Bobbycast#505 – Mark Hoppus of blink-182 on How He Met Tom Delonge & Travis Barker + His Musical Hero Kissing Him on the Mouth & The Coolest Thing About Fame + Bands Who Changed Lead Singers with Bobby & Eddie
On this episode of the BobbyCast, Mark Hoppus of blink-182 told Bobby the stories behind meeting his bandmates Tom Delonge and Travis Barker. Plus, Mark discussed his musical hero kissing him on the mouth, and why the night of a movie premiere was the coolest thing about fame! Bobby and Eddie also discuss some of the most famous bands to change their lead singers, and which band comes to mind first when someone brings the subject up.
Link to his book and tour dates: Fahrenheit 182 By Mark Hoppus
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Welcome to episode five oh five The Bobby Cast with Mark Hoppus from Blank one Eddy two And I'm a Blink one Eddy two fan, but Mike, you're a super fan.
I would say my favorite band of all time.
Dang, we got County Crows and Mark Hoppus from Blink in the same week. That's crazy. So you read the book.
Yeah, mentioned in three days.
I haven't read a book in three years.
What'd you learn about him that you did not know even though you're a super.
Fan that behind all the funniness and like him being like so over the top, he had a lot of anxiety and depression that you would never think about.
I don't know, it wasn't that kind of common for funny people.
But I mean Blink is like just known for their humor, like on stage, off stage, and just to hear him write about that stuff, what he was really going through, and especially during the time when the band broke up, like kind of losing his identity because he's like, I'm not gonna be the guy from Blink one eighty two anymore.
He grew up a navy bratt, which I didn't know.
Yeah, crazy things he saw as a kid. What do you mean like like he saw a plane crash when he was a kid that in order to avoid hitting the school, like drifted off to the side so it wouldn't hit crash into the school.
Wow.
That was like one of his earliest.
Memories from Blink one eighty two and his book, which is called Fahrenheit one eighty two. Here is Mark Hoppis, Hey, Mark books, awesome. Read the book. Didn't think I'd read it all as quick because they did. We just got a few days ago, thanks and jammed out. It was awesome. I have some notes actually from specifically from the book that I have listed here, and if you're okay, I would just like to go through my notes about your book totally. Let's go okay. First of all, First off, Elton John kissed me on the mouth once, and so it was awesome. And I was at a charity deal and I was sitting with him and he grabbed me at the end of a song and kissed me on the mouth. And I was like, that was awesome. Melton John just kissed me on the mouth. Now, when I read your story, it felt a bit similar. So a musical hero of yours kissed you on the mouth. Ture or falsehoo, very true?
Do you want to reveal who it is?
Or shall I tell the story behind it? Please?
So when we were recording the untitled album back in two thousand and three, we had this song that was really cool and a little bit dark, and Tom said, you know who would sound awesome on this song is Robert Smith from The Cure.
And I was like, Oh, that'd be so cool. I wonder how we get a hold of him.
And Tom's already on the phone making calls, and one of our friends was managing The Cure at the time, and so we got Robert Smith to sing on a Blink one eighty two song and it was one of the biggest coups of my whole career, just like a hero of mine grew up listening to The Cure, hugely influential on a Blink album. So we go to London and we're performing a show and we say, hey, Robert Smith, will you come out and perform the song with us? And he very graciously said yes, and he came to the show and we did the song and we covered Boys Don't Cry, And then afterwards we were hanging out in the dressing room and I was leaving with my wife and I went to get him hug and I said, hey, man, thank you so much.
It means the world to me that you were here and you were on this song. And then he leaned in and he gave me a kiss on the mouth.
That's awesome. That's an awesome story. And I tell people in my Ole and John story, They're like really, I'm like, yeah, it was great and yeah. So I questions, So you're a self taught bassis. How do you think that's affected how you play? Meaning since you taught yourself, it's a little different than like what standard standard teacher would teach a bass player. How do you feel like that? How do you feel like that's affected?
Like the sound Blink, I feel like my technique is terrible, but I feel like I write from a place of joy, and I write from a place of you know, growing up literally playing the Cure.
Songs and playing descendant songs and bad religion. And the way that I play bass in Blink is kind of a combination between a bass guitar and a rhythm guitar because we only have one guitarist. So when Tom would go in noodle things, I was more almost a rhythm guitarist, so I really like playing bass and what it does in songs and what it does in music and what it does in blink on to You.
Grew up as a navy brat, I'm going from a notes here. You lived in a trailer. Your dad worked for the next Department of Defense, designing missiles and balms. So what would you see in the house was like I just pictured as I was reading, like an architect's kid, but it was about bombs.
Yeah, kind of my dad.
I remember one time my dad brought home a steel plate that was about a half an inch thick and was twisted, and what he said that it was was it was They called it witness plates.
And what they would do is they would set up a target.
In the middle of the desert, which is why I lived in the middle of desert when I was growing up, because the Navy would test missiles and bombs there and then they would shoot the target and then they would have steel plates in circles going out from the target and they could tell what the damage pattern was. And I thought it would be so cool to take these heavy, twisted pieces of metal and create.
Art with them or put them in some kind.
Of an art display because they had seen they had literally witnessed such destruction.
Your dad being Department of Defence, but you growing up like you did musically, like having it. Where was he in the Hey, I want you to do music or I don't want you to do music spectrum.
He was supportive of me doing music. In fact, she bought me my first bass guitar. But when I said that I wanted to play music full time in a band and drop out of college, he was.
Like, that's cool, but make sure that you have a backup plan.
He was a lot more practical than my mom was, who said, absolutely drop out of college. You can go back to college anytime, but you only get one chance to be in a band.
Wow, that is not really the answer I would expect from the That sounds more like love than parents that are disciplined by their career. It feels like love one that that internal battle of parents who want the best of their kid. Because again, if you're in the Department of Defense, that is a job that hash that's a dependable job, Like that's yeah, and you what you liked and what you did, there's nothing there. I mean, you got to be one and a million to have even a career that paid your bills, yet they still were supportive of that totally.
Yeah, my parents have always been really supportive, and I've always come to shows, and in fact, my parents are.
Coming I'm doing this book to her now. My parents are coming out to the show in San Diego.
