass still in his possession, and was in the Fender Museum. (22:41)

4. Smoking: Rebellion and Regret

• Both Mark and Danielle recount their first-forbidden cigarettes, getting caught, and subsequent long-term habits.
• Mark’s dad’s reaction:

  "'Are you smoking?' And I was like, yeah. He goes, 'do you smoke?' I go, 'yeah, a little bit.' And he's like, 'come on, Mark, you're smarter than that. You know it's bad for you.'" (14:52)

5. Blink-182 Origins and Early Struggles

• Moving to San Diego:

  • Forced by his dad to “grow up,” Mark transitions from his small desert town to San Diego community college.
  • Sister sets him up with Tom DeLonge (“blind friend date,” 31:36), who had a room in his garage.
  • That night, they write “Carousel.”
  • Quote:

    "We started playing music and laughing and hanging out. And that night we wrote a song that we still play today. It's called Carousel." (Mark, 31:38)

• Formation of the band:

  • Joined by Scott (first drummer), soon playing backyard parties.
  • Mark’s dad didn’t believe the band was a success until they played the Jay Leno Show alongside Richard Simmons.
  • Quote:

    "My dad didn't think our band was successful until... we played on the Jay Leno show." (Mark, 32:52)

6. MTV, Fan Culture, and Meeting His Wife

• MTV’s impact: a badge of honor for '90s kids and Blink’s career.
• How Mark met his wife:
  • She was an MTV executive; several chance meetings at music events.
  • Tom DeLonge tried to “wingman”, but she initially declined Mark’s advances.
  • “Had a date that night with Melissa Joan Hart... didn’t connect. She [Sky] called later—talked for hours... married within a year.” (25:00–26:04)

7. Parenthood and Passing the Torch

• Mark’s son, now 23, works as a programmer on Call of Duty.

• Mark admits skepticism at his son’s childhood video game ambition, paralleling his own father’s doubts about music.

• Quote:

  "Playing music in a band is something that so many people want... Why did you think video game programming was something like that was never going to happen?"
  "Just because when you talk to anybody, any like, kid, boy especially... they're like, yeah, I want to play video games." (28:07)

• Video games: Not just a pastime—helped his son's development and became a shared connection.

8. Band Dynamics, Humor, and Longevity

• Blink-182 as a classic trio—never considered extra members.
• On-stage antics for their own amusement; sense of humor is “so stupid” and unchanged since teens (41:39).
• Stories of on-stage pranks and pushing boundaries, e.g., the “Satan” vocal effect story.
• Quote:

  "Tom and I... after the show, get on the plane and we're just making dick jokes on a private jet... It's so funny. I love it. It's great." (Mark, 42:11)

9. Social Media

• Both confess heavy, reluctant use:
  • Mark:

    "Adult Mark has enough trouble staying off social media. I don't think teenage Mark would have done much better. It's awful. I hate it." (42:24)

  • Danielle:

    "I know. I hate it. And I also can't stay away from it." (42:34)

10. The “Teen Beat” Theme Song — Creation & Family

• The episode closes with Mark’s debut of the theme song—a collaboration with his wife and son shouting “Teen Beat” into his phone on New Year's Day.
• Quote:

  "We're, like, sitting in our kitchen going Teen Beat into my phone and sending it to the engineer." (Mark, 45:11)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Her tongue was very invasive... I was like, I’m not ready for this. I don’t feel like this about you yet.” (Mark Hoppus, 07:24)
• “He just kind of shook his head and was like, just, okay, just whatever. Plus, I’m Gen X. And my parents really just mostly left me alone.” (Mark, 13:20)
• "I saw the Cure on MTV, the Just Like Heaven video. And Simon Gallup, the bassist from the Cure, just looks so cool. And there was something about the bass that I was drawn to." (Mark, 21:54)
• “When Tom gets on the microphone, he acts like Satan... and he says, 'Hey kids, I’m here to suck your blood,' it’s a little too far.” (Mark, recounting band shenanigans, 41:27)
• "Tom and I... after the show, get on the plane and we’re just making dick jokes on a private jet with... champagne and... caviar.” (Mark, 42:11)
• “I love being creative, and I. Working with my friends, and I’m very glad that it will live with you.” (Mark, on the theme song, 07:04)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Teen Beat Theme Song Origin: 06:06 – 07:10
• First Kiss Stories: 07:17 – 09:03
• Goth Phase and Family: 11:57 – 13:48
• Smoking Confessions: 14:37 – 17:19
• Mark Meets Tom (Birth of Blink-182): 31:36 – 32:06
• Meeting His Wife & MTV Influences: 23:17 – 26:04
• Richard Simmons and Jay Leno Show: 33:06 – 34:29
• Forming the Trio (with Travis): 39:01 – 41:09
• On-Stage Humor and Band's Personality: 41:27 – 42:19
• Social Media Reflection: 42:24 – 42:41
• Theme Song Family Shout: 44:06 – 45:16

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Tone & Style

True to both Danielle and Mark, the episode is playful, nostalgic, and grounded by candid, self-deprecating humor. Their stories fuse ‘90s pop culture touchstones with universal coming-of-age awkwardness and a peek behind the music industry curtain. The episode delivers both fan service and genuine personal insight.

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Final Note

For fans of Boy Meets World, Blink-182, and the broader world of ‘90s-’00s youth culture, this conversation is equal parts entertaining, enlightening, and warmly human—anchored by Mark Hoppus’s disarming candor and Danielle Fishel’s amiable curiosity. The original “Teen Beat” theme song, crafted with love, well encapsulates the spirit of the show: both catchy and authentically youthful.

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For more awkward teenage stories and future episodes, follow @TeenBeatPod and visit teenbeatpod.com.

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Transcript

[Mark Hoppus]

This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.

[Brad Palumbo]

The social media trend that's landing some gen zers in jail, the progressive media darling whose public meltdown got her fired, and the massive TikTok boycott against Target. That actually makes no sense. You won't hear about these online stories in the mainstream media, but you can keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things happening online in media and in politics with the Brad vs. Everyone podcast. Listen to the Brad vs. Everyone podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple PODC or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Camille Stewart Gloucester]

Whether it is getting swatted or just hateful messages online, there is a lot of harm and even just reading the comments.

