Pop-Punk is Lost in Stereo

Take a look at pop-punk’s decline among electronic music nowadays

There were people dancing to the heavy rhythm of the music. Girls and boys jumping up and down, almost numb caused by the bass. The computer-made song dragged them to the already crowded dance floor. It was fun, like there was no tomorrow but something was missing clearly.

Sure, electronic music is cool and loved by many of us; but does anyone remember the good old pop-punk? How people used to match their souls with the song and perhaps complete it with the lyrics, can never be forgotten. But it seems like nowadays the society started to fade the old school, replacing it with house music. Especially young population used to enjoy pop-punk; but when it comes to today no one seems to remember it.

It’s common that almost everybody at the age of approximately 12–35 knows what is house music and enjoys it. It originated from Chicago and in a short time period spread to the world in the 80s. First presenters as MARRS and S’Express displayed house music genre as a dance music. So basically, house meant dancing only. People didn’t listen to it to find themselves and feel strong emotions, they listened it to somehow move their bodies to have fun. Then, popular artists like Madonna and Janet Jackson started using house music in their works. And in no time major record labels fell in deals over deals with this genre. House also turned into other subgenres as techno, deep house, bass house etc. and almost everyone listens to it today. You can hear one at the mall, when you open a popular radio channel or simply on every music TV channel that plays non stop electronic music to be honest. As the house getting big everyday, record labels need to keep the pace with the changing age. Which causes the decline in pop-punk’s population.

Pop-punk’s history starts in the UK. Even pop-punk’s hometown refuses to listen the genre. Sude Küçükdeveci from Newcastle University, Business Administrations pressed a finger on the issue as:

‘‘House music is uniform, cool to listen to it at the clubs. What punk has on the other hand cannot be replaced: the soul. I think every genre is unique. We should cherish them all. It’s not necessary to forget one another.’’

The serious jump in pop-punk starts with Green Day’s Dookie. Before that, some bands have done works similar to the genre but the remarkable notice came in the 94s when the US officially came up with the name ‘’pop-punk’’. Blink-182’s following album Enema of the State seated the genre to top lists easily. Good Charlotte and Sum 41 successfully emerged the beauty in the flaws with their pop-punk songs.

Fast pop-punk tempos are now replaced with electronic music’s monotonous beats. Scientifically talking, house music’s BPM is around 120, matches the average human heart rate. This explains house music’s popularity. The beat matches your pulse and your body harmonizes with it.

Koç University, MAVA freshman Yağmur Demirpehlivan’s thoughts on this decline are that pop-punk’s era is over and gone. ‘’No one knows about it in the 21th century’’, she says. She thinks that house music is for getting away from the realities of the life and escaping the moment. She adds:

‘‘I prefer to listen house music when I’m with my friends out because it’s the new trend and also I love the sounds and the harmony. It makes me feel better. Sometimes the lyrics are meaningful also, not always but the lyrics makes sense.’’

The lyrics of electronic music may differentiate from song to song, but the melodies are so similar. In fact, most of the house pieces are covers from the old school songs. Which creates the question in minds; is the pop-punk era really over?

Record labels’ major aim is to make as much as money in the way possible. The easiest way is to use the trends. In the few years, teenage girls’ cute boybands admirations got a faster increase. The trend One Direction started is taken over by 5 Seconds of Summer since 2014. The good thing is that these guys are actually trying to keep pop-punk alive. Although they are trying hard to do pop-punk, even the charts name that as pop genre. Let’s be real, teenage girls don’t like pop-punk that much and no matter what they do they’re stuck with them.

It will be wrong to say pop-punk is completely dead and gone in the 21th century. As once in an interview Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden mentioned All Time Low is doing a great job. They’re exciting. With their new album Future Hearts they marked an era almost. Unfortunately, other than All Time Low, Fall Out Boy and Paramore, today’s well-known pop-punkers’ population is undeniably few.

After the mainstream done, most of the bands broke up or changed to the more popular genres of the time. Pop-punk removed to the dusty shelves. People started to say that they used to love pop-punk but that then they grew up.

İstanbul University, Translation and Interpreting student Naz Özcan said:

‘‘Pop-punk was the best era for the 90’s kids. All black clothes, colourful hairs, it was not just a music but also a style. Punk music has affected a whole generation and it still does. For some teenagers it was a way of showing their emotions; anger and frustration. The rhythm is so alive like it has a soul. Green Day, blink-182, Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte and all those bands saved millions of kids’ lives. I guess we can say pop-punk era was a revolution.’’.

Fans defined what pop-punk is it grew with the energy of the fans. When their affection skipped to the house music automatically the genre lost its influence. It’s a little shame that once pop-punk was the way to criticize the world, the life and to transport to the ideal dimensions, but today it’s all forgotten. ‘‘Today’s youth are living everything faster than they should. Because of all those drinking and clubbing, they started to listen things like house music or dubstep. But that music doesn’t have a soul. They just consist of rhythms. A rhythm that can make you dizzy from head to toe. You don’t try to find comfort in electronic music, you don’t listen to it at home.’’ Özcan concludes.

There’s another issue that maybe because the lifestyles evolved, people’s mechanism did as well. Music reflects life and experience. So if all that changed, genres did too. There’s no one to blame in that case. The cycle of lifestyles cannot be prevented from happening. It must be respected.

The change in age reflects the change in society’s needs and tastes. Punk wasn’t just a revolution in music but arts, literature, fashion, dance got affected also. Music is a mirror to people. What they are defines music. In that case, the fast, busy progress in the modern life is what determines the new age music genres as house, electronic etc. As many of the university students implied, the both genres, house and pop-punk lives today but the cycle of trends set the right time to enjoy them. There’s a minority of people who still embrace pop-punk’s evolved version. Others go with the popularity. The big come back of pop-punk is still anticipated according to many well-known magazines as Alter-Press and such. But it’s clear that eventually, the kinds will fade and new will be born. The important issue here is that should people completely forget the one that is once burned so bright and changed lives?