So I think that would be really fun to perform this book show in front of them and share the joy with them.
Whenever you and Tom met, you talk about I mean, my favorite parts when you fell it not that it was funny that you hurt yourself, but it's funny now that you hurt yourself.
It is funny now.
Yeah, so you guys me, would you mind telling that story about climbing the light post.
So literally, the day that I met Tom was the day that I moved to San Diego from living in the middle of the desert. I moved to San Diego from Ridgecrest so that I could go to college in San Diego, and I was moving in with my mom and stepdad and my sister. So I drove three hours of San Diego. I unloaded all my stuff, which was a bag of clothes, a garbage bag full of clothes, a bass, guitar and a bass app unloaded my clothes and sat down and said to my sister, well, what the hell.
Do I do now? And she was like, well, you should meet my friend Tom.
He's my boyfriend's best friend, and he plays guitar, and he's skateable words and you guys have the same sense of humor. So we drove over to Tom's house, went into his garage, started writing songs together, became instant best friends. We were hanging out in his cul de sac afterwards, and I was looking at the street light and it was like ten o'clock at night.
I'm like, I bet I could climb to the top of that.
Street light, and nobody really cared, but I climbed to the top of it anyway. I slapped the top of the pole and I started climbing back down and I jumped off from way too high and I landed on my heels. I didn't break my heels, but I definitely bruised them badly enough that I needed to walk on crutches for six weeks. But the great part of the story is the next day I woke up got a call after I got back from the hospital, and it was Tom saying, hey, how do you feel? And I said, well, I'm fine, but I'm on crushes and he said, oh cool, do you want to come over and write some more songs? And then we have been writing songs together ever since.
I have friends that are in duos and you know, and most of the hits are with one singer where you guys actually split it out. We were kind of going through it before you came on. How do you manage what's the dynamic there of picking who does what?
Tom and I are very liberal with using one another's voices. For instance, Tom will write a song and it'll say I think that you should sing this part. Generally in the past, when we were first writing songs together, if Tom wrote the lyrics to the songs, he would sing those songs, and if I wrote the lyrics, I would write the songs. But there were parts where I'd write something and I said, I think this would sound better in your range, because Tom has a really cool, aggressive, screamy voice that hits really great in kind of like the upper mid section, and I think that my voice is better suited to the lower mid section the deeper section. So we'll write songs with one another in mind like that.
Whenever you guys got your deal, it was because a record label's kid was a fan, Like how did how did that come together? And how did you even know that he was a fan?
He had come to a bunch of shows that Blink were playing when we were playing, literally like coffee shops and backyard parties and like little venues wherever we could, and this kid kept showing up. And then we would see when we were skateboarding he would end up in all the same spots and he would say he was a fan.
And then his dad ran a record label.
And the record label that his dad ran was called Cargo Records, And when we were in San Diego in nineteen ninety two, that was like the cool record label in San Diego. It had all the cool San Diego bands like Rocket from the Crypt and Drive, like Jayhu and all these cool San Diego bands. So this kid's name was Brahm, and he used to take our demo cassette and he was trying to get his dad to sign our band, and his dad's like, we're not a punk rock label, We're like this kind of.
Nouveaue grunge San Diego scene.
And his kid was like, yeah, but this band's cool, and he kept putting our cassette into his dad's cars cassette player and turning the stereo all the way up, so when his dad got in the car in the morning and started up his car, it was just blasting blank Winity two at him every day until he finally relented and said, fine, I'll sign these dudes to get you off my back.
There's a bit of a parallel in the next story, where it was pretty cool. We had Ringo star here, and Ringo is sitting eight no way, I was so sick. He was sat with me for like forty five minutes, and he talked about how he would play in a band at the same time that the Beatles would play in a club, and so he would play for whatever about hours and the Beatles would play. And then we've all heard the story about how Ringo wasn't the drummer, Pete Best was, and ring going up being the drummer because he was around and they needed a new drummer, and he also fit what they were looking for, not just in drumming style but also like sensibilities. Right, I think that's a and he admits that and he was like I was at the right place, but also I was the right kind of person that they needed in the band, and I was around, so I just started playing with them, and I thought it was such a cool story. And I was reading about your old drummer Scott who quit and that was right before him of the state. But how where was Travis whenever he was the drummer? Did you know him? And how did that happen?
Yeah, Travis had been a friend of ours for a bit before he joined Blanquidity two. He had played in a band called Feeble, which was a punk rock band that had played around southern California. And I had heard of Feeble, and I had heard of Travis Barker but never met him until he played in the Aquabats, which was a scot punk band, and we'd toured together and played a lot of shows together, and then we were actually on tour together with Primus and Travis used to come and hang out on our bus because we smoked and drank on our bus, and so Travis wanted to hang out in our bus so we could blast cigarettes with me and talk about skateboarding and talk about punk rock bands, and we became friends that way, and then when Scott we were on tour and Scott our drummer got an emergency call that he needed to go home, so he flew home and Travis we turned to him and said, hey, we're missing our drummer.
Can you fill in tonight? And he's like, yeah, I can fill in tonight.
We were like, okay, well we have whatever it was, sixty minutes of music for you to learn. He goes, yeah, I can learn that, and he learned the whole set in like an hour. We just showed him the songs. I think he was fairly familiar with him at that point from touring with us. He knew what the structures were. And then we walked on stage with Travis and played a show and it was really special and really cool and we were like, oh, this feels this feels really good.
So well that it was a feeling got quit. He was the first guy that we called.
Yeah, it was a feeling like you played with Travis and was like, dang, that actually felt like kind of organically way better than it should be in the first time we played together.
Yeah, totally. I mean we were halfway through the first song, I think, and.
Tom and I look at each other like, Oh, this feels really different and cool. And Travis just has a really awesome musical sensibility and he became friends with me and Tom and just fit right in.
Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor, and we're back on the Bobby Cast.
A couple other notes from the book that I wanted to ask about before I just asked more general questions, But the story about playing for troops overseas, and it's a double part here, so one the helicopter, which is wild, and then two learning about them playing your music at the time torture, Like can you do both of those stories?
