| Pop punk | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Punk rock, pop, surf rock, power pop, garage rock, new wave |
| Cultural origins | Mid-1970s United States, United Kingdom, Canada and other countries |
| Typical instruments | Vocals - Electric guitar - Bass - Drums - Occasional use of other instruments (such as keyboards) |
| Mainstream popularity | Various degrees of commercial success since the late 1970s; massive international commercial success in the 1990s and 2000s |
| Other topics | |
| List of pop punk bands - Post-punk - Skate punk - Ska punk - Alternative rock - Melodic hardcore |
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Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars.[1] About.com has described contemporary pop punk bands as having "a radio friendly sheen to their music, but still maintaining much of the speed and attitude of classic punk rock".[2]
It is not clear when the term pop punk was first used, but pop-influenced punk rock had been around since the mid- to late-1970s.[3] An early use of the term pop punk appeared in a 1977 New York Times article, "Cabaret: Tom Petty's Pop Punk Rock Evokes Sounds of 60s".[4] In the mid-1990s, the California pop punk bands Green Day and The Offspring, who were later followed by Blink-182, would all achieve worldwide commercial success. From the mid-1990s onwards, some bands associated with the genre have been described as "happy punk", "faux-punk", "mall punk", "pseudo-punk" or "bubblegum punk".[5][6]
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Protopunk and power pop bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s helped lay the groundwork for the pop punk sound, which emerged at the onset of punk rock around 1974 with the Ramones.[7] The Ramones' loud and fast melodic minimalism differentiated them from other bands in New York City's budding art rock scene, but pop punk was not considered a separate subgenre until later. Several UK bands of the late 1970s also played what can be considered pop punk. The music of the Buzzcocks,[8] Generation X, 999, The Jam,[9] The Rezillos, The Lurkers, The Undertones,[10][11] The Shapes and Toy Dolls featured catchy melodies, as well as lyrics that sometimes dealt with relatively light themes such as teenage romance. The US band Bad Religion, who started in 1979, were another band that helped lay the groundwork for contemporary pop punk.[12][13][14] Many mod revival bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s also displayed pop punk leanings.
By 1981, hardcore punk had emerged in the United States, with louder, faster music than punk bands. Vocal harmony, melodic instrumentation and 4/4 drumming were replaced with shouting, discordant instrumentation, and experimental rhythms. A few bands, such as Descendents, Screeching Weasel, and The Vandals, began to combine hardcore with pop music to create a new, faster pop punk sound, sometimes referred to as popcore or skatecore. Their positive yet sarcastic approach began to separate them from the more serious hardcore scene. In the 1980s, the term pop punk was used in publications such as Maximum RocknRoll to describe bands similar to Social Distortion, Agent Orange, and T.S.O.L..[15]
Pop punk in the United States underwent a resurgence in the early- to mid-1990s, although the genre was not commercially viable at that time. Many pop punk bands retained a do it yourself (DIY) approach to their music, and a number of independent record labels emerged during that period, often run by band members who wanted to release their own music and that of their friends. The independent labels SST/Cruz Records, Lookout! Records, Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph Records were about to achieve mainstream success.
In February 1994, Green Day released Dookie, the band's first album on a major record label, after starting out on the independent Lookout! Records in 1989. The first single, "Longview", instantly became a hit on MTV and modern rock stations across North America and the United Kingdom. Following the success of their first single, Green Day released "Basket Case", which became an even bigger hit. Other hits from the album included "When I Come Around", "Welcome to Paradise" and "She". As of 2007, Dookie has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.[16] Green Day performed at Woodstock '94 and on Saturday Night Live, and appeared on the covers of Spin and Rolling Stone magazines. They won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.
Soon after the release of Dookie, The Offspring released the album Smash on the independent label Epitaph Records. The first single, "Come Out and Play", had a pop punk sound that differed from their earlier work, and it became popular first on radio and later on MTV. Other singles, "Self Esteem" and "Gotta Get Away", sold well. The album sold over 14 million copies worldwide, setting a record for most albums sold on an independent label.[17] By the end of the year, Dookie and Smash had sold millions of copies.[18] The commercial success of these two albums attracted major label interest in punk, particularly Epitaph bands from Southern California, with Bad Religion, NOFX and Rancid reportedly being offered lucrative contracts.[19] Also during this period, Face to Face released their breakthrough album Big Choice, featuring their only top 40 hit "Disconnected",[20] which also became popular on the Los Angeles radio station KROQ. 1998 saw the MxPx debut major label release of Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo, making the hits like "I'm Ok, You're Ok", "Party, My House, Be There", and "What's Mine is Yours". The album went Gold 2 years later.
In the early- to mid-1990s, ska punk achieved commercial success in the United States and several other countries. Some ska punk music — by bands such as Reel Big Fish, Goldfinger, Sublime and Less Than Jake — shared many characteristics with pop punk.
By 1997, pop punk's audience had expanded significantly and the genre had been brought to new levels of mainstream acceptance.
