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Top 5 Modern Pop Punk Albums!

Pop punk has been a very important part of my music listening sessions for about 2 years now. Over the past 2 years some of what I think is the best pop punk albums to exist have been released. These 5 albums have changed my moods from navy blue to bright yellow. The list includes albums from 2015 and 2016. The first album out of 5 is Life’s Not Out To Get You by Neck Deep. It was released in 2015 and has 12 songs on it. First song I would start out with if you’re a first time listener is Gold Steps. The lyrics are incredibly powerful and some of the best lyrics they’ve ever written. Then I would move to Smooth Seas Don’t Make Good Sailors. This song is very much your regular pop punk song but a bit slower, one of my personal favorites. Lastly I would go to their very popular song December. They have a single called December (again) featuring Mark Hoppus and I think it is incredible. The album cover is very artistic and animated, very colorful and traps your eyes for a solid 5 minutes. The album has incredibly powerful lyrics and amazing lyrics to be singing to their audience which is a bunch of young people. This album is one of the most solid pop punk albums to date. They will be going onto the Vans Warped Tour this Summer which is very exciting and I cannot wait to see them. They are one of the only pop punk bands going this year. They are also due for some new music since it has been 2 years since their latest album. Hopefully this year we can hear some new songs from them! The next album was released in 2016, it is With Confidence's Better Weather. With Confidence has one of the most pretty album covers I’ve ever seen. It’s very bland to some but it has splashes of color all over and I think it is just perfect. For first time listeners I would start out with their song We’ll Be Okay then move to Archers, which is my personal favorite off the album, then go to Waterfall. I feel as if the three I offered are some of the best songs of the album and can definitely give any first time listener the vibes that With Confidence has to offer. The band opened up with 5 Seconds of Summer on their Australian leg of the Sounds Live Feels Live tour in 2016 right after they played a full summer on the Full Sail stage at warped tour. I definitely think that they will be as big as The Story So Far since they were giving so much hype on their first year. Cannot wait to hear more from these guys as the years go on! The third album was released in 2016 as well and has some of my favorite album art I have ever seen, the album is Blink 182’s California. If you have never listened to California you are truly missing out. For starters I would listen to their single Bored To Death first since you will be hearing it most and most likely already have heard it. The next track I would listen to is Home is Such A Lonely Place, it is one of their slower songs on the album and it’s incredibly calming. The last song is Sober which is hands down the best song on the record. Sober is the most upbeat song on the album and . gives off a summer vibe that makes you wish you were at a concert or a party. Compared to all of Blink’s other albums I think that California is very consistent with the rest because it doesn't sound like they’re completely trying to change from their original sound from what we’re used to. Most of the songs on the record are pretty upbeat except for Home Is A Lonely Place. There is a deluxe version coming later this year with 12 new songs! Hopefully they go on a tour, cannot wait to hear the new music! ( I will definitely be reviewing it) The fourth album I put on my list is by the legends themselves All Time Low, their Future Hearts album. The album cover is pretty basic not gonna lie but it is quite creative. For starters I would listen to Bail Me Out feat. Joel Madden of the Madden brothers. The first word that comes to mind when I think of that song is cheery because of the lyrics and spirit the song gives off. The second song I would go to is Dancing With A Wolf which has a lot more guitar than Bail Me Out but it is such a good song. Lastly I would go to my personal favorite on the record which is Old Scars/Future Hearts. This song has my favorite lyrics in it. This album is the first pop punk album I ever got addicted to, it is my favorite record of All Time Low. They are going to have a new album coming out June 2nd and are going on tour with Waterparks and SWMRS. Their album is titled “Last Young Renegade” and the two singles already released off the album are seriously amazing and I can already tell this record will be one of my 2017 favorites. The last album on my list of 5 was written by my favorite band. The album came out in 2016 and is Double Dare by Waterparks. Waterparks is another band that blew up on Warped Tour last year they played a full summer on the Cyclops stage. For anyone who has not ever listened to Double Dare I would start out with Royal which has insanely powerful lyrics and some of my favorite lyrics in a song ever. Then I would move to Take Her To The Moon which is pure pop, this record has lots of electronic features. Lastly I would go to their heaviest song called Little Violence. Waterparks is a small band from Houston, Texas and they talk about their hometown a lot on this album, obviously every pop punk album talks about their hometown. Waterparks has such unique music that you either will absolutely love or will listen to and think “what the hell is this?” They have been touring with bands like All Time Low,Sleeping with Sirens, State Champs and SWMRS since they finished their summer on warped. Waterparks are definitely going to be giant one day if they keep up their hard hard hard work and dedication to their music and fans. If you enjoy any of these albums please let me know and follow my blog! I also made this into a youtube video on my very small channel: https://youtu.be/Spwhb4WUsxw

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Are 5 Seconds of Summer Pop Punk?

As a 5 Seconds of Summer enthusiast, this topic has had me and many other teens almost edgy as me ponder, hard. The topic being is 5 Seconds of Summer Pop Punk. Now, as being a teen who has studied the art of pop punk for about 2 years now I basically have an associates in qualifying bands as pop punk. The giant pop punk stereotypes being; having a strict pizza diet, but also being vegan/vegetarian and being straight edge. If you’re not straight edge are you really pop punk? Also most people in the pop punk world have tattoos, play an instrument and go to warped tour (basically Christmas for us). Here’s the rundown on if they fit the pop punk standards.

