Editing Mark Hoppus (section)

==Early life==
Mark Allan Hoppus{{efn|name=name}} was born on March 15, 1972, in [[Ridgecrest, California]].<ref name="rsency" /><ref name="allmusic">{{cite web |title=Mark Hoppus  |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mark-hoppus-mn0000280023 |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=July 31, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Independent |first=Jessica Weston for the Daily |date=2023-10-21 |title=The Waz rocks the house with a little help from Tex Hoppus singing Blink-182 at Historic USO |url=https://www.ridgecrestca.com/arts_and_entertainment/the-waz-rocks-the-house-with-a-little-help-from-tex-hoppus-singing-blink-182/article_c8b1ef58-703c-11ee-b31b-5f255a6bc4b5.html |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=The Ridgecrest Daily Independent |language=en}}</ref> He was raised near Washington, D.C., before his family settled in Ridgecrest, a place he later described as "geniuses, scientists, physicists, and then just complete strung-out meth-heads".<ref name="halfnakedtruth" /><ref name="DINOSAUR"/> His maternal great-grandparents, Aaron and Lempi Orrenmaa, were Finnish immigrants from [[Laihia]].<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000002909381.html | title = Amerikkalaisyhtye Blink-182:n riveissä on pohjalaisverta – "Toivon todella, että esiinnymme Suomessa ensi kesänä" | last1 = Jokelainen | first1 = Jarkko | date = July 6, 2016 | website = [[Helsingin Sanomat]] | publisher = [[Sanoma]] | language = fi | access-date = November 11, 2016}}</ref> His father Tex, like many in Ridgecrest, worked for the [[U.S. Department of Defense]], designing missiles and bombs for the town's [[U.S. Navy|Navy]] testing center.<ref name="halfnakedtruth"/><ref name="DINOSAUR"/>

Hoppus describes himself as "pretty mellow" until his parents divorced when he was eight, which had a "drastic, unsettling effect" on him.<ref name="DINOSAUR"/> He said, "When my parents argued, it was always behind closed doors. I remember sitting outside my parents' room when I was seven years old, hearing the dulled voice of anger behind the door. It upset me a lot." Following these events, he spent two years shuffling between his parents' homes with sister Anne, until he and his father moved to [[Monterey, California|Monterey]].<ref name="DINOSAUR"/> His father was often away earning a [[Postgraduate education|postgraduate degree]] in college. He later would describe his childhood as lonely, remarking, "[I] was living by myself in the fifth grade."<ref name="halfnakedtruth">{{cite magazine |last=Edwards |first=Gavin |date=August 3, 2000 |title=Blink-182: The Half-Naked Truth |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/blink-182-the-half-naked-truth-87106/}}</ref> His father introduced him to the music of [[The Beatles]], [[Elton John]] and [[Billy Joel]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1lt6qgDjWL6QM7sg7Fmc5mM/mark-hoppus-on-the-records-that-changed-his-life | title=BBC Radio 1 - Radio 1's Rock Show with Daniel P Carter - Mark Hoppus on the Records That Changed His Life|access-date=November 18, 2022}}</ref>

