Not a conventional review, but we're going to break down this year's choices for the 2016 lineup of Warped Tour. 20+ years on the road every summer, bringing you all kinds of music. And this year, it seems the tour is getting back to basics. Lots of great pop punk bands, and not as many heavy headliners. This is PART 1 of a two part post covering the 2016 edition of Warped Tour. Click this (link) to read PART 2.
Click this (link) to visit the tour's official website.
The genre itself is like one big throwback to our teen years. When guys wore wife-beaters and cargo shorts, everyone had too much hair gel, and Britney Spears was still relevant. It'd hard to pick just 10 songs, so if you don't see your favorite on this list let us know.
Check our honorable mentions list on the Top 10 / Quick Picks page. Any song is far game provided it's at least 5 years old.
Pure Noise Records has a slew of great pop punk bands. Perhaps the cream of the crop are rising stars State Champs. Their sophomore record, "Around the World and Back" was released in October of 2015. And since then, they've had nothing but success. Prior they had stints on tours with 5 Seconds of Summer, and on Warped. Currently they're doing a world tour with fellow pop punk newcomers Neck Deep (whose sophomore album was also a huge success). Poised for world domination, with a growing fanbase, we're happy to have these guys as our first "Featured Band" of 2016.
Remember to catch State Champs on their co-headlining tour with Neck Deep this February/March. Click the following (link) to get dates and locations.
To read our review of "Around the World and Back" click this (link). And to buy the album on iTunes click this (link).
Sometimes dynamic duos are found outside the pages of comic books. In this edition of "Quick Picks' we've chosen our favorite duos in music. Comment below if you think we forgot a pair. Click this (link) to view our honorable mentions.
Though today the genre is often coated in a shiny exterior, pop punk started out with over sized board shorts, tongue in cheek lyrics, toilet humor, simple power chord anthems, and of course Converse or Vans. But without these now iconic albums, you wouldn't have the modern pop punk sound we all know and sometimes love. Spanning two decades, and several generations of fans, pop punk would be nothing without these bands and their music.
We have managed to whittle down the long list of albums to these 10. We've mainly stuck with pop punk albums that are iconic due to influence on the genre's contemporary sound, or albums that are considered classics among fans. If you think we missed an album, please comment below! And if you get butthurt, we're sorry.
*Please note we have tried to stick to bands whose albums are noted by critics and fans as pop punk. It's a matter of deciding what genre to classify the album under (You won't see Bad Religion, The Offspring or Rancid here as their music is more punk rock) Honorable Mentions can be found on our Top 10 page (link)