[Dr. Joy Harden Bradford]

That's cybersecurity expert Camille Stewart Gloucester on the Therapy for Black Girls podcast. Every season is a chance to grow. And the Therapy for Black Girls podcast is here to walk with you. I'm Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford, and each week we dive into real conversations that help you move with more clarity and confidence. This episode we're breaking down what really happens to your information online and how to protect yourself with intention. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Danielle Fishel]

Back in 2016, we said, let's do a podcast. Little did we know it would last 10 years. I mean, but here's the thing.

[Camille Stewart Gloucester]

Stay out of the forest.

[Danielle Fishel]

You're in a cult. Call your dad.

[Ad Council/Pivotal Representative]

This is terrible. Keep going, you guys. Stay sexy.

[Danielle Fishel]

Don't get murdered. Elvis, do you want a cookie? A cookie? My favorite Murder turns 10 this month. Join us for new episodes every Thursday on the Exactly Right network. Listen to my favorite murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Goodbye.

[Ad Council/Pivotal Representative]

The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear?

[Child Speaker]

I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success.

[Ad Council/Pivotal Representative]

Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well being at sounded out together.org that's sounded out together.org brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, I'm just jumping in here. There's no theme song yet because we are going to get to that big debut later. But first, hello and welcome to Teen Beat, a brand new interview show hosted by me, Danielle Fishel, podcaster, TV director, recent celebrity ballroom dancer, mother of two and as proven by the headshot on the wall of my dry cleaners. I am the former child actor known as Topanga from the 90s TV family sitcom Boy Meets World. And as a result of that role, my entire teenage existence from the age of 12 to 19 was in front of both a live studio audience and millions of viewers at home. From my first kiss to my first haircut, absolutely everything was caught on camera. So now, 30 years later, it's time to turn the tables. My goal here on Teen Beat is to sit down with interesting people who have accomplished interesting things in hopes that learning about their untelevised upbringings will help us understand who they are today. Since their first pimple wasn't also part of a TGIF block of programming, the least they can do is share it with me now. I gave you my childhood. It's time we hear yours. And for the first Teen Beat episode ever, I think I have found the perfect guest. Because no matter what generation you like to claim, chances are your Coming of Age soundtrack included his voice. He was present for your first crush, your newly licensed long drives down a highway, and a majority of your bad decisions, including all of those fourth meal Taco Bell runs of the late 90s and early 2000s. He's an architect of the entire pop punk scene, somehow taking his underground rock childhood interests and bringing its sensibility, musicality and immature humor to not only the TRL countdown, but to mainstream audiences around the globe. If Warped Tour was a contagious disease, and for many years it was, he was patient zero. With sales totaling over 50 million records worldwide, three number one albums, seven songs in the hot 118 million Spotify listeners per month, a Coachella headlining surprise, and over half a million tickets sold during their 2023 reunion tour, their highest grossing yet. They have proven that 30 years after their debut album first hit shelves, they are stronger than ever. And his 2025 book, Fahrenheit 182, A Memoir, debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list and chronicled two things we have in common. A midlife cancer battle and the ability to write melodic anthems that will withstand the test of time. The crown is heavy for us both. He may have been instrumental in your awkward teenage years, but now it's time to find out what his were like. Welcome to Teen Beat. The man who once wrote the lyric, I want to see some naked dudes. That's why I built this pool. It's founding member of Blink 182, Mark Hoppus.

[Mark Hoppus]

Hello. I sound really cool. When you laid all that like that. That's rad. Okay. Yeah. Let's go. Now. I feel very accomplished.

[Danielle Fishel]

You are very accomplished, and you are very cool. Thank you for being here with me. This is really quite an honor.

[Mark Hoppus]

Thank you. Glad to be here.

[Danielle Fishel]

Not only were you kind enough to share your time with us, but we somehow convinced you to write and perform the official Teen Beat with Danielle Fishel theme song, which we will be debuting at the end of this episode. And I'm going to admit it now, it's too good for me. Like, basically, anything we do after that is just gonna let everyone down. So can you share the inspiration behind what everyone's gonna hear later on with the theme song?

[Mark Hoppus]

A couple weeks ago, I was. It was late at night. I was downstairs in my studio, and I was playing my acoustic guitar, and I had this riff. And just a few days later, Jensen, your kind husband and my friend for the past, whatever, 20 years, hit me up and said, hey, Danielle's doing a new show. Would you be interested in writing a theme song? Do you have anything laying around? Some old ideas. And I went through a bunch of old ideas, and I didn't really have anything that I loved, but I had this one thing that I thought was really cool, and I thought, well, maybe I can change the lyrics or maybe I can rearrange a little bit. And so I sent it over, and Jensen played it for you, and it's like, yep, that's perfect.

[Danielle Fishel]

It's great. We love it.

[Mark Hoppus]

It's great. We'll. We'll take it. So I was like, all right, cool. So I had my engineer come over and do it correctly and sent it in and got it in just in time because it was the holidays, and my engineer was gone, and I was gone. And so we put it together and got it in, what, two days ago?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, I mean, the. And it's all perfect. It's just. That's the way it was supposed to happen. Thank you so much for putting in all that effort over the holidays.

[Mark Hoppus]

Glad to do it. I love being creative, and I. Working with my friends, and I'm very glad that it will live. Live with you.

[Danielle Fishel]

It will live forever with me. So you're my first guest. I thought maybe we could start by talking about another first.

[Mark Hoppus]

Okay.

[Danielle Fishel]

First kiss. What do you remember about this big teenage moment?

[Mark Hoppus]

My first kiss. I was literally moving from the town that I lived in in the middle of the desert. Ridgecrest, California. I was 14, hadn't been kissed yet.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

And there was a girl who kind of had a crush on Me and wanted to say goodbye and want to, like, give me a card or something before I left. And we were standing in my front yard, and she gave me a kiss. And it was a French kiss. And her tongue was very invasive, and I didn't really feel like kissing her, but she was, like, grabby, and she kind of like. She kind of kissed me forcefully.

