The classic Blink-182 song inspired by Green Day
There are few pop-punk bands more iconic than Green Day. Led by a tattooed, eyeliner-wearing Billie Joe Armstrong, the Californian trio paired angsty yet melodic vocals with clean, catchy guitars to forge a powerful new pop-punk sound. Working against the gloom of grunge, they gifted 1990s music fans with a more playful sound. Between the iconic Dookie in 1994 and the experimental Nimrod in 1997, Green Day inspired a whole wave of pop-punk bands, including Blink-182.
Perhaps the only band to rival Green Day for their legacy in the genre, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Travis Barker found success towards the end of the decade, which continued into the new century. Finding success with playful hits like ‘All the Small Things’ and ‘Dammit’, Blink-182 discussed suburban growing pains over radio-friendly riffs. One of those riffs was inspired by their pop-punk predecessors.
In 1999, Blink-182 delivered the lead single from their iconic third record, Enema of the State. Their first single with Travis Barker on drums, ‘What’s My Age Again?’ combined a melodic guitar riff with lyrics about immaturity. The song has since become one of the most memorable tracks in the genre, but it was first inspired by Green Day.
As songwriter Mark Hoppus shared with Chris Demakes in an episode of Chris Demakes A Podcast, the track originated from his love for ‘J.A.R.’ by Green Day. The track was penned by bassist Mike Dirnt and featured on the soundtrack for Angus in 1995. It opened with a “really rad” bass intro, which Hoppus attempted to learn.
While he was trying to master the Green Day track, Hoppus accidentally fumbled the chord progression but found that the resulting riff he played sounded “kinda cool”. This formed the basis for the iconic opening riff to ‘What’s My Age Again?’ – as Hoppus summarised it, “Me trying to learn how to play ‘J.A.R.’ on guitar and messing it up, and coming up with something that I liked that was different than that.”
The track was released in 1999, and by the beginning of the 2000s, the bands had become peers. Blink-182 found themselves co-headlining the Pop Disaster tour with Green Day across North America, which led to a slightly awkward interaction between Hoppus and Armstrong concerning the Blink-182 bassist’s love for ‘J.A.M’.
As Hoppus recalls the “completely embarrassing” story, when they first began the tour, the two bands had already become friends through press conferences and photoshoots. When Hoppus was hanging out in Green Day’s dressing room on the first night of the tour, he mentioned to Armstrong how much he loved the track and how it had influenced his own songwriting.
Hoppus recalls telling the Green Day frontman that he thought it was their best song, to which Armstrong responded, “Oh, that’s cool… Mike Dirnt wrote that one. It’s the only one of our songs that he wrote.” Taken aback, Hoppus attempted to save the conversation by declaring, “I love all your songs a lot. I’m sure there’s other ones I like just as much.” Despite the small social faux pas, Hoppus recalls that Armstrong was “very gracious” in his response and simply credited his bandmate.
Though it may have led to an awkward conversation for Hoppus, ‘J.A.M.’ remains iconic in its own right and as the inspiration for yet another genre classic.
