Some History

Origins (1974-1980s)
Further information: Punk rock

The pop punk style emerged at the onset of punk rock around 1974, with the Ramones, however it was not considered a separate subgenre until later. The Ramones' loud and fast melodic minimalism differentiated them from other bands in New York City's budding art rock scene. Additionally, protopunk bands and power pop bands such as Cheap Trick, The Knack and The Raspberries helped lay the groundwork for pop punk.[citation needed] 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 60's.[11] By 1977 in the United Kingdom, punk rock had already become a much more active and concentrated movement than in New York City. The Undertones, Buzzcocks, The Jam, The Rezillos and The Shapes featured catchy melodies and lyrics that sometimes dealt with relatively light themes such as teenage romance. On the somewhat harder-edged side of pop-influenced punk, there were bands such as 999, The Vibrators and The Lurkers. Many mod revival bands displayed pop punk leanings, particularly The Chords and Purple Hearts.

By 1981, hardcore punk had emerged in the United States, with louder, faster music than the songs played by punk bands. Vocal harmony, melodic instrumentation and 4/4 drumming were replaced with shouting, discordant instrumentation, and experimental rhythms. A few bands began to combine hardcore with pop music to create a new, faster pop punk sound, sometimes referred to as popcore (or skatecore), such as Descendents and The Vandals. Their positive, yet sarcastic approach began to separate them from the more serious hardcore scene. The term pop punk was used in the 1980s, in publications such as Maximum RocknRoll, to describe bands similar to Social Distortion, Agent Orange, and TSOL.[12]

Underground pop punk (early 1990s and later)

Many pop punk artists rejected mainstream record labels in favor of running their own labels or releasing albums on small independent labels, such as Lookout! Records. Many of these bands built large cult followings in the early 1990s, such as The Queers, Mr. T Experience, and Screeching Weasel. These bands were musically influenced by the Ramones' short song style and lyrical themes; such as boredom, dissatisfaction and growing older, and in-turn continue to influence non-commercial pop punk bands that exist today.

Popular acceptance (1994-1997)

In February 1994, Green Day released Dookie, the band's first album on a major label. The first single, "Longview", instantly became a hit on MTV and modern rock stations across America. Following the success of their first single, Green Day released "Basket Case", which became an even bigger hit and made the band a household name across the world. Other hits were released from the album, including the extremely popular "When I Come Around" (which, like "Basket Case" became the biggest single to be released at that point), "Welcome to Paradise", and "She". Dookie sold 10 million copies in the US and 20 million copies worldwide. Green Day gained enough popularity that year to be performers at Woodstock '94, where the band and spectators engaged in a friendly mudfight that is now considered legendary.[citation needed] The band appeared on Saturday Night Live, the covers of Spin and Rolling Stone, and won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.

Shortly after the release of Dookie, The Offspring released the album Smash. The first single "Come Out and Play", with a pop sound that differed radically from any of their earlier work, became popular first on radio and then 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. While the popularity of Dookie and Smash swelled, attention spilled over to other bands such as Rancid, NOFX, MxPx, Pennywise, Jawbreaker, Smoking Popes, Lagwagon, No Use for a Name, and Anti-Flag. Of these, Rancid, although not a pop punk band, received the most attention with the two hits, "Ruby Soho" and "Time Bomb", from their album ...And Out Come The Wolves, which eventually went platinum. However, other punk and pop punk bands saw growing sales and increased interest surrounding their music.

Pop punk's sarcastic "brattiness" provided a more commercially viable alternative to the moody nihilism offered by many grunge, hardcore and earlier punk rock bands. By the end of the year, Dookie and Smash had sold millions of copies,[13] and pop punk had become a prominent musical style. This also heralded the beginning of an era that would see pop punk drift farther away from punk and hardcore and even closer to mainstream pop. Many (though not all) pop punk bands from this era would produce music that resembled more traditional pop, but with a punk edge, sometimes referred to as punk pop.

During this surge in interest, some bands became associated with the pop punk genre even though they didn't consider themselves part of it. Weezer, a California power pop band, played a raw, power chord-driven, melodic pop sound that was similar to that of pop punk. Their Blue Album (1994) and hit single "Buddy Holly" influenced many future pop punk bands. Seattle trio The Presidents of the United States of America had two hit songs in 1995, "Lump" and "Peaches". Their sound combined grungy guitars with upbeat pop melodies and fun lyrics, creating sound similar to pop-punk. Northern Ireland rockers Ash's hit song "Kung Fu"'s bouncy, fun, simple power chord-driven sound was more energetic and punk-inspired than fellow Britpop bands such as Oasis and Blur. Jellyfish, The Posies, and Teenage Fanclub are other examples of bands that were writing melodic pop songs with crunchy guitars; those groups were mildly successful, but they've influenced a slew of pop punk musicians.

In the mid-1990s, a ska punk revival was taking place, led by bands such as Sublime, and Rancid (who included ex-members of the ska punk band Operation Ivy in their lineup). Ska punk shares many characteristic of pop punk such as its upbeat sound and distance from grunge and hardcore. Some ska punk bands borrowed less from pop punk, while others such as Goldfinger and Less Than Jake have elements of pop punk in their music. By 1997, pop punk's audience had expanded significantly. Green Day's song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", from their album Nimrod, brought pop punk to new levels of acceptance. Even more mainstream than pop punk, it featured Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong playing acoustic guitar and singing heartfelt lyrics, backed by violins. The song was used in the final episode of Seinfeld in 1998, exposing Green Day's music to an even wider audience. Also, in 1997, blink-182 released their second album and first relative hit, Dude Ranch. It included two of most popular songs of the trio, "Dammit" and "Josie".

