The Return of Pop-Punk, With More Girls

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By Daniel J Allan

Pop-Punk was a beautiful thing. Not unlike the innocence and simplicity of a small child enjoying an ice-cream and, without a care, allowing most if it to reside on his/her lap.

It was the early 90's, and Grunge was all the rage, but alas, it was no fun, and so the birth of bands such as Blink-182, NOFX, Green Day and many more (probably some prior to this, which no doubt will be pointed out by those at the top of the pop-punk snobbery heirachy).

It was simple, fun, amusing, played by young people, aimed at young people, much like the original Punk movement of the 70's, only with no direction, no political insight, and played much, much faster.

It joyfully continued throughout the 90's, sitting happily alongside other alternative genres, until it started getting slower and more easy on the ear. The singing became more and more tuneful and the subject matter, though pretty much the same, had a far more serious ebb to it.

Pop-Punk started to chart regularly, and it started to breed with more mainstream metal. The low, gruff growls of metal were spliced with the up-tempo shouting of pop-punk, and became a raspy scream. We'd heard it before, Refused and had shouted that bit louder than other punk oriented bands, but now it was a punky metal screamy affair with a more EMOtional edge.

Emo stole Pop-Punk away.

Fear not. It is back....sort of. The subject matter is still a little EMOtional....and die hard music snobs will brand anything that isn't meaningless EMO. But the key is...it doesn't take itself too seriously again.

A new development is that apparently women are allowed to sing pop-punk now, and they do it well. Or at least Hayley Williams of Paramore does. Band such as New Found Glory are enjoying a revival of sorts, and Blink-182 have reformed. Green Day never stopped, but they started caring too much at least 10 years ago. 'Slam Dunk' Festival in the UK boasts a fine array of Pop-Punk talent, both new and vintage, and the Vans Warped Tour hosts plenty of Pop-Punk.

So, basically, yeah....It's back![/pay]