For millennials like myself, pop-punk was a powerfully formative music genre. Throughout our childhoods, it was one of the most dominant kinds of music on radio stations of all stripes, finding appeal across demographics thanks to its mass-market distillation of punk's energy and aesthetics, combined with the upbeat accessibility of traditional pop music.

Yet as quickly as Green Day's albums or Jimmy Eat World blasting from storefront sound systems (or the boomboxes belonging to the skater kids outside in the parking lot), by 2010, pop-punk had faded away into cultural irrelevancy. But since late 2020, it seems that pop-punk is, like so many other genres lately, on the rebound.

Pop-Punk Reached Its Peak In The Early 2000s

Being In Middle School At The Time, I Was The Genre's Target Audience

While its roots stretch all the way back to the early 1970s - the term "pop punk" was actually first used in print in 1977 to describe Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as they toured in of their first album - it wasn't until the early '80s that the modern template for pop-punk came to be. '70s punk bands like the Ramones and the Buzzcocks walked so that Southern California nerds the Descendents, with their debut LP Milo Goes to College, could run with all the high-tempo, melodic angst they had in them.

Pop-punk's next major inflection point was the mid-'90s, as Green Day, the Offspring, Blink-182, and others exploded onto the charts with hit after hit. By the end of the 20th century, pop-punk was the sound of American youth and exuberance, having also taken over the skateboarding scene (and also swept up a whole generation of ska bands along the way). Finally, the second true wave of pop-punk crested in 2002, with Avril Lavigne, Sum 41, and Good Charlotte taking their turn at the top of the charts.

Pop-Punk Faded As Electronic Music Took Over In The 2010s

Existential Economic Uncertainty Prefers A Soundtrack Of Danceable Club Hits

Sadly, the worm always turns, and pop-punk swiftly found itself derided as cliché and derivative by the very audiences that had adored it. As Green Day's American Idiot finally began to fall off the charts, the more electronically-driven sound of dance-pop started gaining ground in the public consciousness. By the end of the '00s, pop-punk had lost almost all traction as the optimistically infectious beats of tracks by Rhianna, Kesha, and Lady Gaga made people feel good enough to almost ignore the Great Recession.

Pop music from around 2008 to 2012 is sometimes called "recession pop," characterized by its extremely high tempo, catchy hooks, and lyrics about feel-good topics like hedonism, freedom, and celebrating youth. The term first appeared in a 2009 interview the Irish Independent did with Lady Gaga that discussed the effects of the economic downturn Ireland was experiencing at the time.

The 2010s, as a result, were a bleak time for punk music, but a great time for club hits. Longstanding pop icons like Madonna and Britney Spears remained popular throughout the decade - a popularity that only increased in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic left everyone worldwide desperate for any kind of joyful nostalgia. While that did lead to a resurgence of recession pop, it also sparked an equal longing for those who missed a more rambunctious form of pop.

Modern Artists Are Ready To Bring Pop-Punk Back

Unfortunately, The Jury Is Still Out On How Hard Elder Millennials Are Capable Of Rocking Anymore

Between Machine Gun Kelly's 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall and the subsequent TikTok trends reviving '00s-era songs from bands like Paramore and All Time Low, the beginning of this decade has seen a new, third wave of pop-punk beginning to coalesce. Since then, many of the genre's giants have come out of retirement, with Green Day, All Time Low, the Used, NOFX, Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, and Alkaline Trio all having released at least one album since 2020.

With modern trends increasingly focused on nostalgiacore, there's an ever-increasing demand from millennials to devour new content from the artists of our youth.

Only time will tell just what, if anything, pop-punk's third wave will build into. It's certainly true that, with modern trends increasingly focused on nostalgiacore, there's an ever-increasing demand from millennials to devour new content from the artists of our youth; it's also true that we're in at least as uncertain a time now as we were back in the Great Recession, when pop-punk failed to authentically keep our spirits afloat. All I know is there will probably never be a better pop-punk song than Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" - but I'm keeping my ears open, just in case.