OFF THE PILL #1: Why Second Wave Pop Punk Is Dead, but It's Legacy Isn't

Hello All,

I'm writing OFF THE PILL articles as more of a letter because I would rather my opinion pieces be more personal to the reader, like I'm addressing you personally. I also plan to have a recommended playlist of bands for each opinion piece. Today, I'm going to write about one of the most important musical genres of all time, or at least in my opinion:

Second wave pop punk.

But before starting, I would like to apologize to my “fans” (if I even have any yet?) about errors I made in my From Under The Cork Tree retro review. I should have done a bit more research about the topic, and I am very aware now of the errors I specifically made about the band, the album itself, and what credit goes to whom in regards of writing the album (I had no idea Pete Wentz writes the lyrics, and that Pat Stump plays rhythm guitar). To all those Fall Out Boy fans who were offended, I apologize, and will write AN ACTUAL retro review of their REAL first album, Take This To Your Grave, for my second retro review of the month, than what I had originally planned, which was Saosin’s debut LP.

ANYWAY…

BACK TO OUR MAIN ARTICLE:

Some you readers may already know what pop punk is, but a few may scratch their heads and ask themselves: "What the fuck is second wave pop punk?” Today, I'm going to go over the history of pop punk, the different waves that currently exist or have existed of the genre, and the legacy of something our generation deemed as "silly," "immature," and "totally middle school" in ashamed cries of trying to be way too cool. Because you may hate Green Day, or hate what they've become now, but for most of the kids of our generation, American Idiot had to be one of the most important albums of the Millennial generation.

So where do we really begin with pop punk? Do we start with Blink 182, Green Day, or Sum 41 in the late 90's, early 2000's? Or do we go back further, to The Ramones?The IDEA of pop punk has been around since the whole idea of "punk" was birthed: Catchy, Fun, and just balls to the wall punk rock that just screams "Fuck You" with the angry raised middle fingers of a thousand middle schoolers. It's not supposed to be serious from an adult standpoint: It's about the fear of growing up, the first person you fell head over heels for, the anger you felt towards your parents for grounding you and, embarrassing you in front of your friends. Everyone has all of these feelings and thoughts, because we develop them at the most crucial and important time of our development: our early teenage years.

The best place we could possibly start with that, which is a common focal point, is Mile Goes To College by the one and only Descendents. Yes. This, in my opinion, is where the first wave of pop punk began. The album may have the word College, but definitely has high-schooler ideologies with songs such as “Bikeage”, “Parents”, and “Kabuki Girl”. “Bikeage” is about growing up and friends changing, “Parents” is about parents annoying us, and “Kabuki Girl” is about falling hopelessly in love with a girl.

It was different than all the other hardcore albums coming out at the time, which were either about politics like Bad Brains’ s/t, or the overly-horror themed Misfits album Walk Among Us, just to name a few. Milo Goes To College was different in that it was personal, and it was way before Rites Of Spring and Embrace started the DC Emocore movement. It was unique and special.

FROM MILO GOES TO COLLEGE, THE DESCENDENTS SPAWNED SEVERAL OTHER FIRST WAVE POP PUNK BANDS: THE OFFSPRING, ALL, BAD RELIGION, THE VANDALS, AND THE TEEN IDOLS

The silly, over-the-top world of pop punk was born: a world where it was okay to curse as much as you want, to still act like you’re thirteen, brag about how many beers you drank the other night, and rag on all the girls who did you wrong. And it was fun, it was obnoxious, and we probably regret it, especially admitting we’re closet fans of the bands that would come.

Dear reader, you're probably losing interest but I beg you, please keep reading, because we are now going to move into the semi-modern era of pop punk:

THE TRIFECTA OF THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD ENJOYMENT: GREEN DAY, BLINK 182, and SUM 41.

Yes. All three of them are incredibly important. Name me one friend you personally know who hasn't heard of 2 of the bands or who hasn't heard at least one song from at least one of the bands listed. If you can do that, then your friend probably was living under a very, VERY large, and soundproof rock.  

We all probably look back at ourselves and think several things:

1. "What the fuck happened to Green Day after American Idiot?"

2. "What the fuck happened to Deryck Wibhley? He looks like a grandpa."

3. "How can any of these bands, especially Blink 182, act fifteen and be at least forty?"

4. "How can I hate these bands so much when I have/had so much fun listening to them?"

There's really only one answer to all of those questions:

We all grew up.

And who can blame us? When we reach high school, we try to act as adult as we possibly can and try to remove ourselves from childish tendencies.

Honestly, growing up sucks, which is why these guys were, and still are so important to us.

We've learned from Blink-182 and Deryck Whibley about what happens when you don't want to grow up and you continue to be the same person you were in high school (a jackass). and from Green Day, we learned what happens when you do grow up, and your fans grow up with you (you try to change your sound as much as possible, and it only seems to half-heartedly please your fans). 

But the thing we need to take away from these guys is that they are major influences on a generation of kids who would eventually fill their shoes, and their shows, with a new take on the genre. And with the release of American Idiot, many kids picked up a guitar to learn that jarring opening riff to the tile track.

Many other second wave pop punk bands outside of these three would go on to be huge influences in the genres of twinkly emo, as well as modern, and third-wave pop punk, like The Get Up Kids with their album Something To Write Home About, and Save The Day's Sound The Alarm. So where did pop punk go from that point on? Well, it's hard to say because there are so many pop punk bands: Yellowcard, Brand New, Say Anything, Taking Back Sunday, The Ergs!, Bayside, Fall Out Boy, (sighs internally) MCR, and Paramore (, and many more?)

These bands paved the way for bands such as Modern Baseball, The Wonder Years, (groans internally) The Front Bottoms, Joyce Manor, Iron Chic, I Am The Avalanche, Seaway, The Menzingers, and Glocca Morra.

The list goes on and on.

But I digress,

The point of this article was to prove the necessity of bands like Blink 182 and Green Day and why we should recognize their influence.

So yes, 90s – early 2000s pop punk is dead, or at least their sound is, because god knows how many shitty metalcore bands trying to emulate that sound are filling up Warped Tour’s roster each year.

But it's its legacy lives on. 

Dear reader, I know this has been a confusing journey, as it should be when you read an opinion piece from a kid with severe ADD, but hopefully you could read through my article swimmingly, like a ninja in the water.

Hopefully more OFF THE PILLs are on the way.

Thank you,

Jake 

Recommended playlist:

Dookie, Green Day
Enema Of The State, Blink 182
All Killer No Filler, Sum 41
Sound The Alarm, Saves The Day
Louder Now, Taking Back Sunday
Milo Goes To College, Descendents
Something To Write Home About, The Get Up Kids
Riot!, Paramore

Ocean Avenue, Yellowcard
From Under The Cork Tree, Fall Out Boy