So while we were recording the untitled record, I was reading like a Maximum magazine or some kind of lads magazine from back in the day, and they were talking about how they had the secret Forces or special forces, I mean, had like captured suspected terrorists and they had brought them back and they were interrogating them and the method of enhanced interrogation was that they were blasting rock music at them. And we've read in the article that one of the bands that they blasted to interrogate suspected terrorists was our Bandliquidity, to which I thought was, Okay, you're using our music as a means of torture.
Awesome, very cool.
And then we actually got invited by the Navy to go overseas and meet and perform for the troops. So we went to Bahrain first to a military base, their naval base that had submarines on it, nuclear submarines, and so we got to climb around the nuclear submarine and I got to climb in literally the torpedo tubes for a nuclear submarine. We performed on the navy base for the sailors and their families. The next day we flew out to Kuwait City. We landed in these like literally bombed out airplane hangar bunkers. They put us in these forerunners and they tore ass across the desert and we literally saw like herds or packs or whatever you call them, of camels, just wild camels in the desert. We went to the border of Iraq and Kuwait where the soldiers were just back from the front line or just about to go out to the front line, and we signed stuff and had a meal with them, and then the next day we went out to the Persian Gulf on a helicopter landed on an aircraft carrier, the USS Nimts, and got a.
Tour of the aircraft carrier.
We performed for the sailors in the hangar of aircraft carrier of the USS Nimets while it was at war, and it was pretty awesome.
So when reading the book, I admired how candid you were. I've written a couple of books and there were times where I'd written things that I felt like, we're so candid. One that people I don't feel feel sorry for me, but I wanted him to actually feel like empathy or have understanding, and there was a fine line for me and right there were also things that like triggered certain things in me, Like it was like a whole therapeutic four or five months honestly to where I questioned some of the stuff that I left in. Was there any of the stuff that you left in that you questioned for any reason whatsoever that it was too personal or too triggering, or did some of that stuff actually feel so therapeutic that that was positive in the process.
Both all the.
Stuff that I wrote about anxiety about you know, self doubt about when I was sick with cancer, and the you know, felt like I was facing death all that stuff I left in, and I was like, do I really want to put this all out there? Because the same as you like, I don't want anybody to feel sorry for me. I'm very lucky and I'm very blessed. But I feel like when I write from my heart, that that's what connects with people. When I'm writing lyrics or I'm writing songs and I write something that really means something to me, I feel like that's what connects. I feel like that's what I listen to or react to if I watch a movie or read a.
Book, or listen to a song.
And so I was like, look, I'm going to put it all out there, and people can sit through it and ignore it if they want to, but hopefully instead of ignoring it, they connect to it and it means something to them, because I feel like they're pretty universal themes that we all go through.
Yeah, and I learned that even if it wasn't specific to the person reading, I think you said it best, it's a universal theme more than it has to be them relating on a specific molecular level. And there's a difference, Right, Can I watch a movie same thing you just said, I feel in many ways, but I don't like relate specifically to the exact storyline, but there are there's absolute relatability that makes me happy, sad, angry, whatever it is about the movie. The same way in the book, have you had the people that have read the book that you know what have they come back to you and said, wow, I didn't know even this about you.
Well, one of the.
Things that's happened since the book has come out, and since, you know, since my cancer story, is that people come up to me and they share their cancer stories, and I feel really honored. Like even today I was on Good Morning America and one of the producers came it was like, you know, when you're going through your cancer stuff, my mom was going through the exact same cancer stuff, and you talking about it or posting about it or being so honest about it.
Helped her through it.
And a lot of people come up to me in the past couple of years and been like, Hey, my girlfriend or my friend or me person whoever has cancer, Like what do I say?
What do I do? What would you suggest?
And so being able to feel like because I was lucky enough to survive, that I could help other people with their figuring it out, because I really didn't have someone like that when I was going through it. I like being the cancer guy that can help people either themselves or with friends or family.
What role to Tril play with you guys's fame?
Oh, it's huge. It was such a special time in music and in our band's career. I feel like at that point TRL was really undergoing a change. There were the bread and Butter, the Gold Standards artists on TRL, the Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Christina Aguilera in Sync, Backstreet Boys, ninety eight degrees, all these huge pop acts. But when blinkin eighty two was at our heyday, coming like in the late nineties early two thousands, rock and roll and punk rock and kind of like that sports metal stuff was starting to break.
Through as well.
So it was this interesting time to be popular on a show that was popular for being so poppy, and here's our rock band coming in with like sideways baseball hats and skateboard clothes and big dickies performing with people who were wearing like versace and really nice clothes and really professionally trained, and we were just sloppy and dumb and it was fun.
Was there ever an identity crisis with the band? Because again, you guys shifted music to pop, emulating what you were doing, but in turn, you were because you were so popular, you were now part of pop. You actually led that sound in pop, which that was what you guys weren't. Now all of a sudden, you're not pop, you're punk, and now you're pop. But because you've changed it, you've changed what pop is.
Right.
Did you guys ever have the man maybe we should just go so hard and make sure people don't know that so they know we're not pop. Was there ever an identity crisis with Blink?
I think that after anema of the state and how popular we got and how we were on pop music stations at the time, that came to us. And like you said, I don't feel like we changed our music at all, but music had come to us. And so on the next record, Takeout for Pants and Jacket, we were like, we are going to plant the flag that we are a rock band, that we are not chasing some kind of fame, that we are not chasing some kind of sound. We want to do a post hardcore, you know, a really dark, cool record and So if you look at all the stuff for Take eff for Pants and Jacket, we're like wearing all black, We're not smiling at anything. We're looking straight to the camera or rs crossed, like we are the serious rock band now.
So a little bit of that.
But I would like what Take it from Pants and Jacket did to us and really focused us on wait, what are we trying to do? Like I feel like End of the State was kind of our party punk rock record, and then take Effort Pants and Jacket was like a lot more dark and viby.
So I have three extremely cliche questions and only have a few minutes left, but three these are extreme cliche. So number one is going to get what is your favorite Blink hit?
Favorite Blink hit?
I'll go with Feeling This Feeling This was the first song that we wrote for the untitled record, And if Aliens ever came down from outer space and said, what's a Blink on any two song? I would play that, and I would play all the small things. But I think that this really showcases each one of us in a different way, and it's kind of an artistic take on a traditional Blinquinity two song that pushes things in.
