mr dave

I think you're a living example of what I like to call - The Weezer Effect.

Weezer isn't the first, the most guilty, nor the last band to end up in their situation, they just happened to the first I noticed, and by far the most blatant in my youth, so they get the name.

Ultimately what everyone needs to accept and recognize, is that mainstream pop music does not, and has never, actually cared about the listener. It's all about appealing to the commercial demographic that has the largest amount of disposable income while convincing them that their tastes (and not their money) is actually culturally relevant enough to shape the current reflection of society through mainstream media.

So with every major generational shift there's a major shift in the sounds of the pop culture. It's a way for the current generation to distinguish itself from its predecessors. As a grunge kid you better believe we wanted to stand away from the cheeseballs with poofy hair and spandex making all sorts of ooOOOOoo faces while looking 'sensitive' and wailing on some power ballad. But even in the end of that style the mainstream beast still offered up a few new bands from the old style to try holding on to some of the last fans who were stuck between the major style shifts, and it happened again a few years later.

I've got a lot of friends who rank Weezer as one of the main groups from the 90s, one of the Alt-Rock mainstays and originators. I disagree. In fact, Weezer has always sounded like the little kid answer to the Smashing Pumpkins to me but whatever. I had already been taken in by the mainstream, so it's 2nd attempt to pull in more people using the same trick was going to fail on me, but it worked flawlessly on my younger friends (and some have yet to clue in still).

You're doing the exact same thing with these bands. Taking Back Sunday or Fallout Boy were not amazing or pioneering something new. They were the little kid answers to Green Day and The Offspring, which could easily be argued as the little kid answers to The Ramones and The Clash.

Like what you like and don't worry about the rest. If you want more recommendations then click the embedded clips, they're all great - and so is Op Ivy too (but that's more ska than pop-punk but still check them out).

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sopsych

Uh, no artists particularly care about the listener. They make the music they enjoy and hope that others will appreciate it (unless forced by the label to record music that is expected to sell). If anything, pop artists are relatively more interested in crafting music that the public will like.

Pop/punk as a genre is rather lame. The artists tend to be goofing off, as opposed to doing the best they could do.

mr dave

How is your second sentence not 100% contradicting your first sentence? No artists particularly care about the listener... Pop artists are more interested in crafting music the listening public will like....

How does anyone create music the public will like without caring about said public's opinion?

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sopsych

Think of it as "caring about" vs "catering to" or "enticing despite one's best instincts." Pop music often appeals to base instincts. Pop artists don't seem to mind if they're helping to turn this into a more sex-obsessed world.

Alfred

I'll just sit here and wait for someone to take issue with you mentioning this in a negative light.

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mr dave

I honestly can't tell if you're trolling or just super pretentious. Honestly. Think about that for a second.

Now, do you really think the general public is so stupid and simple minded that they need to be raised by pop stars? That the average person looks at a pop star and thinks 'THAT is how I'm supposed to be!' as opposed to 'I would like to have that (perceived) level of fame and attention'?

Pop culture and mainstream society have the ultimate co-dependent relationship, they give each other what they want regardless of need, whether you as an individual agree to what the mass decides is kind of irrelevant outside your head.

Your argument basically mimics a popular misguided line about how fast food restaurants should operate. Here's a minor twist to your last statement:

Fast food restaurants don't seem to mind if they're helping to turn this into a more obese world.

Same logic, same indirect passing of the buck. It's not up to the fast food restaurant to ensure individuals maintain a healthy lifestyle. Same as it's not up to the pop star to make sure we all live in what, some kind of chaste boob-less world?

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14232949

It's a genre which I think will always have a ready made market if it continues to tweak its image to appeal to the next generation of emotional teenagers and over zealous scene kids.

Technically, there are many incompetent pop-punk bands, the likes of Good Charlotte and Boys Like Girls come to mind, however moving away from the straightened hair and soppy movie soundtracks, there are bands who play a similar style of music with undeniable talent.

One need only listen to Jimmy Eat Worlds 'Clarity' to see how truly exceptional bands of this style can be, when focused on creating music. However, despite creating a fantastic album, JEW (Kinda weird abbreviation) were released from their label due to the record being a commercial flop, therefore they moved into a poppier, more mainstream sound in order to maximise profits and commercial success.

I can't honestly sit back and criticize any musician for wanting to make as much money as possible, as I would do the same thing had I been in their position, however it's the success of those bands who are not technically competent and perhaps as a result of a more dumbed down approach, more commercially successful that creates a stigma with many 'educated' listeners with this genre.

As earlier highlighted by another member, The Thermals are another really good example of what pop-punk can be.
To answer your point directly, I do not think pop punk is dying, bands in this genre seem to have a life cycle. You can't have longevity when your gimmick revolves around being young and hip. I.E. Blink 182 cannot be freshfaced youngsters who sing about first dates and skateboards in their middle age, a factor which I believe makes their re-emergence ridiculous.
There will continue to be more pop punk bands emerging from the woodwork as older ones fade out, because as I highlighted earlier, there is a definite market for their product.

TockTockTock

I hope it's dead.

DoctorSoft

This song was a jammer back in like 8th grade.

nbakid2000

I hear a lot of Weezer/The Blue Album in that. What year is that from?