When punk rock first broke big in the 70s, it was a slap in the face of the establishment. Punk rock was an assault on all of your senses. The clothes were outrageous, the music was raw and blistering, and the message ranged from silliness to political outcry and social commentary. This spirit of the first punk wave still exists to this day, but another movement, the so-called “pop punk” movement, is overshadowing it.
Not familiar with pop punk? Apparently if you throw three to five suave looking gentlemen into a band, give them spiky hair and tattoos and have them write some songs about ex-girlfriends and make all the songs real catchy, you are a pop punk band.
The problem is not that this music or scene exists. The problem in the misconception that this is punk and this is the only type of marketable punk music.
Not to single any band out, but bands like My Chemical Romance, Simple Plan, Yellowcard, Hawthorne Heights and more MTV pop punk bands fill the punk genre and dominate air play on local rock stations. They take away exposure from just as deserving bands that are more in tune with the spirit of the pioneering punk bands.
My ex-girlfriend got me to listen to these pop punk bands, and I have to admit that I do not hate them. Their songs are catchy and easily accessible to all audiences.
However, Manic Panic and outfits from Hot Topic do not make you a punk band. Let’s call these bands exactly what they are, pop. They are pop rock bands, and some of them are pretty good; they just aren’t punk.
I don’t pretend to be a punk rock elitist and I’m not here to tell you what to listen to. I have just had enough of this pop punk label. The name contradicts itself. Pop music is exactly what the first wave of punk and the subsequent movements of the late 80s and mid 90s pushed against.
Let’s keep the pop bands around. Their music is good to dance to, and the girls love them. In fact, let them win all the trophies at the awards shows, let them dominate the airwaves, but let us never confuse them for being a punk band.