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

Wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

Like a weighted blanket kiss.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah, like. Like a little more than I was ready for. But I was like, okay, cool. And then I said, all right, well, I'll see you when I move back in a year. Because my. My dad was moving away from RIDGECREST To Washington, D.C. to work at the Pentagon for a year. And I went inside and I was really disturbed by it, and I turned up the Cure song, the Kiss. Yeah, really loud. It's this really long song. It's the first song on Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. And it says, kiss me, kiss me, kiss me. Your tongue's like poison, so swollen it fills up my mouth. And that's exactly how it felt. I was like, I'm not ready for this. I don't feel like this about you yet. And so that was my first kiss. Wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

Do you think she heard the song playing from outside?

[Mark Hoppus]

I doubt it. I doubt it. But, yeah, that was my first real kiss. And I was like, that's weird.

[Camille Stewart Gloucester]

That was weird.

[Mark Hoppus]

There's a lot of tongue and there's a lot of stuff and there's a lot of saliva involved.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that. That's a. That's an awkward first kiss story. Mine. Mine was al. Mine was in front of a bunch of people, but it was not a French kiss, just a kiss kiss. Just a long peck on the lips.

[Mark Hoppus]

Like. Like old. Like 40s movie style.

[Danielle Fishel]

Exactly, 40s movie style. With two 12 year olds who had never kissed and now are doing it in front of a live studio audience. And my grandparents and my parents.

[Mark Hoppus]

Was there an intimacy coordinator at that point?

[Danielle Fishel]

No, intimacy coordinator. We were just. We were just thrust in there.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Which is probably for the best, to be honest.

[Dr. Joy Harden Bradford]

Were.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you consider yourself in any way a ladies man?

[Mark Hoppus]

Oh, no.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

No, no, not at all. I didn't have any ladies at that point. No, the opposite.

[Danielle Fishel]

Do you remember any bad dates?

[Mark Hoppus]

You went on bad dates? I didn't go on a lot of bad. Probably the most awkward date was when I turned 16. My dad was dating a new woman. This is when we were living in D.C. and he wanted to go out to. Or maybe it was when I turned 15. Anyway, for my birthday, we Went to this really fancy restaurant in Washington, D.C. and had to dress up in tuxedos. And I took a girl that I was kind of seeing. And it was a weird date because we were at a very fancy restaurant. I was wearing a tuxedo, and I was eating food I didn't like, and it was really to impress my dad's new girlfriend.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. For your birthday.

[Mark Hoppus]

For my birthday, yeah. You know what? It was atop of one of those buildings, I think, where the restaurant rotated like a big deal back in the late 80s, early 90s.

[Danielle Fishel]

Your dad designs missiles and bombs for the Department of Defense.

[Mark Hoppus]

He does, yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow. Was he artistic at all?

[Mark Hoppus]

No, not at all. But he used to bring home these things called witness plates. And they're like one inch thick, lead or steel, or, I don't know, plates that they set up in concentric circles outside of a target so that when they launch a missile, like, let's say at a tank or whatever it is on the ground and it explodes. You can tell the damage done by the witness plates. And so he would bring home, like, this whatever 30, 50 pound plate of steel that was just contorted and bent because it had been exploded. And I thought that would be such a cool work of art, like a cool display. Like, these things have witnessed violence that none of us should ever have to see.

[Danielle Fishel]

That is a great idea. And your dad's the one who bought you your first bass, right?

[Mark Hoppus]

He did.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's cool.

[Mark Hoppus]

I wanted to play bass guitar. I had just gotten into the Cure when I moved to dc. I was just starting to get into my own style of music rather than, you know, My parents always listened to great music when I was growing up. They listened to, like, Barry Manilow and Neil diamond and Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson and Elton John and Diana Ross and the Bee Gees and like, all kinds of great, like Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, and I love that. So I had a really strong foundation for melody and great songwriting. And then I heard the Cure, and that was like, great songwriting, great lyrics in a style that I liked. And so when I went to dc, I started finally feeling like myself and dressing like myself. And so. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Is that when you became a little goth?

[Mark Hoppus]

That's when I became goth, Yeah. I came. Yeah. I started spiking my hair out. I started wearing darker clothes. By the time I was a junior in high school, I was wearing, like, black eyeliner and sometimes bright red lipstick and sticking my hair all up. And I remember I went junior year. First class of the day was Metal Shop.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

And I walked into my metal shop class, and my metal shop teacher is like, all right, today we're gonna be learning about Arc Weld. Oh, my God. Mark, what the hell? What are you doing? And every time everyone turned and looked at me in class, and I was like, what? It's just my. It's just my style. I don't know. He's like, you're wearing lipstick. I was like, yeah, I know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Was it black lipstick?

[Mark Hoppus]

That was bright red.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, bright.

[Mark Hoppus]

It was full on. Robert Smith, like, you know. You know when, like, you get so into something. And I was so into the Cure, and they were so influential for me, and I was wearing black eyeliner and spiking my hair up, wearing bright red lipstick, but being like, it's not because I like the Cure. I just think it's a cool style.

[Danielle Fishel]

You know, it's my thing.

[Mark Hoppus]

It just happens that Robert Smith does the exact same thing. And that's the band I listen to all day long, every day.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did your dad question that at all? Because I. I try to imagine what it must be like for a parent to see your kid be one way for 14 or 15 years and then kind of overnight change everything about their appearance and possibly their personality.

[Mark Hoppus]

He was pretty cool with it, to be honest. For as conservative as he is, like, you know, not. Not politically or whatever, but just like, he's a very middle of the road baby boomer. Work for the government. His whole thing is, like, planning and being on time and doing your best. And, you know, he was an Eagle Scout. He was like all this stuff. And so for me to, like, show up one day wearing lipstick, he was. He just kind of shook his head and was like, just, okay, just whatever. Plus, I'm Jen. I'm Gen X. And my parents really just mostly left me alone.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, right. You were. What raised you.

