Blink-182's Tom DeLonge considered retiring before he learned of bandmate Mark Hoppus' cancer diagnosis
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- Blink-182's Tom DeLonge wanted to retire from music until he learned about Mark Hoppus' cancer diagnosis.
- In a trailer for their upcoming album, the band reflected on their music careers and their friendship.
- "When he told me he was sick, that was like the gnarliest… That's like, nothing matters, really," DeLonge said.
Blink-182's Tom DeLonge was thinking of retiring from music — until he found out bandmate Mark Hoppus had cancer.
In a new trailer video promoting the band's upcoming album "One More Time," DeLonge opened up about how Hoppus' diagnosis led him to change his mind about retirement.
"I remember telling my wife now, like, 'I don't think I'm ever going to play music again, I don't think I'm ever going to tour again,'" DeLonge said in the video. "Until Mark told me he was sick, and then I was like, that was the only thing I wanted to do."
Hoppus was diagnosed with stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in April 2021, per Vanity Fair.
Months later, in September 2021, he announced that he was cancer-free.
"When I found out that I got sick, I was really shitty, weak, brain, like, eaten with the chemotherapy, in pain and everything else, just a hollow shell," Hoppus said in the video about his experience battling cancer.
He went on to explain how his bandmates — DeLonge in particular — were doing their best to help lift his spirits.
"I got so sick of hearing Tom's positive shit. I really did," Hoppus said. "Like, 'You're going to do great, you're going to get through this, you're going crush this,' on the days I just wanted to wallow. I don't wanna be positive."
DeLonge added that their decision to start making music as a band again wasn't about "fame or money or how big Blink was," but a chance to support each other through their own personal struggles.
"When he told me he was sick, that was like the gnarliest…That's like, nothing matters, really," DeLonge said.
In the video, drummer Travis Barker also took a moment to reflect on the meaning behind their upcoming title track.
"On the album, 'One More Time' is kind of written about, like, why does it take these catastrophes like me being in a plane crash and Mark being sick for our band to get back together?" Barker said in the video.
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In 2005, Blink-182 went on a hiatus due to internal disagreements, per Billboard. After years of strained relations, they reunited in 2009 after Barker survived a plane crash that killed four people.
"My accident definitely made everyone think about things a little more clearly, especially me," Barker told The Daily Beast in an interview in 2017. "It's horrible that it took something like that for everyone to wake up, but we realized, man, life's short! We were fighting about some bullshit and not talking, and it wasn't anything to be fighting over."
In 2015, DeLonge left the band and was replaced by Matt Skiba for the next two Blink-182 albums, per Billboard.
In October 2022, DeLonge returned to Blink-182 again and the trio released a single titled "Edging," their first song and music video together in years, per Billboard.