What happened to catchy pop punk?

Are there any good upcoming/unknown pop punk bands that are more pop than punk, like Just Surrender, Hit the Lights, and early All Time Low? I've been loving ATWAB by State Champs because I feel like it's the first pop punk album that's come out in a while with really great hooks. Bands like Neck Deep and Knuckle Puck just don't seem to do it for me, and I'm thinking it's because they seem to be straight pop punk with less pop influence. Can anyone relate to this?

 

just listen to latterman forever

 

I feel like the pop-punk world revolted against itself in the last ten years and have tried to shed the pop side of the music so much that the majority is derivative of itself. I've yet to be wowed by an album in the genre in a long while

 

I actually think that the Jarrod Alonge Sunrise Skater Kids is the catchiest pop/punk I've heard since Skyway

 

Poppy pop punk is the best pop punk. The lack of it is probably why I don't listen to pop punk anymore.

 

Damn, I loved Just Surrender. They were from upstate NY so I'd always go up there to see them play or catch them when they played closer to me. They were great live, I still have a set list from a Glamour Kills sponsored show they play years ago in Poughkeepsie.

I totally feel the same way about pop punk, I thought it was just me. xD I have gotten much pickier since I've gotten older. I started listening to Neck Deep and bands like them because I've been wanting to revisit the genre and hear something new, but I've had a hard time stumbling upon something that really caught my attention.

 

Descendents live forever in my mind.

Also this song is pretty underrated IMO:

 

That Neck Deep record is probably one of the catchiest pop punk albums I've ever heard. Older stuff is garbage but working with Jeremy really did a lot for them.

 

Post a song to prove it, I'll only listen to one!!!

 

There are more hooks at the bottom of the ocean than Neck Deep could ever muster.

 

Honestly, I feel like pop punk hasnt change all that much in the last 5 or so years? I think for most people they just grow out of it and return to what is nostalgic for them. Seeing State Champs open for the Wonder Years in October (also saw them open for TWY in April 2014) I could understand why the crowd was going off for them but there was personally no appeal for me now.I probably would have loved them when I was 16.

 

My argument has been that the bands making pop-punk right now just aren't as good at writing pop songs. There's a reason certain pop-punk songwriters can (and have gone on to) write with huge pop acts but I don't think we're gonna see that from this crop. I don't think there's the same range and ear for melody. It's why most of the albums blend together.

 

This.

And this.

 

The more melodic, poppy side of pop punk has always been my favorite. But being good at that actually requires good vocals and a lot of pop songwriting ability, and as Jason said I don't think a lot of contemporary bands have much of either of those things.

 

Then again, I think someone like Soupy can write the catchiest songs in the world if he wanted (see: Dismantling Summer or whatev it's called) but he just chooses not to for some reason.

 

Look what Kenny's done with his career, look at Patrick Stump, Jack Antonoff, Mark Hoppus, Matt Thiessen, Tim Pagnotta, even Chad Gilbert. I'd argue no matter the genre you're only as good as the songwriting and the best pop-punk bands from the past had really good songwriters, many of whom can transcend that genre itself. I think that if the songwriters in the current "big" or popular pop-punk bands started new bands or were working with others you'd see it more in the alternative rock persuasion.

 

I think a lot of the current crop of bands are fans of all the huge classic ones, and grew up with them like us. But I feel like that passion we all have turned into bands for them, maybe regardless of their own actual talent. Not sure if that sounds rude, but that's why I feel they're kinda the light versions of the best

 

But that song's not remotely in the same league of "Best of Me" or "My Friend's Over You" or "Kill Monsters in the Rain" or "American Idiot" or "Online Songs" (from a pure hook, pop, chorus, standpoint) ... my argument against that is: ok, if he could - why hasn't he? Doesn't there have to be something to turn to and say "see, because of this and this and this?" - I think he's a really good and diverse songwriter (see Aaron West) but I don't think he has shown a good pop songwriting prowess. Like in 10 years he's not the next Butch Walker, but if Patrick Stump was would that surprise you? Probably not. Maybe it is that he chooses not to, but if that's not shown in the work I have a hard time buying into a maybe or possibly. We can point to extensive bodies of work and go back really far with things like, remember "Leaving" when Kenny was like 16 — that's got a bigger hook in it than anything TWY has written and the band barely knew they were supposed to write choruses! Maybe he chooses not to, but that's kinda like me saying I choose not to dunk, and trying to convince everyone I totally could if I wanted to. I'm not saying it's not a possibility, but I am saying I'd like to see it before bestowing that kind of honor upon an artist.

 

As far as general aesthetic goes, I feel like there was a point where the pop decreased and the punk increased. Set Your Goals and Four Year Strong kinda hit that mid-point and I think after that a ton of bands just went that short quick and fast route, and a lot of the melody/pop was lost in that transition

 

I have a working theory that a group of bands grew up first loving Fall Out Boy, and then seeing FOB and Panic!'s success and the backlash that came, they said "once we start a band we're never going that route" - and so they didn't - they just kept on going and never branched out, maybe unconsciously afraid of being the sell out, of being thought uncool like how FOB was when they were in high-school. That the very popularity of pop-punk in itself set back the genre.

The current wave is this kinda shouty emo kinda Get Up Kids inspired yet I don't think that's where it's from "pop-punk." It's weird browsing the bandcamp pages these days and going from stuff like this, to this, to this — and it all kinda works, and it sorta works (kinda?) as pop-punk, but its also so ... different from what I would call that genre. (Those are all bands that I marked as stuff I liked and wanted to check out again in the future so I'm not saying it's bad at all.)

 

Well, now I'm gonna just be browsing Bandcamp all night.

 

This post is just gonna be me posting pop-punk shit I remember listening to back in the day now.

These are the bands that I remember that I think will be like part of this pop-punk generation. There's gonna be the version of me that remembers State Champs like I remember Rufio. And really I guess that's all that matters.

 

I also think if The Lawerence Arms were 10 years younger and had beards they should be way bigger.