Continued mainstream ascent (1998-2003)

In 1998, The Offspring released the album Americana. This period of The Offspring's career is generally seen as their mainstream peak. The band released their next album Conspiracy of One (2000) on Napster before they released it on Columbia Records, sacrificing album sales so their fans could enjoy their music for free. Americana went platinum many times over, and produced hit singles and videos such as; "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)", "Why Don't You Get A Job?", and "The Kids Aren't Alright".

In 1999, trio blink-182 released Enema of the State, which sold over 12 million copies worldwide. 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". Like Green Day five years before them, blink-182 inspired teens to jam out catchy, fun, four-chord pop punk tunes. Also in 1999, Lit released their second album A Place in the Sun which peaked at #31 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the single "My Own Worst Enemy" which spent 11 weeks at #1 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. In 2001, blink-182's album Take Off Your Pants and Jacket was released and debuted at #1 on the Billboard album charts and sold over 4 million copies in the US. The album produced the modern rock and TRL hits "The Rock Show", "First Date", and "Stay Together For The Kids". In 2002, blink-182 co-headlined one of the biggest tours in pop-punk history: the successful Pop Disaster Tour with Green Day.

In 2001, Canadian pop punkers Sum 41 released All Killer No Filler. It was a huge success on radio and MTV, with hit singles such as "Fat Lip" and "In Too Deep". Sum 41 were often viewed during this year as the counterparts to blink-182. In 2002 Sum 41 released their pop-punk/metal hybrid album, Does This Look Infected? with hits such as "The Hell Song", "Over My Head (Better Off Dead)" and "Still Waiting". New Found Glory released their breakthrough album Sticks and Stones in 2002, which include the MTV and modern rock hits "My Friends Over You" and "Head On Collision", and went Gold, near Platinum Status in the US. The album's popularity also contributed to the sales of their previous self-titled album, which also went Gold, and hyped the follow-up album Catalyst, which sold over 150,000 copies in the first week, debuting at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also certified Gold.

In 2002, Good Charlotte released the album The Young and the Hopeless, which went three times platinum in the United States, thanks to singles such as "Lifestyles of The Rich & Famous", "The Anthem", "Girls & Boys", and "Hold On". In that same year, Simple Plan had success on the charts and MTV with the album No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls. It featured the hits "I'd Do Anything" (featuring Mark Hoppus of blink-182 and +44), "Addicted", "Im Just A Kid" and "Perfect". 2002 also saw the release of Avril Lavigne's first album, Let Go, with Lavigne portayed as a skater punk rebel figure, although her music was closer to a pop rock sound. Lavigne later shed her punky image. The album went multi-platinum. Her later album, The Best Damn Thing, has pop punk influence because Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 produced, played guitar and bass, and co-wrote the music for some of the songs, and Travis Barker (ex-Blink 182 and +44) played drums.[14]

Bowling for Soup had success with the song "Girl All The Bad Guys Want", which earned the group a Grammy nomination for best performance by a duo or group. The band later had success with the songs "1985" and "Almost". In Britain, a different type of pop punk that combined pop punk music with the image and vocal harmonies of boy bands, creating a more radio-friendly sound than US pop punk bands. Busted, a trio of teenagers who were influenced by blink-182 and had hits such as "What I Go To School For", "Year 3000", "You Said No", "Crashed The Wedding", and "Thunderbirds Are Go". They never broke into the US market, despite having an MTV2 reality show based on their attempts at breaking into the American market. Another UK band, McFly, also fused elements of surf music into their sound, but did not manage to break into the US, despite appearing in the movie Just My Luck and playing on the soundtrack.

Contemporary pop punk (2003 and later)

In 2003, Blink-182 released a self-titled album, which garnered the band several hits, such as "Feeling This" and "I Miss You." The band went on hiatus in 2005, with Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker founding the pop punk/alternative rock band +44, and Tom Delonge starting the alternative rock group Angels & Airwaves. Some pop punk bands started playing a lyrically darker style of music, sometimes described as emo(although this was a reappropration of a term that had been in use much longer). In 2003, Florida pop punk band Yellowcard released the album Ocean Avenue and the hit singles "Ocean Avenue", "Way Away" and "Only One". 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 influences, other songs added synthesizers and keyboards. Good Charlotte released their album The Chronicles of Life and Death in 2004. The album was less commercially successful than their previous effort, but it produced the hit singles "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live".

In October 2004, Sum 41 released the album Chuck, which mixed pop punk with several other genres, including thrash metal, alternative rock, hardcore and slower-paced music. Their first single, "We're All To Blame," reached #10 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts, and the single "Pieces" topped the charts in Canada. Also in 2004, Green Day released the politically-driven rock opera American Idiot. The singles "American Idiot", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Holiday", and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" received international airplay and MTV video rotation. In 2005 Fall Out Boy and All-American Rejects gained much popularity with their breakthrough albums: From Under the Cork Tree and Move Along respectively. These successes sparked a big influence in the new emo subculture of Pop Punk including acts like The Academy Is..., Boys Like Girls. Although this new wave of bands aren't strictly "pop punk" they have a lot of pop punk influences such as Blink-182 and MXPX. In 2006 Panic At The Disco gained a lot of success combining the new pop punk sound with more classic 70's styles of music.

In July 2007, Sum 41 released Underclass Hero, which sounded more like their album All Killer No Filler than their heavier albums such as Chuck. It had the singles "Underclass Hero", "Walking Disaster" and "With Me". Also in 2007, Paramore's album Riot! regained a spot in the Billboard 200 after falling off quickly three months earlier. Rolling Stone magazine classified the band as "Ones to Watch".[15]