

Though notably heavier than what we’ve come to expect from pop punk, the record has the energy down pat. Under this album, the Offspring managed to trade in their DIY, aggressive sound for one more grounded in catchy hooks. Smash was yet another mainstream kickoff for a long-grinding punk band. While not necessarily profoundly experimental compared to their previous two albums, the record gained widespread radio success and significantly guided the next iteration of punk. Dookie was their first release under Reprise Records and marked the band’s progression into a more polished sound. Green Day are such a staple in the pop-punk scene today, and there’s a reason that “ Basket Case ” remains their most popular song, even after nearly 27 years. It’s no surprise that many other bands soon followed suit. The record was released just before they joined Atlantic Records, which marked their turn toward radio success. The band’s experimentalism came at a critical point, too. While most early punk bands leaned toward fast ferocity in both sound and lyrics, Recipe For Hate proved to be more dynamic. Read more: 23 Canadian bands Silverstein’s Shane Told knows will keep the scene alive Bad Religion – Recipe For Hateīad Religion were a critical link in the evolution of punk rock into its pop-leaning derivative.

Here are 10 ’90s albums that contributed significantly to modern pop punk.


Among the outputs was pop punk as we’ve come to know it. As a result, the scene began to diversify rapidly. With the meteoric rise of bands such as Nirvana and widespread experimentalism, prolific alternative influences were no longer out of reach. As it turns out, though, we really have the ’90sto thank for our favorite artists and albums. After all, that’s when the mainstream radio takeover of the genre occurred. It’s easy to mistake the foundations of pop punk as being laid in the 2000s.
