When Blink 182 talk about taking off their pants, one automatically thinks, so what’s new—they’ve got quite a reputation for doing so more often than Marilyn Manson and Green Day’s Billy Joe Armstrong combined. Now they actually called an album Take Off Your Pants And Jacket, but there is a lot more to Blink 182 than meets the eye. And singer/bassist Mark Hoppus seems to have grown up. They might be just considered fun punk, but they've got some pretty deep thoughts.
     InsideCx: I find it funny that you call an album Take Off Your Pants after the video to "What’s My Age Again," when you were running around naked. M.H.: That scene with the butt shots, when we were running down the street, were actually the only real nude scenes. We wore skin-colored speedos for most of the scenes, and when we were running, I realized how unattractive male genitals are—everything dangling and such. I didn’t think I could be embarrassed easily, but I really was!
     InsideCx: So no more mooning the audience? Oh, come on, mooning is completely different! Mooning is not the same; that’s just a joke, but as a guy seeing yourself run stark naked and everything bounces up and down, no way! That’s really not a pretty sight!
     InsideCx: Despite all the fun, the lyrics often are quite serious. You hide your punches well. Our humor is pretty rough and crude sometimes, I can’t deny it. We do like our fun and all that, but we never wanted to be labeled or have a certain image. That is something we always wanted to avoid.
     InsideCx: What are the things you wouldn’t joke about? In general we really do make fun about each and every one. I hate it if people take themselves and others too seriously, but there are limits, definitely. For example, domestic violence, violence against women, rape, racism or homophobic jokes are simply out of the question.
     InsideCx: What would you be doing if you weren’t a member of Blink? Be a porn star, of course, and make all the guys jealous and the women happy and horny. Look at me—I should consider a second career!
     InsideCx: Go for it! Well, but the truth isn’t half as funny, you know. Actually I studied English and almost became an English teacher. I like reading and I love Shakespeare; he showed me a completely new way of reading, dealing with a language, how language can be used.
     InsideCx: Do you sometimes regret that you didn’t finish studying? Yes and no. I think most colleges are boring, just absolutely mind-numbingly boring, because the teachers just don’t care, they don’t give a damn about their pupils. They don’t really care if the kids learn something or not. Sometimes I even think they hate kids. They act like robots. The reason why I wanted to become a teacher was to change it, get into the system and change it from inside, but then things took off with the band and such.
     InsideCx: With the band you reach an even broader audience than you would reach as a teacher, so it can’t be all that bad. That’s true, and it’s scary at the same time. As a musician you have some responsibility. You’re in the spotlight, on some sort of a raised platform for some of the ideas you stand for. But the good thing about punk rock, the real strength of punk rock, is that you can honestly say what you think and that’s what we’re talking about.
     InsideCx: Are you actually interested in how your fans see you, or is it the "take it or leave it" approach? That’s kind of crazy, because yes, in a way I want to know how others perceive me, and I think it’s absolutely normal that you want to be liked, even if we really get off on the hate mail we get sometimes, because it’s just so funny. You get absolutely stupid letters with horrific spelling and they tell you that you’re stupid and you suck.
     InsideCx: So how about the image thing then? You always seem to be seen as some sort of fun punk band. As I said, we like fun, we’re kind of crude sometimes, but we’re not just about fun. Our label tried to market us as a fun punk band and it did suck. After %Enema Of The State%, when "All The Small Things" became a hit, they really tried to market us as a bunch of guys that will do almost everything for kicks. Sure, we love to laugh and for a while it was funny, but we kind of got branded with that image and that’s not all that we’re about. Hopefully, Take Off Your Pants And Jacket will give people a different idea about us.
     InsideCx: You always struck me as a band that does like to laugh, and yeah, in some of the past interviews you were a bit over the top—sometimes—but your lyrics usually have a twist; they’re not all about fun and games. I think if you wouldn’t know us and would never, ever have seen a picture of us goofing around, or one of our videos, then you’d listen to Take Off Your Pants And Jacket and think that it’s a punk album with some really serious lyrics and some funny songs, like "Happy Holiday, You Bastard."
     In a way we’re in the lucky position that we can experiment quite a bit, do whatever we want and write songs about every subject. Like the pains of growing up—I still feel them, trouble with the girlfriend, parents that don’t understand you, that school really sucks.
     InsideCx: What’s it like to be in a band and to know that whatever you do, there are some people out there that will love it? Is it great for the ego or is it sometimes quite a bit of a strain? You know, the responsibility thing. As usual, a bit of both, but actually it’s great. If you really think about it, I sit in my bedroom in California and I write a song and people all over the world are able to hear it. We go to Germany or Italy and they know all the lyrics—that’s kind of mind-blowing, really. What really blew me away and what is actually the greatest thing that has happened, some fans wrote us mail and said that they wanted to kill themselves, they seriously contemplated suicide, but then they heard "Adam’s Song" and it changed their mind. That really, really is great. I think that was one of the greatest moments ever in my life!
     InsideCx: Did it inspire you to write more serious songs? I don’t know if it is exactly the same, but "Stay Together For The Kids" could have the same meaning, I hope. Tom was dealing with the divorce of his parents, he wrote a song to help him to work through some issues he had when his parents divorced. Divorce is such a normal thing today and hardly anybody ever thinks how the kids feel about it or how they are taking it, but in the U.S, about half of all the kids go through it. They witness how their parents drift apart and all that.
     InsideCx: I saw some of your tour plans and you definitely look like one hell of a busy band. Combined with all the promotion work, how do you find the time to breathe, far less manage your Web site and the clothing line? Being a member of Blink 182 is definitely not a part-time job, I agree. We’re on the road for nine out of 12 months. Recordings, touring, promotion, all that. Sometimes it’s just show, fly, show, fly, show. After a couple of days I completely forgot where I was; I didn’t even know in which city I slept. When we got back to the hotel, I was just interested in hitting the pillow. Touring is pretty exhausting; the traveling can really do you in.