In 1998, The Offspring released the album Americana, which went platinum many times over, and produced hit singles such as "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)", "Why Don't You Get a Job?" and "The Kids Aren't Alright". In 1999, Blink-182 released Enema of the State, which sold over 15 million copies worldwide.[21] The album had three hit singles, including the #1 single "All the Small Things" and the #2 singles "What's My Age Again?" and "Adam's Song".[22] Also in 1999, Lit released their second album, A Place in the Sun, which peaked at #31 on the Billboard 200[23] and spawned the single "My Own Worst Enemy", which spent 11 weeks at #1 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart.[24]
In 2000, The Offspring released their next album Conspiracy of One on Napster before they released it on Columbia Records, sacrificing album sales so their fans could hear their music for free. The same year, MxPx released The Ever Passing Moment which proved the hit "Responsibility", charting at #24 on the Alternative Rock chart.[25] In 2001, Sum 41 released their major label debut All Killer No Filler, which went multi-platinum and included the hit singles "Fat Lip", "In Too Deep" and "Motivation", all of which were featured prominently on TRL and modern rock charts.[26] American Hi-Fi released their successful debut album which included the top ten hit, "Flavor of the Weak".[27] Also that year, Blink-182's album Take Off Your Pants and Jacket debuted at #1 on the Billboard album charts[28] and sold over four million copies in the United States. The album included the modern rock and TRL hits "The Rock Show", "First Date" and "Stay Together for the Kids".[29]
In 2002, Good Charlotte released their second album, The Young and the Hopeless, which went triple platinum. Also in 2002, Simple Plan released their debut album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls, and Face to Face released How to Ruin Everything, which would be their final album before disbanding two years later. Also that year, Blink-182 co-headlined one of the biggest concert tours in pop punk history, the Pop Disaster Tour with Green Day. In summer 2002, New Found Glory released their third album, Sticks and Stones, which experienced a fair amount of mainstream success with singles such as "My Friends Over You" and "Head on Collision". Sum 41 released their second album, Does This Look Infected, in 2002, giving them a harder sound with the singles "Still Waiting", "Over My Head (Better Off Dead)" and "The Hell Song".
In 2003, The Ataris released their breakthrough album So Long, Astoria, which included their first top 40 hit, a cover of "The Boys of Summer". Relient K released fan favorite album Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do. Also in 2003, Blink-182 released a self-titled album, which garnered the band several hits, such as "Feeling This" and "I Miss You". Also released during this period were Rancid's Indestructible (featuring the hit single "Fall Back Down"[30]), Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue (featuring the hit singles "Ocean Avenue", "Way Away" and "Only One"), and The Offspring's Splinter, which spawned another number one US hit for the band "Hit That". MxPx's Before Everything and After debuted at #51 on the Billboard 200 to critical acclaim.[31]
New Found Glory released Catalyst in 2004, which included the hit "All Downhill from Here". Although some songs on the album expanded on the band's hardcore punk influences, other songs added synthesizers and keyboards.[32] Hawthorne Heights released their debut album The Silence in Black and White in August 2004, and was certified gold in the United States. In October 2004, Sum 41 released the album Chuck, which mixed pop punk with several other genres, including thrash metal, alternative rock and hardcore. The album's first single, "We're All to Blame", reached #10 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts,[33] and the single "Pieces" topped the charts in Canada. Good Charlotte released the album The Chronicles of Life and Death. Also that year, Simple Plan released their second album Still Not Getting Any... The first single, "Welcome to My Life", reached #1 on the Canadian Singles Chart and the Spanish Singles Chart, as well as reaching #10 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart and #21 on the Top 40 Tracks.[34] Green Day released the rock opera album American Idiot in September 2004. The singles "American Idiot", "Jesus of Suburbia", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Holiday" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" received international airplay and MTV video rotation, and topped charts worldwide.[35]
In 2005, MxPx released their independent Panic which got the radio hits "Heard That Sound" and "Wrecking Hotel Rooms". Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker of Blink-182 formed +44 that same year and in 2006 the band released its first album, When Your Heart Stops Beating. In 2007, Sum 41 released the album Underclass Hero, which reached #1 on the Top Canadian Albums.[36] Also in 2007 Relient K released their fifth album Five Score and Seven Years Ago which debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200,[37] and is their most successful album to date. In January 2008, Face to Face reunited and embarked on their first tour together since 2004 later that year. All Time Low became commercially successful in the late 2000s, gaining popularity with their albums So Wrong, It's Right (2007) and Nothing Personal (2010). In June 2008, The Offspring released the album Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, featuring their most successful single "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid", which topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts for 11 weeks, making it the longest consecutive run for any Offspring single at #1.
In December 2009, All Time Low won the Best Pop Punk Band award at the Top In Rock Awards. In February 2009, Blink-182 reunited onstage for the first time since 2005, at the 51st Grammy Awards, announcing their reformation as a band. They toured the United States that summer, and they announced the recording of a new album. Also in 2009, Green Day released their rock opera album 21st Century Breakdown. Although not as critically acclaimed as American Idiot, it has still sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide. Later that year, MxPx released the EP Left Coast Punk.
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