Blink-182 Say Green Day Inspired "What's My Age Again?"

Blink-182 Say Green Day Inspired “What’s My Age Again?”

2020-11-05

Story by Cat Badra

Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 says the band’s 1999 classic “What’s My Age Again?” was inspired by a certain Green Day song

Blink-182 is known for their 1999 hit song “What’s My Age Again?” but until now, it’s been a secret who inspired the track. According to frontman Mark Hoppus, Green Day is the band that inspired Blink-182’s big hit.

Hoppus recently spoke with Chris DeMakes on his podcast and discussed the song’s genesis.

Hoppus said the song started as “a joke song” that was going to be called “Peter Pan Syndrome.” He added that the track’s chord progression was born out of a failed attempt to play a Green Day song.

“There was a Green Day song called ‘J.A.R.’ that’s on the Angus soundtrack, and it starts off with this bass intro that’s really rad,” Hoppus said. “I was messing around on the guitar trying to learn that and then I kind of messed up the progression and I played it incorrectly.”

He added, “I was like, ‘Oh, that sounds kind of cool,’ and that was the basis for the opening riff of the song. It was me trying to learn ‘J.A.R.’ on guitar and messing it up and coming up with something that I liked that was different than that.”

After the song became a hit, Blink-182 went on tour with Green Day, and Hoppus was able to tell the band how much he loves their song “J.A.R.”

Hoppus gushed about the track to Billie Joe Armstrong, but he didn’t get the response he expected. Armstrong said, “Yeah, that’s cool. Mike Dirnt wrote that one. That’s the only one of our songs that he wrote.” Oops.

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Cat Badra

Meet the expert - Cat Badra is a music writer for Audio Ink Radio and a range of other music, sports and lifestyle publications. She's a graduate of Michigan State University with a master's degree in theater and speech. Contact her at cat@audioinkradio.com.