[Mark Hoppus]

What raised me was. Let's see. You can't do that on television.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

Skateboarding, punk rock.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, that. That makes sense. Yeah, it all works. Did you have a lot of the same interests? You've been very vocal about your fandoms. Nintendo, baseball, Star Wars.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Was. Was that your same jam growing up, or did you have other interests?

[Mark Hoppus]

I had no interest in sports whatsoever at all growing up. I liked skateboarding, but I didn't like organized sports. I didn't want to play. I played soccer a little bit when my parents made me when I was in, like, fifth grade, but I didn't love that. So my. My outlet athletically was skateboarding and going to shows.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. We also during that time where you made the transition into being Goth, you also discovered cigarettes.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Would you have been in major trouble had you been caught smoking? Or did you?

[Mark Hoppus]

I got caught smoking when we were moving back from Washington, D.C. to my town in the middle of the desert. We stopped in Las Vegas, went to Circus Circus.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Mark Hoppus]

I had been secretly smoking for probably a year at that point. And my dad's like, I'm going to gamble. You can't be on the floor, but you can go upstairs to the arcade and play games up there. Do whatever. I'll meet you in an hour. And so, like, I was smoking cigarettes, and my dad came a little bit early, and he came around this corner, and he saw me. He goes, are you smoking? And I was like, yeah. He goes, do you smoke? I go, yeah, a little bit. And he's like, come on, Mark, you're smarter than that. You know it's bad for you. And I was like, I know, I know. And then I ended up smoking for, like, another 10 years.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right. I did something very similar.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

And I got caught smoking the first time with my Mormon best friend from childhood, whose parents believed anything we told them. And my mom was not that type of mom. My mom was very much, like, very. No. So we got caught smoking. We got a ticket. We got caught by the police. We got a ticket in California. In California, they gave us a ticket because we were in possession of the pack of cigarettes. So it wasn't just that you were. We see you smoking. It was like, you're not allowed to have these. So they wrote us, like, a ticket. We had to appear in court, and we.

[Mark Hoppus]

That sucks. So bad.

[Danielle Fishel]

So bad. And I was living in Calabasas, and I was caught in Orange county. So it was like, no even convenient way. We were gonna have to go to an Orange county court. So Jessica, my best friend's parents, pick us up, and we tell them. We concoct this story that we were with a group of people. People. And they were smoking. Not us, but they were smoking. And when the police saw us all, they just wrote everybody tickets, even though we were not doing it. And Jessica's parents were like, well, that seems really unfair. No problem. We'll just go to court and tell them you're innocent, and we'll get this whole thing worked out. And I was like, phew. Okay. And then we meet in Montebello, and my mom picks me up, and we tell my mom the story. And my mom's like, okay, all right. Yeah. All right. Okay. Well, bye. It was nice to see you. Bye Stephanie. Bye Jessica. We get in the car, my mom goes, that story's a bunch of tell.

[Mark Hoppus]

Me what's really going on.

[Danielle Fishel]

And I was like, so anyway, I was caught, was in massive trouble, was grounded, wasn't allowed to go to my school dance, had a boyfriend at the time who then he couldn't go to the dance cause I certainly wasn't gonna.

[Dr. Joy Harden Bradford]

Let him go with the dance.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah, you can't go without you.

[Danielle Fishel]

No, can't go without me. So anyway, my, I stopped smoking as long as I lived under my parents roof and then just immediately started again the minute I moved out and smoked for way too long.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah. So I wish smoking wasn't bad. I love, I look like an idiot. Like, I look back at pictures of myself and I'm like, you look dumb as hell smoking cigarettes. But I felt cool.

[Danielle Fishel]

Felt so cool. Yeah, I know. I wish if there was like one wish that I could be like, I wish that wasn't bad for you.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah, it'd be smart. Cigarettes is nice.

[Danielle Fishel]

Cigarettes is great. Not only do we have Teen Beat the podcast, we have a brand new line of Teen Beat shirts and hoodies that not only celebrate the show, but honestly, they're just cool all on their own. To make it even cooler, we made a one of one shirt just for this very first episode to help commemorate Mr. Mark Hoppus, the voice of Blink182, being my very first guest. So I highly recommend you go check it out. It's our first drop [e-mail] go take a look. Teenbeatpod.com.

[Dr. Joy Harden Bradford]

The moments that shape us often begin with a simple question. What do I want my life to look like now? I'm Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford, and on therapy for black girls, we create space for honest conversations about identity, relationships, mental health, and the choices that help us grow. As cybersecurity expert Camille Stewart Gloucester reminds.

[Camille Stewart Gloucester]

Us, we are in a divisive time where our comments are weaponized against us. And so what we find is a lot of black women are standing up and speaking out because they feel the brunt of the pain.

[Dr. Joy Harden Bradford]

Each week, we explore the tools and insights that help you move with purpose, whether you're navigating something new or returning to yourself. If you're ready for thoughtful guidance and grounded support, this is the place for you. Listen to therapy for black Girls on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you get your podcasts.

[Brad Palumbo]

The social media trend that's landing some gen zers in jail. The progressive media darling whose Public meltdown got her fired.

[Mark Hoppus]

I'm going to take Francesca off the network entirely.

[Brad Palumbo]

The massive TikTok boycott against Target? That makes no actual sense.

[Danielle Fishel]

I will continue getting stuff from Target.

[Mark Hoppus]

And I will continue to not pay for it.

[Brad Palumbo]

And the MAGA influencers whose trip to the White House ended in imperial embarrassment.

[Danielle Fishel]

So refreshing to have the press secretary after the last few years who's both intelligent and articulate.

[Brad Palumbo]

You won't hear about these online stories in the mainstream media, but you can keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things happening online in media and in politics with the Brad vs. Everyone podcast hosted by me, Brad Palumbo. Every day of the week I bring you on a wild ride through the most dulu takes on the Internet, criticizing the extremes of both sides from an independent perspective. Join in on the insanity and listen to the Brad vs. Everyone podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

Hey, I'm Kelly and some of you may know me as Laura Winslow.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

And I'm Telma, also known as Aunt Rachel.