A new direction that we were really excited about when we wrote it.
Second cliche question, what was the best part about fame and what was the hardest part about fame?
Best part about fame is that, Okay, here's the coolest thing that I ever got to do by being famous. When they launched the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, we got invited to the premiere at Disneyland, and they shut down the whole park, so the red carpet, the press line was all the way down Main Street and then we turned left into Adventure Land and the whole thing was closed off. And there were literally people at Disneyland begging us to go on their rides because there was nobody else there. So like Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean and all these great rides we got to ride. And then they premiered the movie on Tom Sawyer's Island on a huge screen, but we were sitting out in front of Pirates of the Caribbean on these cool bleachers. So we watched the movie and then at the end of the show, at the end of the movie, you walk out and they hand you a video game. At the Pirates of the Caribbean video game and you get in a limo and they drive you down Main Street of Disneyland and then take you home. That was rad the hardest part, the worst part about being famous. Stalker. We had a stalker for a while. That was a bum out.
You wrote it by that, Yeah that, Yeah, that sucks. We've had that issue too, because it feels like you're not in control. I didn't realize that until it just feels like you're not. It's you stay your whole life trying to control everything and then all of a sudden you're not in control. Like that sucks.
Yeah, yep, Okay.
My final cliche question, how important is it to you the people do lowercase B and the dash in Blake one eighty two.
It's important. I would say it's an eight out of ten importance.
Wow, it's not necessary, but it's like it's like, yeah, that's what it's supposed to be.
But you know how people can write it however they want.
You know, people overseas say Blink one eight two instead of Blink one eighty two, and it's always a point of contention we go over season like, well, what are you supposed to say?
Blink one?
A two or one eighty two, and it's one eighty two to us. But as long as you're talking about us, that's all we care about.
My producer Mike, you're his favorite band of all time. Mike has got a couple of questions. Mike, Hey, Mark, huge fan.
I've only ever cried once in concert, and it was in twenty twenty three when I saw you guys play, and it was the intro you did for Adams song like that's my favorite bliek Man song.
Has that song kind.
Of changed for you from when you first wrote it to now to kind of having a different meaning to you.
I mean, but it met the world to me when I wrote it.
It was a song that I wrote it a very dark point during the period of time between Dude Ranch and and of the State where our band was starting to get successful. But I would come home and I would be totally alone and feel alone, and we go out on tour and I'd feel fulfilled and whole, and then I'd go home and I'd feel empty again. So I wrote that song and it meant a lot up to me because I was honest with pain and depression. And then as I've gone through life and gone back to that song, and especially when the band got back together after I was sick and we were playing this song that meant so much to me. I would walk on stage and say, very honestly, like, this song saved my life once and this band saved my life a second time.
So it like it.
It's almost now like it means so much to me that I don't want to play it and I always find excuses to not play it because I get in my own head when I do.
The other part that's I got to be able to the book.
We talked about it earlier about you begging your dad to get you a bass, like I did the same thing because I saw Blinklin eighty two and I was like, I got to play guitar with my brother. He's like, all right, we got to convince our parents he got a bass. So we learned playing guitar and bass by getting tabs off the internet. For you, what are your top four blank n eighty two bass lines?
Top four blank great two bass lines? I would say the bass line in Mutt I Love. I would save the bassline and feeling this that I love dysenteria. Gary's a lot of fun to play and what's the forth? Oh, wishing Well?
No Carousel. All.
Carousel's a good one, but that one. The intro is hard to play, and I love that bassline. And it's literally the song that Tom and I wrote the first time that we got in a room together.
I'll bump with Carousel though too.
Sure, let's kick out, Let's kick out wishing Well and we'll put Carousel in.
I like the mic change Mark's mind. That's the funniest thing. Final two questions. Were you at all concerned that when you were united people wouldn't come?
Yeah, I think always that, But it wasn't about the people coming back. What it was important to us was that the three of us were continuing to do what we love, which is playing Blink oninty two songs and writing new songs. When we got back together, there wasn't even in talk about like we're going to tour and play these songs. It was like, we're gonna get in a studio and write a new record and keep doing what we love and keep writing new things and keep pushing forward.
So it wasn't so much about like.
Well, you know, we want a bunch of people to come and watch us play shows. We do, obviously, but we want people to come and listening to new stuff as well as old stuff. So yeah, I think that we were less concerned about the people being there and more being true to ourselves.
My final question. You wrote about this in your book as about you and Tom going from best friends to being not even on speaking terms. So and you talked about just communicating by email only, Like, what is the communication like now between you two? On a personal level, we.
Text all the time, whether it be about you know, uh, blink blink stuff or just jokes or memes or memories or whatnot, talking about everything. Really, I'll just call Tom up and I'll be like, what are you doing? And I called him like last week, I'm like, what are you doing right now? And it's like nothing, I'm literally sitting in my yard watching my dogs run around. And so then we just talked about dogs for a while.
So it's now it's just totally normal cool.
Yeah, absolutely, it's better than normal cool, like you know, like all brothers again.
Books fantastic, hope everybody reads it. Fahrenheit one eighty two with a dash, though, Fahrenheit Dash one eighty two. We got to make sure that, Yeah, that's the Yeah, yeah, fantastic. Hey massive fan, we're both massive fans. Thank you for the time, Mark, congratulations on a wonderful book. And yeah, just I don't know what else say except massive fan. I guess I'm not gonna see you because you're not here, but massive fan. I'll just end with that. Mark, thank you for your time, Buddy.
Thanks Bobby and I talk with you. Really appreciate it.
See Mark.
The Bobby Cast will be right back. This is the Bobby Cast.
All right.
So bands that changed their lead singers for better or worse, and it can be because somebody died because they got in a fight. I can give you a couple examples and why I actually am bringing this up and you had no knowledge of this topic, which is my favorite way to do music topics with you, because you have a lot of music knowledge and I really just wonder what comes to your mind. And I say that, so give me a band that comes to your mind. Van Halen, Okay. Van Halen started with.
David Lee Roth, then went to Sammy Hagar. Can you name the third no clue? This singer for ext.
Gary Sharon, who is a singer of Extreme.
