Why Pop Punk Won't Die

I've been screaming the lyrics to "Don't Trust Me," (that misogynistic single that 3OH3! released back in 2008 or something - middle school kinda blurred all those years together) all. freaking. day. Somewhere between mumbling the lyrics while I washed dishes and trying to put together my own karaoke version of it I realized that there had to be a reason we were all so obsessed with these songs when they first came out. And obsessed people were - pretty much every binder and notebook I had in middle school was covered with the lyrics of bands like Ludo, The Offspring, Panic! At the Disco, etc etc etc. If you say that yours was any different, you're lying through your teeth, buddy.

So let's take a step back for a sec. Pop punk is kinda a weird genre to begin with. Who thought that mixing hard-edge, alternative punk rock with the mass-appeal oriented, electric sounds of pop music would create a fusion genre that defined the early 21st century? While the term pop-punk first started being used back in the 70s, it's bands like Green Day and Fall Out Boy (omg they're back everyone freak out) that really brought such tunes to the forefront of the music industry. People were at first pretty adverse to the whole idea. Bringing teenage dorks to the hard ass world of punkers was a change that not many saw as a positive evolution. But lo and behold, us teens are like cockroaches - we'll live everywhere and eat anything- and thus bubblegum punk was born.

So why is the genre so successful? I think it's cause it simply crosses into so many different varieties and scenes that every social group can find something to love about it. Every punk has a secret soft side, and every pop junkie wants a reputation as a bit of a thug. It's the Game of Thrones of the music industry - it's a crossover hit that has something for everyone. Plus you blast "Dirty Little Secret," and tell me that it doesn't make cleaning your house a hell of a lot easier. It's fun music - it's a little raunchy, a little stupid, and alternative enough that even hipsters can find some joy in its mainstream revelry.

Basically, dude, everyone loves pop punk, and that's why it's never gonna die. Even grandmas love pop punk. I mean come on - Pete Wentz sporting some sexy guyliner? Who in their right mind would turn that down?

Cockroaches, teenagers, and pop punk. The only things that are gonna survive the apocalypse.

Culture - A Teen Queen's Obsession

Hi Everyone!

So basically this is my formal introduction to the internet! I'm an 18-year-old culture junkie who doesn't have enough time to run a blog, let alone gather her thoughts on societal interests and mass media. This is gonna be my attempt to do both (in the format of a totally rad web diary). I'll be writing about loads of different junk - from dance performances, to pop music, to literary analysis, to reviews of badly acted  80s films. I'm all about the way society entertains itself - and the way it reacts to such entertainment. Expect heaps of sarcastic commentary, tea drinking, sociological musings, music and dance pretentiousness, and more teen propaganda than found in John Hughes' entire filmography.

So buckle up, get ready, gird your loins and all that jazz -
the post-MTV generation has found the internet.