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

If those names ring a bell, then you probably are familiar with the show that we were both on back in the 90s called Family Matters.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

Kelly and I have done a lot of things and played a lot of roles over the years, but both of us are just so proud to have been part of Family Matters.

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

Did you know that we are one of the longest running sitcoms with a black cast? When we were making the show, there were so many moments filled with joy and laughter and cut up that I will never forget.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

Oh girl, you got that right. The look that you all give me is so black.

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

All black people know about the look. On each episode of welcome to the Family, we'll share personal reflections. Reflections about making the show.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

Yeah, we'll even bring in part of the cast and some other special guests to join in the fun and spill some tea. Listen to welcome to the Family with Telma and Kelly on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ad Council/Pivotal Representative]

The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear?

[Child Speaker]

I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success.

[Ad Council/Pivotal Representative]

Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well being@sounditout together.org that's sounditouttogether.org brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal.

[Danielle Fishel]

Do you know why your dad picked the bass if he was gonna. When he decided to buy you?

[Mark Hoppus]

No, I wanted to play the bass.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

I watched. I saw the Cure on mtv, the Just Like Heaven video. And Simon Gallup, the bassist from the Cure, just looks so cool. And there was something about the bass that I was drawn to. It was kind of the bridge between the drums and the guitar and the melody and whatever it was. I wanted to do that.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Mark Hoppus]

So I asked my dad, can I get a bass guitar? Where you buy me a bass guitar? And he said, if you paint my girlfriend's house, I will.

[Danielle Fishel]

The same girlfriend you.

[Mark Hoppus]

My stepmom now. She's awesome. Yeah, we love her. All good. But, yeah. So I painted her condo in Washington, D.C. in the summer. And it was like, you know, D.C. in the summer is awful. Humid, hot, stanky. Just like. And I was out there painting her condo with makeup on, my makeup running down my face.

[Danielle Fishel]

You're now a mime.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah. Like, this is why goths don't go outside. But I did. I painted her. I painted her condo. And I got a base. And I still have it, actually.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's so cool.

[Mark Hoppus]

It was in the Fender Museum for a long time until Fenner got sold, and then they moved to headquarters. But, yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, we are talking. Just a week after rumors ran rampant that MTV shuttered its music channels for good. And who knows what's actually happening there? I mean, it is a medium that not only inspired you, but is a huge part of the Blink 182 story. You also met your wife, thanks to MTV. I did want to tell that story.

[Mark Hoppus]

She was an executive at mtv. She ran the west coast office of mtv. She coordinated and booked and dealt with all the people for, like, the MTV Music Awards and the whatever other awards, the Movie Awards, the VMAs. Fanatic. I met her. Well, the first time I met her was at Sports and Music festival in, like, 95 in Austin. And we were a baby, baby, baby band. I think it was like, Offspring and Wu Tang and a bunch of other, like, huge bands. And then, like, we're this big baby band. And I remember there was an executive there who was kind of taking care of us. I was like, that chick is really cool, and I really like her. The next time I saw her was in the Bahamas at, like, a spring break thing, Right? I had actually brought a girlfriend with me, but had kind of, like, seen sky again and been like, oh, that's that lady from before. Yeah, I really like her. And Then I'd broken up with that girlfriend. And then sky had booked Blink 182 on making the video. And we were making the video for all the Small Things. And Making the video was a half hour show that they would put. And it was all the behind the scenes of the creation of a video. And at the end they'd show the video. And so it was for all the Small Things, which was the video that really broke us. And so the day that I saw her, we were at the 3rd Street Dance Studio over on 3rd Street. We were upstairs, we were dressed ridiculously. I was in like, bright blue leotards with, like leg warmers on and a headband. And like, like, we were. Because we were learning choreography for the all the Small Things video. We thought it would be funny to dress up in these costumes. And sky was there and I was talking to Tom, and Tom always tries to embarrass me. So he walked over to sky and he said, hey, my friend Mark thinks you're hot. Would you ever go on a date with him? And immediately she said, absolutely not. I don't date artists.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh.

[Mark Hoppus]

And I was like, hey, I get that. Totally cool. Understand it. Professional. Here's my number. If you ever want to talk or go get coffee or whatever, just whatever, give me a call. Didn't think anything about it. Thought she'd never call. Had a date that night with Melissa Joan Hart.

[Danielle Fishel]

Nice.

[Dr. Joy Harden Bradford]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

Who I had just met at an award show. And, like, I was feeling cool. Like Blink 182. We were on MTV. We're filming a video. We're going to do the behind the scenes thing.

[Danielle Fishel]

You've got a date with Melissa Jo.

[Mark Hoppus]

Melissa Joan Hart had her. Her publicist contact my publicist at the label to get my number. And I was like, yeah, you know, I'm going to be up in LA filming a music video. Maybe one day after the shoot, we can go out to dinner or something. So we went out on a date that night and we just didn't connect. It was just like a boring date. She didn't like me, I didn't like her. We were both totally cordial to one another. She dropped me back off at the hotel at like, whatever. It was 10 o' clock at night, 11 o' clock at night. I look at my phone and I had missed a call and gotten a message from Sky. So I called her up and we talked until like 3 or 4 o' clock in the morning.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, the best.

[Mark Hoppus]

And then, like, we were married within a year.

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

Wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

Where did you take her on your first date with her?

[Mark Hoppus]

We drove past. So the first time that I went on a date with her, we went to a dive bar across the street on Highland called Powerhouse.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know Powerhouse. Yeah, that was a place that let you smoke for a really long time after you weren't allowed to smoke anymore in bars.

[Mark Hoppus]

It was her birthday. It was August 6th. It was her birthday, so I met her August 4th. August 5th, we shot. And I didn't get to go out with her that day. August 6th was the last day of the shoot. I took her out that night. We went to Powerhouse because it was her birthday. Birthday. And we met up with a bunch of people there, and we went. I. She dropped me off back at my hotel because I was there for the shoot, and we kissed on 3rd street at that hotel right down the street from What's Cassuya now? I think it's called. What's that hotel called now?