But yeah, and that was did they even do an album? I have no idea. I don't even know how long he lasted.
I think so, but not long.
Yeah.
So van Halen one of the ones on my list for sure.
Which is funny because when stuff like that happens, especially three lead singers, you start seeing like, all right, common denominator, I know who the problem is here?
The third Sharon kind of doesn't count.
Though now, but but technically he.
Does, okay, And yeah, the common denominator is it? Oh, must be Eddie van Halen.
That's difficult, totally yes. And David Lee Roth, I guess was the last lead singer. Yeah, he came back and he came out.
Yeah, And I think that's just because the guys get old and they want to tour, and nobody will come with Gary Sharon as the lead singer. Who did you like best? Because I think your older brother was a van Halen guy. So you listen to a bunch of.
This is just me driving in the passenger seat listening to his music.
Which van Halen did you like best?
Sammy Hagar? And I think that just is purely just my age because Sammy Hagar was the one when I was like in high.
School and I never listened to Van Halen, so I only as I got older and didn't have an older brother or an even pushing it down on me. Mine's David ly Roth because I got it all at the same time basically and just and I love that well and that's his solos, but that's him ye solo. So I was like in love with him. I thought he was so cool. So then when it was like Van Halen and the lead singer, I like the early stuff better. I mean, those are that's just a jiggalo guy was doing it.
That's why. I mean those dude, that was Van Halen's prime. When David Lee Roth was the singer that was That's what.
Oh, I don't know.
I think I think David Lee Roth, yes, but who I would argue that even though Roth David and I don't want to do a whole Van Hammon podcast because I'm not knowledgeable enough.
But Sammy Hagar has I think the better song.
You do like which one? Let's let's we can pull on like right, that's davidly Roth. Oh really yeah?
So Panama let me read you tell me if you can tell me who they are about it? Go okay, I do like might as well jump jump David Roth. Davidly Roth. Yeah, okay, that's That's one of my favorites, is Panama? Is that Aily Roth and davidly Roth? Okay, who did the whole nineteen eighty five album or whatever that's called.
That's eighty four. Yeah, davidly Roth.
Okay, that's a good one.
Yeah, man, I'm telling you that that was the prime Van Halen.
Okay, but Roth maybe, so maybe that's why I like him, just because of all the songs.
I think it's hard for anyone to even name a hit. When Sammy Hayes, like Cofford Teacher was awesome. Yeah, the motorcycle, Well, so what did Sammy higgen? What was his right here right now?
That was good?
Why can't this be love?
Yeah?
If that kind of stuff? Okay, I don't know, like maybe five songs, a handful of songs that were pretty Oh he did like the song that that played during Twist the movie, remember the movie Twister? The first one of the the first one. Oh yeah, no, I couldn't even tell you how it goes.
Okay, I have a list. I'll tell you why this comes up. We were putting together our million dollars show that we did now it's been a couple of months ago. We have a lot of acts that come in and perform with us, and they kind of rotated it out. And every year we look for bands that aren't country, like this year we had O Town and they were straight pop. In the past, though, we've done like better than Ezra, We've done Three Doors Down, Licked Yes, Scott stat So the Fray doesn't have their lead singer anymore, but they're the bald guy he quit. I don't know what the deal was, but I was watching an interview where like the guitar players now the lead singer, and I was considering reaching out to the Fray, and I thought to myself, I don't know.
Yeah, I didn't know.
I was kind kind of unfairly turned off without even giving it a chance, because I was like, if we're going to reach out to the Fray and it's not the lead singer that sang all the hits.
And I couldn't tell you his name or anything about him, but bald a white ball. That's all I know. But I would know if they showed up and it wasn't him, I would know that.
And I was listening to an interview with the now lead singer, but the guitar player going, you know, we were nervous. I'm looking for a new lead singer, and I was like, well, let me try it, and like I admire all of that and nothing because you got to pay the bills. Why I'd be the bills as the fray if it's still the band. But I I didn't even pursue the ask, and they probably would have said no, or we can't or but I was like, you know, if the pray shows up and it's not the main guy, I think could will be disappointed.
Right, I agree, I completely agree.
I'd be disappointed me too, and unfair. So that's what led me to this idea of bands that changed their lead singers for better or for worse, and all my list. Van Halen is at number two, oh good, okay, at number one, well, it's Genesis, oh right, and the age old story of Peter Gabriel was the original singer and their drummer was Phil Collins, and it was they were looking for a lead singer and Phil Collins just kept singing basically behind the kit, and so they changed and they arguably became a bigger band with Phil Collins as the lead singer.
Interesting, yes, but I didn't know that. I didn't know that he quit. I guess I never knew that part. I thought the band broke up and Peter Gabriel they just kept going with Phil Collins. I didn't know that.
I didn't listen quit or fired, don't know, but they changed. So from what I read looking into this for this this episode was they were openly looking for a new singer, either if they broke up or not. But it ended up being Phil Collins, who was behind the kit, who really was never going to be a lead singer but could obviously sing and then turned into a massive one of the biggest the solo stars of the eighties on my list this is I'll give you a hint. Lead singer died uh a non American band. The lead singer died in nineteen eighty got it? Who is it?
Queen? No lead singer died in nineteen.
Died in nineteen eighty. Uh. The lead singer was Bon Scott oh a CDC and so Brian Johnson was there and is their lead singer.
So was it the same sound? Did did? Did Bon?
Yes? So Bon Scott was very yes, but funny to hear them both.
I do I need to do a deep dive in there.
Bon Scott definitely has that sound. And I heard an old commercial with Brian Johnson, who's the lead singer who was singing on a TV commercial before he got an a CDC, and it didn't sound like the Brian Johnson and we know as a CDC. So from my perspective, if I have to speculate, I think his singing style is very derivative of what Bond Scott's was because ac DC sounded like that.
That's they were known for that.
Yes, So the first album with Brian Johnson was Back in Black, one of the best selling albums of all time. So that wasn't that we're going to replace our guy. That's like he died and let's find something and then exploded with him the new guy as a lead singer, but also sounded like the old singer. Journey's at four on my list.
Oh yeah, that was a big deal.
So and and it's not always about it's succeeding. It's like when I think of bands that replaced their lead singer period and Journey had Steve Perry and they got the guy from YouTube.