As I had first mentioned if you do not have a dying love for pizza, you are not doing pop punk right. The boys of 5SOS do not have to worry about lying for they actually have a song called pizza. And they even put it on iTunes. It features the drummer Ashton Irwin repeatedly shouting “Michael wants another slice” and the other boys Calum, Luke, and Calum yelling with him “ PIZZA”. This has to be their best hit not gonna lie. The boys  just like every other boy from the ages of 20-22 love their pizza.

Another legal qualification of having the privilege of identifying as pop punk is playing an instrument. The boys are extremely talented when it comes to instruments. Ashton being able to play the saxophone, piano, guitar and drums. Michael and Luke are also able to play piano along with guitar and vocals, and Calum playing bass and as of recent tweets he is learning piano. The boys are the first band to play their own instruments at MTV’s 2014 Video Music Awards  since Green Day did in 2005. They were all inspired to pick up the instruments by bands like Green Day, Blink 182, Sum 41, and other 90s pop punk bands. They started playing their instruments early in high school and never put them down. Michael started playing guitar because of how obsessed he was with guitar hero. Now that they're absolute masters at guitar we can check that off their qualification for being pop punk.

A Lot of members of pop punk bands have tattoos. Getting body modifications obviously will not mean that you are less “pop punk” than the person next to you but it is definitely very popular within the community of people. Most pop punk gods like Patty Walters and Ben Barlow are tatted up pretty well. So are 3 out of 4 of 5sos. Calum has the most tattoos, even some of them for his family. His are pretty spaced out, none of the boys have sleeves but maybe in a few years they will. Michael has a quite large tattoo on his right arm and other small ones, like on his finger and a quote on his left arm. Ashton has the infamous tally tattoo on his wrist, a heart on his other wrist, and an angel behind his neck which is my personal favorite. Luke still has none but he has mentioned thinking about it in many interviews. This year he is turning 21, maybe we can expect some?

Another extremely large pop punk stereotype and almost an expectation is to be straight edge. If you are not aware straight edge just means that you do not drink or do drugs, basically nothing toxic is in your body. The boys are not my children so I couldn’t care less if they drink or smoke weed they're grown adults and it’s their body. The boys do drink and more than likely have been drinking for a while since the legal age in Australia is 18 rather than 21 in America. I myself am extremely underage so I do not drink and honestly do not plan on ever drinking. The boys are also very manly men so I wouldn’t blame them for wanting to drink a lil corona here and there you know? They pay their own bills so what they put in their body is their business.The term “Straight Edge” comes from a 1981 song by the punk band “Minor Threat”. Minor Threat were at a club one day and they were underage so the owners were not going to let them play the show. They told the owners that they will not drink at all if they let them play the show so they drew big black x’s on their hand so people knew not to give them alcohol. They did the show and fans of the band also started drawing x’s on their hands and punk lovers found shows more enjoyable when they weren't drinking because they didn't have to worry about a hangover or vomiting everywhere or blacking out and forgetting the whole experience. Straight edge to some people is also being vegetarian or vegan.

Another stereotype for being pop punk is vegan or vegetarian. Not that anyone is interested but I am working on going vegan myself yay! A lot of pop punks are vegan or vegetarian because at warped tour peta shoves it down your throat. I’m just playing I have mad respect for peta, but seriously let me LIVE. Many people are vegan for different reasons, it is a healthy lifestyle and since they tour a ton it is convenient to have a healthy diet so they can live longer lives and tour longer tours. The boys are Australian so they are not vegan, they’re also young men they want their frickin meat. Being vegan doesn't automatically mean you’re better than everyone else in the game it just means your diet is stricter, that’s all. The boys not being vegan or vegetarian is no big deal and does not affect anybody but it is a stereotype in the pop punk clique.

Many pop punk bands have been on the holy Warped tour. Most of my favorite bands I discovered because of Warped tour. For any reader who doesn't know, Warped tour is a tour that has small and larger bands on a 2 month tour across America and this year they are branching out to 14 other countries (for smaller times sadly). The bands are on a stage and they perform about 6 songs and there are an insane amount of bands ranging from pop punk to punk to hardcore. It’s heaven. They have never been on Warped tour since the biggest boyband in the world One Direction gave them their head start, they didn't need warped tour really. In summer 2016 while enjoying some time off Luke and Michael went to heaven I mean Warped tour and enjoyed some time watching some amazing pop punk bands. Luke is friends with the lead singer for The Summer Set, Brian Dales, and even joined him on stage during the last chorus of  Lightning in a Bottle. Now it’s the other boys turns! (I think Michael would destroy warped tour)  

Lastly, here is some reasons why some would classify their music as pop. Most boy bands don't have very personal songs mainly just about girls and girls they want. 5 seconds of summer destroy that stereotype because their songs off their sophomore album Sounds Good Feels Good features songs like Broken Home, Invisible,and Jet Black Heart that talk about real mental issues which is very good for them as such a big band since their audience of young people get those messages as it’s okay to not be okay. A lot of pop music especially the kind written by pretty boys with accents mainly write about girls. This being another reason why 5sos is not quite pop punk.

To conclude, the aussie band 5 seconds of summer is pop punk. Some people will disagree because of their uprising with One Direction and because they are played on the radio. As a certified emo I pronounce them pop punk. Thank you to everybody who took the time to read this article. I hope to write more soon. Please follow me to keep up with the latest in pop punk. Have an amazing day or night!