[Danielle Fishel]

The Dream.

[Mark Hoppus]

Nah, it's not the dream. It's not that nice. Come on.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

Nah. Anyway, so, yeah, we kissed in the. In the parking lot. Not in the parking lot, but in the little driveway of that hotel.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow, that's cute.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yep. But now we've been married 25 years, and we have a son.

[Danielle Fishel]

And how old's your son?

[Mark Hoppus]

23.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow. 23.

[Mark Hoppus]

23. He's awesome. He is a great kid. He has a job. He programs Call of Duty.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

Wow.

[Mark Hoppus]

That's his job? Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Does he play instruments? Does he. Is he into music at all?

[Mark Hoppus]

You know, growing up, he wanted a drum kit, so we bought him a drum kit, and that lasted for, like, a week. And then he wanted a guitar, and we got him a guitar, and that lasted, like, a week. But he was always very technical and into video when. When he was a kid. I was in, like, fourth grade. What do you want to do when you grow up? I want to program video games. All right. I was such a bad parent. I was just like my dad was when I said I wanted to play in a band. And he's like, that's great. Never gonna happen.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, right, right.

[Mark Hoppus]

But you. You keep up that dream. Just make sure you have a backup plan. And so when my son came to me and was like, I want to program video games for a living, I'm like, yep, okay, great. Not gonna happen. But you keep that dream alive. But he worked his ass off, went to college, did a double major, has always, like, studied how games work. And it's more than just, like, he likes playing video games. Like, he looks into the mechanics of it and gets on the programming and.

[Danielle Fishel]

So, yeah, I mean, playing music in a band is something that so many people want to do and yet so few people actually end up making it, doing it. Why did you think video game programing was something like that was never going to happen?

[Mark Hoppus]

Just because when you talk to anybody, any like, kid, boy especially, who's like 10 or 11 years old, they're like playing video games. They're like, yeah, I want to play video games.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. Our kids are into video games too, but thankfully they like playing them with us still. It's like they really only want to do it if we're going to play with them. So I'm like, I'm actually, we're trying to encourage that with as many co op games as we can find.

[Mark Hoppus]

I honestly like my favorite memories of raising my son. Some of them were playing video games. Like we got Zelda, Twilight Princess. When he was just, you know, a small child, he couldn't really control the game too much. So he would sit next to me on the couch and we would play video games together. And it was such a great memory. And I credit video games with teaching him, you know, spatial learning and math and reading to some extent and logic. And, you know, really the games that he was playing helped his development and helped him become a smarter person. And like, I don't know, I don't think of video games is like a throwaway pastime. Yeah, it can be, you know, and I still play video games with him now, but he's so much better than I am. We spent the holidays playing a game called Arc Raider.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

Which is really popular right now. And he's, he's great at it. Like, he plays for hours and hours and hours with his friends. And like, I'm playing with him and he's just, I'm just frustrating him. I suck so bad. He's like, daddy's right behind you. He's right behind you. What are you doing? Turn around. Shoot his ass. What are you doing? And like, robots are killing me. Yeah. And he just like shakes his head, but he's very patient.

[Danielle Fishel]

At least that's good. I want to talk. We've talked a lot about you and that time you spent in Washington D.C. but how did you get back to California? Because you went to college in San Diego.

[Mark Hoppus]

I did. So we were living in a small town in California where my dad worked on a Navy base in the middle of the desert because that's where they would test their missiles and bombs from planes. Then we moved to one year when I was a sophomore to Washington D.C. so we could work at the Pentagon. And then we moved back to the small town.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

When I graduated, when I graduated high school, I was playing in a band and I was working at a restaurant and just aimless, like I was waiting tables, making pizzas, going to community college, playing in like a garage band. And then my dad kicked me out of the house. Well, he didn't like kick me out, but he was like, it's time for you to go to a real school and go be an adult and get a job and start your life. So I moved to San Diego to go to college. My sister and my mom and my stepdad were living in San Diego, so I got in. So I went to finish my community college in San Diego and go to a four year school, which is Cal State San Marco. So I was studying to be an English teacher. The day that I moved to San Diego, like got up in the morning, loaded up my shitty Nissan Stanza, drove from my small town down to San Diego. Halfway there I was like, what the am I gonna do in this big city? Like, I don't know anybody. I don't really want to get a job. I don't really want to do anything. I like playing music. So we got to my parents house or my mom's house, unloaded my car, turned to my sister and I go, well, what do I do now? Like, I want to play music and what do I do? I put an ad in a paper. Do I put like, you know, bassist wants mediocre bandmates or whatever. And my sister was like, my boyfriend has a friend who plays guitar, loves punk rock, loves skateboarding, you should meet him. So we got in the car that night, drove over to this guy's house, and it was Tom.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow, you were like set up on a friend date.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah, blind friend date. But it went great. Like I went into his garage where he had his bedroom. Cause his parents were going through a bad divorce. So he like moved into his garage and we started playing music and laughing and hanging out. And that night we wrote a song that we still play today. It's called Carousel.

[Danielle Fishel]

I wonder if that's the only story of meeting a guy who has a bedroom in his garage and going into it on your first blind meeting. This is the only story that's worked out well.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Danielle Fishel]

I don't recommend that for most blind dates, but it did pay off in this situation.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, so how quickly do the two of you form Blink 182?

[Mark Hoppus]

Immediately we were like, oh, we want to play music together. Tom had already started playing some shows. And not shows, but, like, backyard parties and stuff with a guy named Scott, who ended up being our first drummer. So, yeah, like, you know, the next day, Tom called up and was like, hey, let's keep writing songs. Let's get. And so we just started doing stuff. Tom was ending high school. I was still in community college. Scott was in high school, and it all began there in 92.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did your dad ever say to you, when I said it was time for you to launch, I didn't mean just go move into your mom's house and start playing music at backyard parties.