Yeah, it was. Was it an audition or does it? Just like, let's try this guy.
Arnel Pineda was his name. Not sure how they came across his YouTube video, but he sounds just like Steve Perry does, doesn't look like him. I think it's dark fella. Well, his name is Arnelle Pinata. I think he's from a Latin American.
Yeah, he might be Filipino.
I think that's it.
Okay, right is right?
And as you as a dark fellow, only you could say say that, yes, I can't say okay, I can't go dark fellah, but yes, I knew he was. Uh, what's his name is? Pinatas?
What's Latin? Right? Right? Which you know Filipino's Latin, same same deal. But like, what's funny about about that? It is like, you know big Head Todd in The Monster. Uh, I saw him on YouTube just the other night, and I'm like, that guy is not what I thought. He looked like.
He is also from a different I can't can't play some right now. Okay, I don't know what.
He's but that was weird too, because we when someone sounds like Steve Perry and he looks very different than Steve Perry.
That's a shock for those maybe if you stroubled into the podcast. Eddie is a dark fellow, so he can say.
That I'm hispanic.
Yes, he's lighter than you though.
Yeah, I think we're like the same couple.
Steve Perry was a white guy.
Yeah, he's a very white guy.
But Piet's voice is shockingly similar.
I know, man, he's so good.
Black Sabbath. Yeah, can you name the elite singer the original Azzi? Right?
But who took his place?
So Ronnie James Dio and who was also like a rocker himself.
He was Hispanic, kidd, I have no idea. Oh I did not dark fella, no idea. I see again, I didn't know that Black Sabbath carried on. I thought Ozzie just left and they broke up, and then Ozzy did his thing.
And they were critically and musically strong even after Ozzy did his thing. Heaven and Hell was the album that was kind of a reinvention. Hardcore fans love Ozzy because he was Black Sabbath, but also do respect d O as well. Yeah, in excess. Oh gosh, do you remember the original he he died, right? I believe he was like hanging. He like whacked off. Why hanging himself to a phyxiation thing doing the thing? Yeah, you may google that, that was the I choke it. Yeah, it's almost like people pumping their stomachs, like we heard every art of that to pump their stomach. Wait, so I don't know if that's true. What do I google?
Again?
Google Michael Hutchins in excess death death like how he died? So I remember this TV show? So they did a reality show to find a new lead singer, and j D Fortune was the guy. J D Fortune very unsuccessful, did not work at all. They never recovered from Hutchins's death, and then reality TV didn't help the credibility of it. But I have that on my list.
But a great idea, trying to find a new lead singer.
What do you see you read over there?
Yeah, he died from hanging, but does it say while he was he didn't say specifics here, that's good enough. What was with hanging from Yeah, parents' suicide but doesn't say anything.
Oh well, suicide's different though, because if it's suicide, that's not that.
Well right, right, That's what I'm saying. I think the theory was just that he was doing that. But if the I think the corner or whatever, the.
We're not questioning anybody. We don't care that much to question the judgment of the correct read.
It also says they resulted from an act of auto eroticism.
That's it.
That's choking yourself all back.
And you have a good point though that if it is that auto eroticism, whatever, then it's not suicide. Correct. You weren't trying to kill yourself. You're trying to do something else.
And there've got to be some factors because it's not like you never mind. We just got to move on because.
I've man, this is so interesting though. Hey, when we're done with this, can we talk more about it? No?
Actually even weirder Alice in.
Chains, Yeah, Elaine Staley, he died, he died overdose.
Any chance you know they were replaced him with.
It wasn't Jerry control, was.
It William Duvall and that work They did fair but and they made okay albums and.
And Jerry Kintrell had a pretty good career at that.
I think William Duvall is still touring with them.
Really, I didn't even know they toured. They probably do a cruise or something right, who doesn't the Grunge Tour, the Grunge Cruise, Stone Table Pilots, Yeah, Scott Wiland and then he dies and then who took his place?
Chester Bennington? Really and then Jeff gutt about that sounds familiar? Mixed result, They kept going with the original Chrismon sound never quite returned. I loved Stuontible Pilots, you did, Yeah, loved them. They were to me top five I won't I don't know if I'm doing the top my favorite, but top five nineties alternative bands that remind me of that era, Like if you were to go, who were those bands that defined that time? Which was like for me right in a country and alternative it's STPs there.
Did you like Velvet Revolver?
No? I didn't.
Actually there is different, sounded very different than Stunt Tuble Pilot.
Speak and Velvet Revolver had as the lead singer Scott Scott Island and so because that he left before he died, Yeah he did, and it was they didn't have any of my hits, so I guess not. It was just like a band of other band members it.
I can't tell you that was never a guns and Roses. Guy, did you know that Scott Wiland was a and I might be saying it right, Scott Whalan Scott Wiland, Yeah, he was a good football player.
I didn't know that.
Like, uh, I think he's just like a really good football player.
On my TikTok, I'll get a bunch of nineties acoustic alternative bands like man, you talk about a distinct, really pure voice, but very distinct. Oh yeah, it is awesome and like you watch him do acoustic I am smelled in like a rose at somebody Gabe or Plush was so good as a studio song, but when they recorded an acoustic it became a hit again.
They released an acoustic any song.
Called it is Awesome So good.
Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor, and we're back on the Bobby Cast.
The Doobie Brothers, Oh god.
The only I only know Michael McDonald and he wasn't the original. I couldn't really even tell you.
I wouldn't have either. I wouldn't have known from Tom Johnston to Michael McDonald.
Was there any Doobie Jim Dooby.
I don't think that's the purpose of the name, that it's like a Van Halen. I think it's a reference to something else shifted from rock to like soul, like the Doobie Brothers ended up with Michael McDonald and it being a bit more of what they would call yacht rock ish now. Yeah, but the hits kept coming, so they had hit so like in Dixie Land.
And uh those songs, that's the old Doobie Brothers before they turn into a yacht rock gond takes.
If I weren't guessing, I would think a lot of that, Oh sweet are yeah hippy?
Won't you keep on?
I would imagine that that's a lot of Tom Johnson.
But we could have reasons with that.
