Pop-punk bands grow, work to maintain popularity as fans age
As fans grow up, pop-punk bands’ music grew with us. These bands have switched their genre of music to stay relevant and to keep up with the audience that has followed them since the beginning. Bands like Linkin Park, Maroon 5, Weezer, Green Day, and Blink 182 are some examples of changing to match their audience.
March 14, 2019
While music classified as “pop-punk” is very popular, its specific classifications are often unclear. It’s often conflated and used as a synonym for alternative music and some indie rock. Indie rock is another genre that has picked up speed, without much real meaning attached to its definition.
Indie rock was a term used in the 70s to refer to music that was released by independent record labels. It is now used to refer to music with a low fidelity or unpolished sound. Alternative and pop punk have a had a similar muddling, associated more with a feeling or image than a specific sound. Senior Brian Guzman said that he learned about these types of music from his brother.
Growing up Senior Brian Guzman heard of the alternative rock from his older brother.
“My brother was pretty gothic in middle school and I picked it up from him as I grew up I started listening to it and still to this day I listen to it,” Guzman said.
Punk rock and indie music popularity seems to rise and fall as each generation discovers it. Many music aficionados trace modern punk music to the 1970s with bands like the Sex Pistols and The Clash in England. And in the United States, bands like the Ramones and Bad Religion are recognized as punk pioneers.
The low fidelity sound of punk and indie music has often kept it from gaining popularity, radio play and widespread commercial success. And for many fans that is just fine because punk music often takes on an anti-establishment political tone.
However, in the 1990s punk bands like Green Day began catching the attention of major labels, signing them to multimillion-dollar contracts. The fast, catchy tunes of Green Day set the model for how punk bands could glean commercial success in the world of popular music and thus “pop punk” was born. Soon major labels starting producing loads of pop-punk bands and a genre was born.
These days, bands like Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy and Paramore are all bands that exemplify the pop-punk genre. Many pop punk fans at Akins discovered these bands when they were in middle school.
Songs like “I write sins not tragedies” by Panic! At The Disco, “Thnks fr th Mmrs” by Fall Out Boy and “Misery of Business” by Paramore have a special place in the hearts of many pop-punk fans.
Senior Taylor Patterson started listening to pop-punk around middle school.
“I had a group of friends I hung out with the middle school that introduced me to all the punk rock and stuff like that,” he said. “And my mother used to listen to rock music all the time.”
As we grew up, their music grew with us. These bands have switched their genre of music to stay relevant and to keep up with the audience that has followed them since the beginning. Bands like Linkin Park, Maroon 5, Weezer, Green Day, and Blink 182 are some examples of changing to match their audience.
Music today has changed dramatically whether we like it or not. Better or for worse people have noticed the change. Whether or not these bands will remain relevant is yet to be seen. It can take decades to know whether a band’s sound can last the test of time.
