The past half-decade has been quite the tumultuous one for alternative music. Pop punk, previously thought of as a throwaway genre for pre-adolescents has been given a new life in today’s alternative landscape. Unfortunately, it seems as if the genre’s time in the limelight might be drawing to a close, or at the very least shifting significantly. Between State Champs touring with 5 Seconds Of Summer and Neck Deep cracking the UK Top 10, 2015 was most definitely an amazing year for pop punk. However, the aforementioned bands have a far more carefree, upbeat sound than the artists which have dominated pop punk over the past few years. As 2016 dawns on us, I felt it necessary to open a dialogue on the future for these bands, and see if they can make a career for themselves after the tr00nami finally crests. Let’s start off with one of the higher profile bands in the scene…..
The Wonder Years
With the release of their latest album No Closer To Heaven, it seems as if The Wonder Years are finally ready to ditch the pizza, crewnecks and khakis of yesteryear and move into the fabled realm of “real music”. Just one glance at any of the songs on the album reveals Soupy has taken his penchant for songs about old white people in the 1940’s to the extreme. There’s nary a single major chord or d-beat to be found anywhere within the album. The Wonder Years now resemble the kind of run-of-the-mill alternative rock band that would play to twenty-something beardos and get a positive write-up in Brooklyn Vegan than your average pop punk outfit. It almost makes you forget these were the same guys who wrote a song about the Kool-Aid man beating up Cap’n Crunch at one point.
The Story So Far
It’s honestly hard to tell what The Story So Far will do in these dire times. They seem to have pushed their stangry, sadboi-baiting sound to the nth degree so there’s really nowhere else for them to go at this point. They could simply go back to their Under Soil & Dirt sound and ride the tr00 wave til it’s very death. If they followed their former pupils Neck Deep and joined the neo-mallpunk wave, that would presumably be the musical equivalent of throwing in the towel (not to mention it would basically alienate over 80% of their fan base). I believe TSSF should follow Trophy Eyes example and essentially become a hardcore band disguised as a pop punk outfit, that way they can retain their credibility amongst the 16-year old Tumblr users while also evolving their sound in the process. Basically the musical equivalent of having your cake and eating it too.
Man Overboard
Sadly, it seems as if Man Overboard’s time in the sunlight has come to a swift closure. Their last album was a confusing, boring mess that sounded way too much like Weezer-circa 1994 than any pop punk band nowadays. Man Overboard’s attempt to shake off the stigma of being a pop punk band in 2015 evidently backfired significantly, with Heavy Love charting far lower than their last album on Billboard. Once their contract with Rise Records expires, I could probably see them riding their career out for the next few years on some smaller label before the pressure of adulthood finally overwhelms their desire to play for crowds of 300 pizza-addicted teenagers night after night. For the band often credited with kickstarting the modern tr00 movement, it’s quite a shame to see Man Overboard’s career turn out this way. Expect to see various Defend Pop Punk shirts lining the discount racks of various thrift stores for the remainder of the decade.
Transit
Not only is the tr00 pop punk era drawing to a close, but it seems the fabled “emo revival” music-journalists have been creaming themselves over might be on its last legs as well. For Boston band Transit, this presents a problem. Despite various NFL-related airplay, the response to their last album was lukewarm at best. Given their propensity for walking the lines between both genres, the band have found themselves at a crossroads in their career. They could simply follow The Wonder Years example and go full Pitchfork-baiting indie rock. However, given the indie community’s general dislike for former pop punk/emo bands passing themselves off as credible artists, time will tell whether Transit can weather the fallout of the cresting wave of tr00ness.
Title Fight
Has their ever been a band with a worse case of multiple personality disorder than Title Fight? One minute they’re chumming it up with Backtrack and Rotting Out on America’s Hardcore, next minute they’re ripping Hum and trying to pass themselves off as a “shoegaze” outfit. Despite Hyperview sounding like something 4AD Records would’ve shat out in the early 90’s, things seem to be looking up for Title Fight. Along with former EZ-deniers Citizen and Will Yip butt buddies Turnover, Title Fight seem to be leading the charge for “former soft grunge bands trying to build a life after pop punk”. Give them credit, at least they know D-beats and songs about ex-girlfriends don’t exactly have a long shelf-life. Better to move with the times and risk getting left in the dust, week-old pizza slice in hand with a tattered flannel shirt adorning your back. Expect to see them at the Grammys accepting an award from Dave Grohl in the near-future.
Real Friends
I feel as if Real Friends will be the band most affected in the aftermath of the tr00nami. Most of these other bands had roots in less meaningful, less stangry forms of music (easycore for The Wonder Years, hardcore for Title Fight, etc.) However Real Friends are entirely a product of the 2010’s pop punk landscape, and I feel as if they will suffer the heaviest once the market falls through on the tr00 pop punk enterprise. Leaving aside the fact that their debut album was mediocre at best and didn’t hold a candle to their EP’s, there’s only so far you can go with sleepy eyes, bony knees and d-beats. Their Chicagoan contemporaries Knuckle Puck seem to do Real Friends better than Real Friends themselves can, while Aussie upstarts Trophy Eyes basically took Real Friends template of “pissed-off pop punk about ex-girlfriends” and pushed it to its limit. I honestly can’t see Real Friends with anywhere else to go. Once their fanbase grows up, it will definitely be hard for them to try and connect with the next generation of pop punk youth (which seems to be skewing in a far more lighthearted direction if Neck Deep’s latest album is anything to go by.) In their case, I believe Fall Out Boy said it best: “Chicago Is So Two Years Ago”…
Patrick's Music Reviews 