I think that's right because the seventies long haired hippie sound feels to me like Tom Johnson.
Yeah, different than what you see what you here.
Now Leonard Skinnard, Oh yeah, Ronnie van sent original Dina Plane Crash, Johnny van Zent his brother, you know. As a legacy act, it's been successful. It's not like they've had other hits, but they have been able to continue on and tour. And also because it's family, sure, it feels more credible.
It does. It does, and they still dress the same as Ronnie did, because I think that was Ronnie style, that hat in the leather. But his brother sounds just like him, you know, like when when I see them now and like I've never seen him live, but you think you watch them on TV or whatever do performances.
They do, they're on TV.
Yeah, like you know how they'll be an Awards show where like led Zeppelin plays or New York. I'm talking about Skinner though specific I'm sorry, I'm sorry Skinner Skinner and like even they played the New Year's uh the Nashville New.
Year's party Skinner did on TV.
Skinner played on TV. Yeah, and he sounds like his.
Brother, so creatively, it's not like that had any hits. But again, the brand and they've been able to tour and continue to make money.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
Audio Slave Chris Cornell, so yeah, it kind of reversed. But yeah, Chris Cornell, who is in Soundgarden, and that was a kind of audio slave to me is kind of like Velvet.
Revolver though it was it was what a supergroup, that's exactly what it's called. So so once he died, they they substituted someone else in there, another lead singer of audio Slave. Yeah, I don't understand because the whole thing is about like replaced lead singers, right.
Yes, but this was kind of this was a reverse one. So so audio Slave and Chris Cornell who was in Soundgarden, who went from sound Garden to audio Slave and then two the band and Rage against the Machine.
That's audio Slave, that's part of right, that's audio Slave. Yeah, audio Slave was raised. Yeah whatever, yeah, yeah, yeah, there there were both of them.
It was kind of a boat. One lost lead singer, one lead singer from another went to the lost lead singer. But they made a new band instead of it being what I would have called them, Sound against the Machine.
Did anyone think of that?
I'm sure they did. But but again, you have two brands pretty amazing. You have the lead singer from one big brand and the band from another, and then you pick a whole new name. And do you think they all were just lost in being so successful? They just thought it would just work, I guess.
And it was cool because Chris Cornell again, unlike Velvet Revolver, which was so different, the STP's sound from Velvet Revolver was so different. Velvet Revolver was a lot heavier, but audio Slave with Tom Morello definitely different music sound, but once you have Chris Cornell because because Soundgarden was hard Black Holes Sun, some of their stuff like spoon Man is heavy, So the transition from Soundgarden to Audio Slave wasn't too different, and it sounded almost the same, but with Tom Morello's like weird guitar sounds like rages.
Yes, the only song that I really remember from Audio Slave.
Is Knocker Loer Stone. No, yeah, that's a good one.
Us. Let's see, I got a couple more here, queen. So Freddie Murcury died Paul Rodgers for a bit, but then Adam Lambert Paul Rodgers meant but Adam Lambert a success, not so much in putting out new music, but much like Skinner did, except without the blood like the blood relative like they they had credibility and toured again one because Adam Lambert could really.
Sash, he really could sounded just like him.
So he modernized the live act and allowed them to keep touring, and people didn't feel like they had just put something together for just money, right, because Adam Lambert was that good and.
Weird at first, right, like weird at first because Queen was such a legendary rock band, but then after a while and got normal, like pretty normal, you're gonna go see Queen. Yeah, not even mentioned that Adam Lambert is singing, just like, oh cool, let's just go see Queen.
Well, I guess I don't know anybody that ever saw Queen with him. No your house, Queen.
No. But what I'm saying is like you would always be like, oh yeah, Queen with Adam Lambert from American Idol, to like just it being normal, Yeah, just Queen. You already know who the lead singer is. Obviously it's not Freddie Mercury.
Out of respect, I would always say Queen with Adam Lambert because Freddy deserved more, but something similar to that. So this has happened a couple different ways. But so Sublime originally with Brett oh yeah, and then he dies and then it becomes Sublime with Rome yeah yep. And so Sublime with Rome continued to tour relatively well, but they didn't have, at least that I know of, many massive or even big songs.
News.
I don't want to speak for like all of alternative because I think I missed that. But now they've kind of switched singers again, and now this is cool. Bradley Nold's son is the lead singer.
That's really cool. And who who sounds like him looks like him is pretty cool. Probably pretty cool for the band members too, to have something have that. I think pretty for the band members because it gives a spark to touring again and for them to make money again, because how many time you're going to see.
Sublime with Rome? Three times to watch Sublime with not even the original lead singer.
But see, they never went to just let's go see Sublime. It was let's.
Always Sublime with that was their name though it was their name.
Yeah.
Another one in my final one and read I want you to look up Doobie brother songs with the different lead singers, because I at least want to be semi accurate.
Before we.
Hang up, I like, this is the phone before we hang up the phone, thank you? Is the Bare Naked Ladies. So they had too, They had two. They had this singer Steven and they kind of also singer but the rapper Ed, and I think Stephen got some trouble want to leave the band that kicked him out. Ed's been doing it for the last over a decade, so.
That it's been is different than the Jeopardy China, the China, He's chicken, two different guys. Yeah, I didn't know that.
And so Steven was a really great pure singer and Ed was a good singer, but would do a lot of that goofy the rapping stuff. But now Ed does almost all the lead vocals. And you really and I'm a Bear Naked Ladies fan, you can still really enjoy Bear Naked Lady show.
I would think so like stuff.
To like, uh, you know, went to the old apartment. This is where we used to live, Like that's all the old school.
You're a big fan.
I love Bear Naked Ladies. You do read what do you have for us?
All right?
So which song are you?
Are you talking about?
So I don't know what do you have over there?
So I mean we got uh, let's see what a full Believes. That's Michael McDonald, Okay, And then we got walk this Road is uh Mavis Staples.
Mavis Mavis never an elite singer of the Doobie Brothers.
No, I think that's maybe a feature.
Maybe yeah, yeah, it's a feature, Okay, Yeah, talking it Yeah, taking it to the streets is Michael McDonald.
Okay, we'll look for some Tom Johnson or Michael McDonald, one of the twos. See.
