Pop punk (also known as
punk pop and other names) is a
fusion genre that combines elements of
punk rock with
pop music, to varying degrees.
[1]It is not clear when the term pop punk was first used, but pop-influenced punk rock had been around since the 1970s; performed by bands such as the Ramones, Buzzcocks, The Jam, The Undertones, and Descendents.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Bad Religion, who started in 1980, were another early band to play the genre, and some consider them godfathers of pop punk.[8][9][10] In the mid-1990s, Southern California-based pop punk bands achieved worldwide commercial success, and the genre's association with that area has led some to the term SoCal sound. From the mid-1990s onwards, some bands associated with the genre have been described as faux-punk, mall punk, pseudo-punk, bubblegum punk or surf punk.[11][12]
The pop punk style emerged at the onset of punk rock around 1974, with the Ramones; however it was not considered a separate subgenre until later. The Ramones' loud and fast melodic minimalism differentiated them from other bands in New York City's budding art rock scene. Additionally, protopunk bands and power pop bands such as Cheap Trick, The Knack and The Raspberries helped lay the groundwork for pop punk.[citation needed] An early use of the term pop punk appeared in a 1977 New York Times article, Cabaret Tom Petty's Pop Punk Rock Evokes Sounds of 60's.[13] By 1977 in the United Kingdom, punk rock had already become a much more active and concentrated movement than in New York City. The Undertones, Buzzcocks, The Jam, The Rezillos and The Shapes featured catchy melodies and lyrics that sometimes dealt with relatively light themes such as teenage romance. On the somewhat harder-edged side of pop-influenced punk, there were bands such as 999, The Vibrators and The Lurkers. Many mod revival bands displayed pop punk leanings, particularly The Chords and Purple Hearts.
By 1981, hardcore punk had emerged in the United States, with louder, faster music than the songs played by punk bands. Vocal harmony, melodic instrumentation and 4/4 drumming were replaced with shouting, discordant instrumentation, and experimental rhythms. A few bands began to combine hardcore with pop music to create a new, faster pop punk sound, sometimes referred to as popcore (or skatecore), such as Descendents and The Vandals. Their positive, yet sarcastic approach began to separate them from the more serious hardcore scene. The term pop punk was used in the 1980s, in publications such as Maximum RocknRoll, to describe bands similar to Social Distortion, Agent Orange, and TSOL.[14]