[Mark Hoppus]

No, my dad didn't think that our band was successful. So that was 92. My dad didn't think our band was successful until 99, when it was like 99 or maybe even 2000. We played on the Jay Leno show. Wow, that's a nice show with Jay Leno.

[Danielle Fishel]

That is for sure a dad. Oh, this is official. Anything below the Jay Leno show? No, not a success.

[Mark Hoppus]

So he. And he'd been coming to shows and stuff. He'd seen us play in front of larger and larger venues, but somehow coming to that show. And Richard Simmons was one of the guests.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, you and Richard Simmons.

[Mark Hoppus]

So we're all in the dressing room, the green room, before the show, and my dad's hanging out, and, like, my future wife's parents were there, whatever. And the door flies open, and this dude comes in. Blink 182, and it's Richard Simmons. Never met the guy. He comes barreling in. What's that?

[Danielle Fishel]

He was a fan.

[Mark Hoppus]

He comes in, he goes, hey, blink 182. And he comes and he grabs Tom and he gives him a kiss on the cheek. Same with me. Same with Travis. And I go, hey, Richard, what's going on? We start talking. I go, so how do I get in shape? I want to be as in shape as you. And he goes, oh, please. I'm old enough to be your dad. And my dad goes, actually, I'm his dad. And Richard Simmons goes, dad. And grabs him and gives him a giant kiss on the cheek. And then he runs out of the room. And then we go. And we play on Jay Leno. That's the photo right there. That's the one. That's what? My dad kissed Richard Simmons.

[Danielle Fishel]

Your dad is so happy, and he's so happy. He's so happy with that kiss.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah. And so that was when my dad's like, oh, if Richard Simmons knows who my son is, Then he must be famous.

[Danielle Fishel]

Richard Simmons and Jay Leno give my son's band a sign of it. Wow, that's pretty great.

[Dr. Joy Harden Bradford]

The moments that shape us often begin with a simple question. What do I want my life to look like now? I'm Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, and on Therapy for Black Girls we create space for honest conversations about identity, relationships, mental health and the choices that help us grow. As cybersecurity expert Camille Stewart Gloucester reminds.

[Camille Stewart Gloucester]

Us, we are in a divisive time where our comments are weaponized against us. And so what we find is a lot of Black women are standing up and speaking out because they feel the brunt of the pain.

[Dr. Joy Harden Bradford]

Each week we explore the tools and insights that help you move with purpose, whether you're navigating something new or returning to yourself. If you're ready for thoughtful guidance and grounded support, this is the place for you. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you get your podcasts.

[Brad Palumbo]

The social media trend that's landing some gen zers in jail. The progressive media darling whose public meltdown got her fired.

[Mark Hoppus]

I'm gonna take Francesca off the network entirely.

[Brad Palumbo]

The massive TikTok boycott against Target. That makes no actual sense.

[Mark Hoppus]

I will continue getting stuff from Target and I will continue to not pay for it.

[Brad Palumbo]

And the MAGA influencers whose trip to the White House ended in a major embarrassment.

[Danielle Fishel]

So refreshing to have a press secretary after the last few years who's both intelligent and articulate.

[Brad Palumbo]

You won't hear about these online stories in the mainstream media, but you can keep up with them and all the other entertaining and outrageous things happening online in media and in politics with the Brad vs. Everyone podcast hosted by me, Brad Palumbo. Every day of the week, I bring you on a wild ride through the most delulu takes on the Internet, criticizing the extremes of both sides from an independent perspective. Join in on the insanity and listen to the Brad vs. Everyone podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

Hey, I'm Kelly and some of you may know me as Laura Winslow.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

And I'm Telma, also known as Aunt Rachel.

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

If those names ring a bell, then you probably are familiar with the show that we were both on back in the 90s called Family Matters.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

Kelly and I have done a lot of things and played a lot of roles over the years, but both of us are just so proud to have been part of Family Matters.

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

Did you know that we are one of the longest running sitcoms with the black cast. When we were making the show, there were so many moments filled with joy and laughter and cut up that I will never forget.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

Oh, girl, you got that right. The look that you all give me is so black.

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

All black people know about the look. On each episode of welcome to the Family, we'll share personal reflections about making the show.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

Yeah, we'll even bring in part of the cast and some other special guests to join in the fun and spill some tea. Listen to welcome to the Family with Telma and Kelly on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ad Council/Pivotal Representative]

The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear?

[Child Speaker]

I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success.

[Ad Council/Pivotal Representative]

Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well being. @soundedouttogether.org that's sounditouttogether.org brought to you by the ad council and pivotal.

[Danielle Fishel]

What would high school Mark Hoppus have thought about number one on trl?

[Mark Hoppus]

Mark Hoppus, he been stoked.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah. I mean, I grew up watching mtv, you know, even before I remember the. The summer that MTV happened and like, it was a big deal. My dad was always a fan of music and I remember him and my uncle being like, oh my gosh, there's a channel where you can watch music on tv. And we were watching like the Police and we were watching like all these original videos. And I remember when Michael Jackson's Thriller video came out, it was a huge deal. Like, people stayed home. People, like, made plans to be home at whatever it was, 8 o' clock at night to watch the premiere of this Thriller video directed by John Landis, who did, like, you know, all this cool stuff.

[Telma (Aunt Rachel)]

Yep.

[Mark Hoppus]

So, yeah, MTV was a big deal for me. So knowing that our band was on MTV and was doing well on mtv, I think I'd have been stoked.

[Danielle Fishel]

So you and Tom, how did you guys then meet Travis and then the three of you start doing shows?

[Mark Hoppus]

Well, we met Travis just by playing a lot of shows around Southern California.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

And then we did a tour. He played in a band called the Aquabats.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yep.

[Mark Hoppus]

And we did a tour. It was Primus, Blink 182 and the Aquabats. It was called the Snowcore Tour and it took place during the winter. And it was a tour that we performed punk rock Music at snowboard competitions.

[Danielle Fishel]

So cool.

