Blink-182 bass player Mark Hoppus says The Cure's Robert Smith once tried to make out with him at a party – and he kinds of regrets not just going with it.
The pop punk star says Smith's music changed his life "forever" and that he grew up in awe of him and The Cure. And he got to spend time with Smith when he guested on the track All of This from Blink's self-titled 2003 album.
But at an aftershow party in 2004 when Smith apparently went in for a smooch, Hoppus was taken aback. On reflection, he wishes he had reciprocated as it would have made for a better story. Smith had joined Blink onstage at Wembley for a performance of All of This.
The bassist writes about the incident in his autobiography Fahrenheit-182: A Memoir which is out now.
And he expands on it in an interview with Us Weekly. He says: "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.
"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?'
"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.
"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 adds that he and Smith have met multiple times since that night, but he's never brought it up. And he never warned Smith the story would appear in the book.
He says: "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.
"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 fuck was that?"