Who were the ‘Big Four’ of pop-punk?
Depending on who you ask, pop-punk is either considered one of the best or worst things to happen to rock and roll during the 1990s. The whole point was for punk to be an outsider form of music that never catered to major corporations, and yet the biggest names of the genre managed to take that non-conformist attitude and notch it on the hit parade with the kind of hooks that Cheap Trick would have been proud to have made. When looking at the real legends of the genre, though, the biggest names have stuck out for a damn good reason.
Before we even start, let’s get one of the biggest honourable mentions out of the way first. As much as they are associated with the original ‘Class of ‘77’, the Ramones should be considered ground zero for punk, taking all of the fashion of the genre and making pop songs that were played faster. They are certainly the godfathers, but they aren’t necessarily what we are talking about here.
The true genesis of the genre got its start in the wake of grunge, usually taking the basis of pop songs and adding a more positive spin to alternative rock, albeit one that still had a knack for heavy guitars. While some artists like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance fall more under the umbrella of emo and standard rock and roll, there were always bands that stood as archetypes for what the genre was supposed to be.
From the infectious guitar hooks to the kind of sing-along choruses that soundtracked countless summer pool party scenes in cheesy 2000s teen movies, every band on here was meant to give kids their first taste of what punk could be. And who knows? If the teenagers could flock to this kind of music, perhaps they wouldn’t mind digging a little bit deeper into more underground stuff when they got older.
The Big Four of pop-punk
Green Day
At the start of 1994, everyone had the wind collectively taken out of their sails. Kurt Cobain was dead, and the entire genre of grunge seemed to die along with him. Most people would not have known how to continue on after that kind of massive body blow, but as soon as people heard Billie Joe Armstrong singing about everything from masturbation to being bored sitting in his room, they found the next band for them to relate to.
While Green Day’s music was far from the most eclectic in its time, Dookie will forever be the blueprint for what pop-punk is supposed to be. Aside from the fantastic songwriting, everything from the production to the attention to detail in the arrangements gave everyone a version of Ramones that had even more of a musical sweet tooth behind their tunes like ‘Basket Case’ and ‘When I Come Around’. And since the band has become one of the industry giants thanks to other classics like American Idiot, they have proven that punks can grow up and still manage to sound fantastic.
Weezer
Of all of the bands that fall under the pop-punk label, Weezer was one of the few that didn’t exactly look the part. They had the same hooks as everyone, but looking at Rivers Cuomo’s getup during their first performances, they weren’t looking to be the swaggering rockstars that people had always known. He was proud to be a nerd, and when listening to the band’s first two albums, his pop ear helped give grunge its sunny side.
While Cuomo never stopped admiring Cobain during his lifetime, a lot of what he did involved taking the pop formula and turning it on its head. There were still tunes with crunchy guitars, but with the right re-arrangement, a song like ‘Buddy Holly’ could have been turned into a bubblegum pop song if they weren’t careful. Weezer’s legacy may have gone through a few shakeups over the years, but if Nirvana were The Beatles of their generation, this was The Beach Boys of the 1990s.
Blink-182
In the wake of the summer of 1994, which brought Weezer and Green Day to the forefront, other punks were waiting to sink their teeth into the charts. There was bound to be room for more people with bratty tendencies on the charts, and since most nu-metal acts made whining sound miserable, there was a way to play up that attitude more effectively. And when Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus honed their craft, Blink-182 turned into everyone’s first hint that pop-punk wasn’t a fluke.
As much as their songwriting could be nursery rhyme levels of plain, the real strength behind them was always the arrangements. From the breakneck fury of Travis Barker’s drums to knowing when to ease things back, every one of the band’s albums up until their first breakup in the 2000s is a look at how the genre could grow, from teenage angst on Enema of the State to managing to get approval from The Cure when making a handful of songs on their self-titled record. While their voices can get more than a little bit irritating for someone not acclimated to the genre, there isn’t a single pop-punk fan on this Earth who doesn’t manage to know the second verse of ‘I Miss You’ from memory whenever karaoke night starts.
Sum 41
Of all the Big Four in grunge, there was always Alice in Chains giving the movement a bit of an edge. Even for a movement known as the biggest genre in the world, there always needs to be a few people who are pushing the envelope of what could be done in that medium. And when Sum 41 showed up in the 2000s, they managed to give people a crash course in how a band could grow.
A lot of their songs may have been as deep as a standard Beastie Boys tune back in their salad days, but looking through every one of their albums, they managed to straddle the line between pop-punk, hard rock and heavy metal half the time. For a band that soundtracked so many kids’ memories, an album like Chuck was a game-changer for anyone looking for just another mindless pop song. It might not have been what anyone expected, but even as they wrapped up shop, their discography is one of the tightest in pop-punk and shows tremendous growth throughout every record.