Tom Johnson is China growth.
There we go, whoa, whoa, China grow. That's more than seventies.
Tom Johnson is a long train running, okay and listening to the music.
Whoa, whoa listen to the music. We're right, yeah, Tom Johnson.
Jesus is just alright.
Jesus is just alright with me. Jesus is just alright.
Oh yeah, South City Midnight Lady is Patrick Simmons.
Don't know that guy.
It probably one of the other Dudie brothers they give.
A song to.
Maybe I don't know any other Tom Johnson hits that you see there.
Let's see pretty much just Michael McDonald after that, and then Patrick.
Simmons, classic Patrick. Sometimes they just give another guy in the band a song, like Ringo, like Ringo, but Ringo at least wrote some of his like hits too for the which is cool of the.
Beatles, right, yes, to be like none know, We're like we're the songwriters here.
No.
They it's like, hey, did you write a song?
Pretty cool and we like it and we're gonna record it and we'll make it a single, because singles they pressed on vinyl. One. Yeah, I used to go to goog Doll shows whenever they were close.
I didn't know this about you.
I love the Goo Dolls like loved and loved that Johnny never met him. Have probably been to conservatively speaking, eight Google. That's a lot conservatively speaking, yet wow. But they would always have the best bass players sing like a song.
Every record was that time to go to the bathroom.
It was awful. It was not very good, and it would always be like a little harder and he'd be like, it's just weird. So sometimes bands will just let other guys sing, uh, and we'll end in this and on this. Who have you seen the most in concert? Ever? And if we're just roughly guessing numbers, how many times do you think you've seen them?
I mean, I'm trying to think. I'm only taking a second because I'm trying to see you. There's any more than think about it.
I can do mine because I know who I've seen the most. So I would say at this point because for a long time it'll been my number two, but I think John Mayer now is number one. Probably eleven or twelve concerts, but like an acl Live, like I would go to that taping. I count that as a show because he played right. It wasn't just bought ticket. I bought a bunch of tickets. I've been to a bunch of shows. John Mayer is at one at two in two A because I saw them twice together food Fighters, I would put food Fighters at two. I'm probably near ten food Fighter concerts.
Wow, that's a lot. That's almost Google Google doll numbers. Well, you know a little bit more than Google Google doll.
Right below food Fighters Chili Peppers.
Oh wow.
And they toured together for a while, so that counts yeap, and then probably Google Dolls.
That is so surprise.
That's like eight.
I've known you for a long long time and I did not know that about you. We didn't see Google dolls together, did we know? Okay, because we went to that nineties I went.
I took Nikita to see Google dolls because in Nashville. Yeah, because Nikita had just moved to play with us to the Raging Idiots, and I don't even think she kne who they were. That's and she didn't have any friends. And I was like I'm going to watch the Googoo Dolls by myself. I didn't bought a ticket yet, my favorite band, and so she was from Australia and she came and we went.
You like it?
I don't think she was.
Liked it on the base of the bass playing.
So that's the one song she liked was when the Bass Good? Yeah, in country acts. I don't know if that counts as much. Like, But I also don't think I don't have as many because I haven't paid. I just don't go to concerts anymore, almost never because either working or we're selling music that we don't really go to many shows. Yeah, but maybe Garth three or four?
Sure, yeah, I think I have three gross shows.
Yeah my belt. Who would be the top of your list?
It's got to be Pearl Jam. I've probably seen Pearl Jam ten good, maybe eleven.
Yeah, your number one should be ten or more. Yeah, at our age and for as long as they've been around, yeah, I think.
And they're coming in May, so let's just make it twelve because I'm going, which if everything works out and I'm here in town. Like because for the for the past six or seven years, every time Pearl Jam has come to Nashville. I've been out of town, which is just makes me upset even I think Eddie Vedder played one of what's the one? He played the operation that that, but I wouldn't hear for that. The festival they do in Franklin, m Pilgrimage, Eddie Vedder played the Pilgrimage. I wasn't here.
Do you ever want to go see just Eddie Vedder?
Though, absolutely I've seen him. I've seen Eddie Vedder like three times.
Does he do Pearl Jams songs?
Yes, and he does them either acoustically or with a ukulele, but he does enough.
Yeah, hell, they'll do better man, He'll do the don't call Me daughter.
No, I don't think he's done. He did daughter, He's done like elderly woman behind the counter. He's done better man. Yeah, a few other.
Yellow ledbetter probably yell led better on a ukulele.
No, I think that one's on acoustic guitar.
But like, Eddie Vedder's good dude.
He does a really good live show, and he's got enough song I think he has like three four solo albums, so like he's got good songs out there that are not Pearl Jam.
Yeah, I probably pass on going to Eddie Vedder show unless he's gonna do half pearl jam songs. What else you got?
And then probably behind him Bob Schneider in Austin. When we lived in Austin, I would go all the times. Honestly, I've probably seen Bob Schneider twenty times.
Yeah, he played a lot, he lived there.
Yeah, and that's just because he's a local.
Dude. Blue October seventy one times. And we were in Texas.
Right like Bob Snyder every Friday night anthro like it was just a thing.
Read. Who would you say you've seen the most in concert?
Dude?
Honestly, I can't even think of a band that I've seen more than once. I've seen a lot of bands live once.
Wait, take that back.
I saw Kendrick Lamar in Dallas and then at the super Bowl.
If that count.
That doesn't count. It counts. It's the performance, doesn't con.
You're not there for them, you're not there for ken. You've not seen anybody twice? Oh man? Who would you say your favorite artist of all time is.
My favorite artist Dickey No Chris Tableton and I still haven't even seen him.
Really, No, you never been.
You need to get out more.
No, I haven't.
I do like he's your favorite of all time? He never been to a show?
No, never been to When did? When did he take that crown as your favorite of all time?
I think when I was in college, when I started like wanting to write songs more and I've started to appreciate songwriting more, I was like, dang, he is actually an incredible songwriter.
Yeah, I mean that's what he yea, I both right, Like I was gonna say that's what he did before he made it, but he was trying to make it as a part of a band. So but yeah, okay, yeah, I didn't even know. Like he opened the door, bring him in. He's gonna play for you now here.
He is Christ Chris, thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production.
