Pop-punk
The genre has evolved throughout its history, absorbing elements from new wave, college rock, ska, hip hop, emo, boy band pop and even hardcore punk and metalcore.
The genre experienced another wave popularized during the late 1990s and early 2000s led by Blink-182, and in their wake followed contemporary acts such as Sum 41, New Found Glory, Good Charlotte, and Avril Lavigne, while the Warped Tour played a crucial role in launching up-and-coming pop-punk artists.
[2] Pop-punk's mainstream popularity continued in the mid-to-late 2000s, with artists such as Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and Paramore achieving high levels of commercial success.
[14] Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, who described power pop as "the greatest music on Earth that no one likes",[15] opined that the pop-punk term was an oxymoron: "You're either punk or you're not.
[23] Heller referred to the Undertones as "the most subversive band" of the genre during this period, particularly their 1978 single "Teenage Kicks", "one of the most striking and definitive pop punk classics.
Dookie sold four million copies by the year's end and spawned several radio singles that received extensive MTV rotation, three of which peaked at number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
[37][43][44] They argued that by signing to major labels and appearing on MTV, bands like Green Day were buying into a system that punk was created to challenge.
"[20] Lamb described second-wave pop-punk bands, led by Blink-182, as having "a radio friendly sheen to their music, but still maintaining much of the speed and attitude of classic punk rock".
This included bands such as New Found Glory, Allister, Fenix TX, the Early November, Something Corporate, the Starting Line, Midtown, Hellogoodbye, Rx Bandits and the Movielife.
Journalist Nick Laugher wrote that it was "undeniable" that the record launched pop-punk into the mainstream, "blurring the lines with it and straight-up pop music, and making it more of a cultural movement than a genre.
[75] According to Brooklyn Vegan's Andrew Sacher, after the success of "hugely popular" 2000s bands such as Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and My Chemical Romance, "the line between pop punk and emo look[ed] close to nonexistent.
Folie a Deux sold worse than their preceding albums, a representation of the backlash from their fanbase as the group experimented with a musical style differing from their established pop-punk sound.
[90] Devon Maloney of MTV wrote that "Pop punk and emo bands don't headline Coachella or Bonnaroo; they rarely, if ever, are even billed on mainstream festival stages," and notes that it has similarly disappeared from the press.
[97] On the Wonder Years' The Upsides (2010), vocalist Dan Campbell sung about "His early twenties soul-searching and tales of strife" which "resonated with a [new] generation, inspiring countless imitators in the process.
[101] In early 2014, Welsh band Neck Deep released their debut album Wishful Thinking, which Rock Sound later called it "the greatest UK pop punk record of all time.
[107] Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer's 2014 self titled album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and in many other countries,[108] and received what the Guardian journalist Harriet Gibsone described as "the kind of mania only ever granted to a massive boyband".
[118] This brought about a revived interest in the genre in popular culture,[116][117] leading to a number notable artists beginning to release po- punk songs towards the end of the decade.
[120] The song was certified gold in the United States,[121] peaked at number one on the Billboard Bubbling under Top 100 chart[122] and was performed at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards.
[123] On June 7, 2019, Machine Gun Kelly, who had been established as a rapper for over a decade, released the pop-punk song "I Think I'm Okay" featuring Yungblud and Travis Barker.
[127] An October 2019 article by Mic cited emo rap as bringing an interest to a new wave of pop-punk groups like Stand Atlantic, Doll Skin, Waterparks and rapper Vic Mensa's band 93PUNX.
[128] Alternative Press also cited English bands Trash Boat, Boston Manor and As It Is as making "significant contributions to the latest revival era".
[146] In 2023, Cassadee Pope (from the defunct band Hey Monday) announced that she was stepping away from country music and going back to her roots in pop-punk, with the release of the singles "People That I Love Leave", "Almost There", and "Coma" (featuring Taylor Acorn).
[151] Emo pop became popular in the mid-2000s, with record labels such as Fueled by Ramen releasing platinum albums from bands including My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Panic!
[152] Maloney wrote: "While many pop punk fans adamantly deny any association between their favorite acts and those labeled "emo," crossover bands who melded the two have gradually put both genres in the same scene-boat.
The style's name originates from the 2008 "Easycore tour", which featured A Day to Remember, Four Year Strong and headliners New Found Glory, which itself was a pun based on the name of "hardcore punk".
[156] Alternative Press writer Tyler Sharp wrote that while this wasn't the first instance that "a band decided to put fuzzy keys over their chord progressions, but it was a time when that formula was perfected.
"[156] Kika Chatterjee of Alternative Press added that the late 2000s "brought in glowing synths and poppy melodies that shifted the entire definition of [pop punk]", giving it the "neon" moniker.
[159] In a 2003 interview, Buzzcocks guitarist Steve Diggle would suggest that punk had become a "huge umbrella", stating, "And fair play to bands like Green Day and stuff, you know, they've been inspired when they were really young by us and the Clash and things, but it comes from a different well.
"[162] Green Day guitarist and lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong said: "Sometimes I think we've become redundant because we're this big band now; we've made a lot of money—we're not punk rock anymore.
"[166] Music critic for Treblezine Jeff Terich argued that the debate regarded the ethics of "pop-punk" is redundant, saying that there is "no discussion of the genre that doesn't eventually devolve into the black-mold-like growth of Disney-approved mallrats, but the irony of it is that all punk is pop.