Hoppus describes himself as "pretty straight" until junior high, when he began skateboarding and listening to [[punk rock]].<ref name="risen">{{cite web|last= Eaton|first=Michael|url=http://www.risenmagazine.com/category/music/mark-hoppus/|title=Blink And You'll See It|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715185746/http://www.risenmagazine.com/category/music/mark-hoppus/|archive-date=July 15, 2011 |publisher=Risen|access-date=September 1, 2010}}</ref> In his early high school years, he lived in [[Fairfax, Virginia]], attending nearby [[Annandale High School]] during his second year; he received his first bass guitar during this time and attended his first concert, [[They Might Be Giants]], at the [[9:30 Club]] shortly before his 16th birthday.<ref>{{cite interview|last=Othello|first=Chris|subject-link=WJFK-FM|interviewer=Mark Hoppus|title=The C and O Show with Chris and Othello|work=[[WJFK-FM]]|publisher=[[WJFK-FM]]|location=[[Manassas, Virginia]]|date=March 2, 2011}}</ref> He recalled, "I didn't know where I should stand or what I should do, so my friends and I bought some menthol cigarettes and smoked for the first time and tried to look as cool as we could. We probably looked like idiots."<ref name="songschanged"/> He received his first bass (a Mako) as a gift from his father, purchased at a local music shop in [[Annandale, Virginia|Annandale]].<ref name=rsint>{{cite magazine| last =Scaggs| first =Austin| date =February 5, 2004| title =Interview: Mark Hoppus of Blink-182|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]| issue =941 | location =New York City | issn =0035-791X}}</ref> He earned money for a set of amplifiers by helping him paint his house.<ref name="DINOSAUR"/><ref name="smh">{{cite news| url = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/27/1093518062841.html| title = Mark Hoppus unplugged| access-date = February 28, 2007| author = Dowling, Joshua| date = August 27, 2004| newspaper = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref> Hoppus never took bass lessons, instead teaching himself by playing to bands such as the [[Descendents (band)|Descendents]], [[The Cure]], and [[Bad Religion]].<ref name="smh"/> He has remarked that "Silly Girl" by the Descendents was the "song that made [him] fall in love with punk rock music [...] that song changed [his] life forever".<ref name="sillygirl">{{cite magazine|volume=1428|title=111 Songs That Saved Your Life|date=August 18, 2012 |magazine=[[Kerrang!]] }}</ref> He borrowed a cassette tape of The Cure's album ''[[Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me]]'' from his friend Wendy Franklin the summer following junior high school, and was taken with the song "[[Just Like Heaven (The Cure song)|Just Like Heaven]]".<ref name="songschanged">{{cite magazine|author=Tom Bryant|title=The Songs That Changed Your Life|year=2006 |magazine=[[Kerrang!]] }}</ref><ref name="altpress09.1"/> 
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 | quote = I was a straight A student my whole life and then I started wearing eyeliner to school, skipping classes, and smoking cigarettes&nbsp;... I was a mess, just a really glorious mess.| source =&nbsp;—Hoppus on his adolescence<ref name=DINOSAUR>{{cite magazine| author=Mark Sutherland| date =March 3, 2012| title =My Dinosaur Life|magazine=[[Kerrang!]]| issue =1404 | pages =44–47| publisher =[[Bauer Media Group]]| location =London | issn = 0262-6624}}</ref> 
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Hoppus began to dress like Cure frontman [[Robert Smith (musician)|Robert Smith]], donning eyeliner and "occasionally bright red lipstick" to his high school classes; he later quipped, "This all went over exceedingly well with the faculty and staff in the small desert town where I grew up."<ref name="altpress09.1">{{cite magazine|title=Mark Hoppus on the Cure|author=Scott Heisel|page=108|date=July 2009 |magazine=[[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Alternative Press]] }}</ref><ref name="mh18"/><ref name="TalesFromBeneathYourMom">{{cite book |last=Hoppus |first=Anne |author2=(([[Blink-182]])) |title= Blink-182: Tales from Beneath Your Mom |publisher= MTV Books / Pocket Books|date=October 2001 |isbn= 0-7434-2207-4}}</ref> Beginning in his first year, he gained solace through music of both The Cure and [[The Smiths]].<ref name="halfnakedtruth"/><ref name=mh18>{{cite magazine| last = Everett| first = Jenny| date =Fall 2001| title =blink-182 Cordially Invites You To Take Them Seriously|magazine=[[MH-18 (magazine)|MH-18]]| page =81| publisher =[[Rodale, Inc.]]}}</ref> He played by himself and sang in the band Pier 69, primarily covering songs by The Cure, and recorded a live demo with a group named The Attic Children in 1988, featuring covers of The Cure songs. Hoppus returned to Ridgecrest in 1989, completing high school at [[Sherman E. Burroughs High School|Burroughs High School]]. In his teen years, a friend stole his mother's car in the middle of the night to pick him up; the two would sneak out to the desert and burn trees and any objects they could find.<ref name="mh18"/>

After graduating from Burroughs High School in 1990, he began playing in a band called of All Things he formed with two friends, covering songs by [[Descendents (band)|Descendents]], [[Social Distortion]], and [[Bad Religion]], as well as writing original punk numbers.<ref name="mh18"/> The group primarily performed at friend's parties and bonfires, and once played Oasis, the local music venue.<ref name="p8-9"/> Hoppus left Ridgecrest in summer 1992 to attend college and get a job at a local music store in [[San Diego]]. He continued playing gigs with of All Things, returning on weekends. Eventually, his manager became suspicious of his weekend activities, as Hoppus had told him he worked with mentally disabled children in Ridgecrest, and refused to give him any time off on weekends.<ref name="TalesFromBeneathYourMom"/> His "short-lived attempt" at college, studying at [[California State University, San Marcos]], revolved around plans to become an English teacher.<ref name="psst">{{cite news|last=Hochman|first=Steve|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-may-30-ca-42373-story.html|title=Psst...blink-182 Is Growing Up|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=May 30, 1999|access-date=September 20, 2012}}</ref><ref name="nyrock"/> He recalls he "hated" college and his reasoning behind becoming a teacher involved sights set for [[Education reform|educational reform]]. He dropped out in the early 1990s after "things began to take off with Blink-182" and lived with his mother for many of the early years of the band.<ref name="nyrock">{{cite journal |date=August 2001|title=Interview with Mark Hoppus of blink-182 blink-182 |journal= NY Rock}}</ref> Hoppus describes his mother as always supportive in his decisions to drop out of college and tour with Blink-182; however, he describes his father as "more realistic, [...] he said, 'Have something to fall back on.'"<ref name="risen"/> "I'm really fortunate that my mom always completely supported me, even to the point that I dropped out of college and lived at her house for five years before our band started to catch on," said Hoppus.<ref name="risen"/>