The genre of music that carried the 90s and early 2000s is making its way back up the charts as older pop punk artists are rediscovered and new ones are beginning to surface.
Philip Trapp
From The All-American Rejects to Avril Lavigne to Green Day, pop punk has revolutionized the music industry since its conception in the 1970s. Housing some of the biggest hits to date, specifically within the 90s and early 2000s but in recent years it's begun to resurface again... so has pop punk made a comeback?
Let’s take a look back at where it started…
The Ramones and Buzzcocks dipped their toe in this new genre in the late 70s and explored this unique area within music that opened up a whole new world for bands alike. Their hits including ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ and ‘Ever Fallen in Love’, which explored a mixture of electric guitars, fast tunes, and age-specific lyricism with a focus on teens and tweens.
A few short years later, fellow artists were inspired to explore this new side to the music industry. Other bands like Bad Religion, The Misfits, the Queers, and more took on the pop punk genre in the early 80s and formed their bands to emulate this fresh new style of music. As more bands were categorizing themselves as such and devoting themselves to this current musical approach, the 90s were where its popularity took off. Green Day became a major name in the world of pop punk and paved the way for other bands to follow suit as well as aid in its popularity through the 90s and early 2000s. With hits like ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, ‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams’, and ‘American Idiot’, fans kept blasting their releases on the radio and stereo all day, everyday.
People | Alexis Jones
Other alike bands were formed in the late 90s, such as Blink-182, Sum 41, Weezer, and Jimmy Eat World. Their tracks reached the tip of the charts in the US and multiple other countries and were put on repeat all day long in a teenager's MP3 player. Female artists were also embracing the pop subgroup in the early 2000s, especially Avril Lavigne and The Veronicas. Their quick & massive success within the genre was in line with other popular male bands, which opened the doors for other female artists wanting to get their big break in pop punk music. At this point, the genre became much more than musical enjoyment for listeners but rather elicited a worldwide cultural shift in teenagers, music listeners, television, and movies.
A few years into the new millennium, other bands took off in this direction as well, including Paramore, Plain White T’s, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! at the Disco. Their music is still relevant today, specifically, ‘Hey There Delilah’, ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’, and ‘Misery Business’. Despite their relevance today, however, this music style took a decline in the mid 2010s as less artists were finding themselves exploring this genre as much. With the relevance and rising popularity of electronic and pop music, punk tunes took a decline.
Although many artists will make a few pop punk-related tracks, they aren't labeling themselves solely as such since the current listeners aren’t finding themselves downloading or streaming this genre as compared to others.
So where are we today?
Olivia Rodrigo | Youtube
Despite the dip in popularity that pop punk took in the world of music, it's resurfacing within this new decade. From Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Good 4 You’, which odes to Paramore’s ‘Misery Business’, Machine Gun Kelly’s album ‘Ticket’s To My Downfall’, which is a full-fledged pop-punk album. Jaden Hossler, or jxdn and Nessa Barrett have also introduced the younger generations as well through social media to this style of tracks. Their music became popular on various social media apps as their forte mainly resides within pop punk, alternative rock, and emo rap. Their devotion to this genre coupled with their younger loyal audience on TikTok have helped re-popularize it and even added some new fans. Not only are these younger artists finding their way through this beloved style of music on their own but they're working alongside legends and current popular artists. Jaden, for example worked with pop punk legend Travis Barker in the production of his music and even performed alongside Machine Gun Kelly in his pop punk tour for his 2020 album.
With more artists releasing music in the pop punk genre or with a similar feeling to it, the newer generations are finding a newfound appreciation and are streaming both old and new releases from various artists and bands.
When We Were Young | Live Nation
More recently, older pop punk bands are heading on tour and are included in multiple festivals as their old tunes are gaining more popularity from the newer generations. The When We Were Young festival, a pop-punk devoted concert premiering in Las Vegas on October 21st, 2023 includes multiple new and old bands. From Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, and Bowling For Soup to Joyce Manor, 5 Seconds of Summer, and All Time Low. The more recently created and sold out festival is highly anticipated and brings together our beloved bands for an awesome night devoted to this massively adored style of music.
Although pop punk seems to be resurfacing, we’re seeing different facets of the genre, such as neon pop punk, emo, punk rock, and more. The umbrella of pop punk is constantly growing and inviting newer forms of the genre to grow.
Where do we think punk pop is headed?
As more and newer fans of the infamous genre both surface and resurface, we’re seeing fans young and old relishing in the free-feeling genre and reigniting their love and appreciation for it. Whether it's rediscovering tracks on social media, collaborations between older and current, or the consistency in which they head on tour, we're seeing artists both new and accomplished bringing it back.
Older generations are loving the odes to their favorite music from previous decades and new fans are discovering the powerful energy and addictive tracks. Not only that, but the messaging behind many favorite punk songs or punk songs in general are quite sophisticated and heartfelt even though they hide behind the intense guitar and beat. The story behind the lyrics can hit even harder within this genre of music and as mental health is being openly discussed more, we can see the pop punk realm gaining more traction again in the near future.
What do you think about the resurfacing of the pop punk genre?
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