[Mark Hoppus]

So you were touring in the dead of winter in snowboard mountains. So it was always icy, always cold.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Mark Hoppus]

Always bleak. And Travis smoked and drank, but he was playing in the Aquabats, a lot of whom are Mormon, who didn't smoke or drink. And so he would always come onto our bus and smoke with us, and, like, we'd hang out. That was back when everybody would smoke on a bus.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Mark Hoppus]

And so we became friends with Travis that way. And then our drummer was having some personal stuff going on, had to leave tour. Travis filled in. It was great. When Travis filled in, it was like, oh, man, this is something different. This is something cool.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Mark Hoppus]

And then, like, situation came to a head with our drummer. Our drummer left the band. And then, like, at that point, it was like, oh, Travis is the guy.

[Danielle Fishel]

So what were Those early Blink 182 shows? Like? Were they always. Did they always feel like a success?

[Mark Hoppus]

Yes, at least to us. I mean, when Tom and I are on stage, we really perform for one another almost more than we perform for the crowd. Like, if I can make Tom laugh, that's a good thing. If I can make Travis laugh, that's a big thing. And so Tom and I, we leave on tour, and we. We start joking around, and we. We. We try and say some outrageous stuff, but then the next night, it gets a little further, and the next night gets a little further, and the next. Like, I remember at one point, we were on tour, and our manager pulled us aside because we were on a tour called the Mark, Tom and Travis Show Tour. And Tom had this idea that if you took a vocal effect that pitches your voice down an octave, you can grab a microphone and you can act like you're Satan talking directly to the audience. And so I remember we were on tour one time, and after the show, our manager's like, hey, can I talk to you guys for a second? And he calls us into his office, and he goes, I think you're taking a little far. We're like, what are you talking about? He's like, well, when Tom gets on the microphone, he acts like Satan, and he says, hey, kids, I'm here. To your blood, it's a little too far.

[Danielle Fishel]

That is the line.

[Mark Hoppus]

You're like, okay, that makes sense. Got it, Roger. Copy that. No, your blood. Got it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Has your sense of humor changed at all since you were a kid?

[Kelly (Laura Winslow)]

No.

[Mark Hoppus]

It's so stupid. It's so dumb. Literally, for the past two years, we played 175 shows in the past two years since the band reformed, since we played Coachella in 2023. 175 shows, literally. Tom and I, and we're traveling so comfortably. Private jets, five star hotels, people carrying our luggage. Like, we don't do any, but Tom and I, after the show, get on the plane and we're just making dick jokes on a private jet with, like, you know, champagne and, like, eating caviar.

[Danielle Fishel]

Making dick jokes.

[Mark Hoppus]

Totally. It's like professional people dealing with me and Tom talking, like, talking dick jokes. It's so funny. I love it. It's great.

[Danielle Fishel]

Would Teenage Mark have been on Social?

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah, probably. I don't think that. I mean, adult Mark has enough problem, enough trouble staying off social media. I don't think that, you know, teenage Mark would have done much better. It's awful. I hate it.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know. I hate it. And I also can't stay away from it.

[Mark Hoppus]

I know. It's. It's just the hot stove that you can't stop touching.

[Dr. Joy Harden Bradford]

Yep.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's true. Did you guys ever contemplate adding a dedicated guitarist? Because you are a rare trio in rock.

[Mark Hoppus]

No.

[Child Speaker]

Okay.

[Mark Hoppus]

No, I. You know, I have nothing but crazy respect for bands like Foo Fighters or Green Day or anybody else who's like this core band. But then they add additional musicians on, you know, no doubt. But for us, Blink has always just been the three of us. So when, you know, it's the three of us. And then when we had keyboards, we didn't have a keyboard player. We had our friend Roger Joseph Manning Jr. From Jellyfish come in and he did all the keyboard parts, but he wasn't touring. And so we would use track for those, and we still use track for keyboards, but on stage, I just want to see the band.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, okay. That makes sense.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

I don't want to keep the theme song from our listeners any longer. I would really like to play it. We officially have the coolest theme song in all of podcasting.

[Mark Hoppus]

Thank you.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, it's pretty great. Written, performed, recorded, all by Mark Hoppus. This will begin every episode moving forward. And it's eventually going to chart on Spotify. I know it. Then single handedly bring back mtv.

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

So thank you for this.

[Mark Hoppus]

Absolutely.

[Danielle Fishel]

Thank you so much, Mark, for everything. I couldn't be more excited to be connected to you through this theme song. Forever moving forward. Let's get into the theme song.

[Mark Hoppus]

Give me money for cigarettes I'll never leave your filthy bed. I stayed the night and one night we came to a three year. The kids are not all right but that's okay. Cause no one here is.

[Danielle Fishel]

I love it.

[Mark Hoppus]

So the thing at the end is literally, because I had turned in the. I had turned in the song. And then Jensen, your husband, was like, what if. Is there a way to work in, like, a Teen Beat in there somehow? I'm like, yeah, but not the way that it is right now. We need to go Teen Beat. And I had. I immediately knew what the song needed, but I was gone and my engineer was gone. And so literally, I think it was New Year's Day. I had my phone out, and I'm like, okay, we need to shout Teen Beat. So, like, everyone's kind of hungover from New Year's, and we're all, like, weird. We're, like, sitting in our kitchen going Teen Beat into my phone and sending it to the. To the engineer to drop into the song.

[Danielle Fishel]

Perfect. Who were you with? I need to know. Is this a family Teen Beat?

[Mark Hoppus]

Yeah, it was me, my wife, and my son.

[Danielle Fishel]

I love that so much more. That's just perfect. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode of Teen Beat. We will have a small bonus episode for you with Mark on Friday on the Teen Beat feed, and an awkward teenage story from one of you. We would love to hear all of your awkward teenage stories. Send us a concise voice memo to teenbeatpodmail.com and maybe we'll play your story on the pod. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at TeenBeatPod. Teen Beat is an Iheart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fishel, executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor Tara Sudbaksh. The theme song is by Mark Hoppus. Yes, that Mark Hoppus. Follow us on Instagram teenbeatpod.