Pop Punk Bands that Adapted to Modern Music

It used to be simple for pop rockers, all it took was a few guys with a loud distorted guitar, a smooth riffing base, and some bumping drums. As time goes on and music progresses, making music is no longer as easy. Modern popular music is all based off of electronic beats, synthesizers, and mixing boards to modify music in any insane and intense form that one pleases. As the electronic dance music, or EDM as it is popularly referred to, and "trap" music industry has taken over music, it leaves bands in a sticky situation. Pop singers easily adapted to this change because most of their music was produced for them as they only needed to write the songs and sing them, but this is not the case for bands.

The need for instruments is decreasing because now all it takes to write a hit is vocals, a groovy beat, and a big "drop". How does one create an intense drop with their guitar? Base? Drum set? Well pop punk bands have been wondering the same thing for a few years while trying to produce their next albums. It seems that this is close to impossible to do without throwing an extra musician on stage sitting there with his laptop and a keyboard. For those of us who love the original styling of pop punk bands, you might have to keep listening to the same hits which brought you onto this genre because just as music is changing, so are the bands. So what pop punk rockers are sticking to their roots, and what bands adapted to modern music?

Fall Out Boy goes electric punk?

Fall Out Boy did not go down swinging when it came to sticking to their original pop punk style. Their Save Rock and Roll album released in 2013 featured eleven kick ass songs with the classic Fall Out Boy guitar riffs and a big drum sound, but what came after that contradicts this album title. Two years later American Beauty/American Psycho was released, but with this album it does not seem that they particularly "saved rock and roll". The band began making their transition to follow the flow of modern music by adding synth and other electronic sounds to their songs. Although the album still have a few pop rock ballads, it had its share of electronic pieces like "Fourth of July" and the albums title song "American Beauty/American Psycho". After testing this transition with the public, despite the mixed feedback, Fall Out Boy continued to further this change. The 2017 release of "Young and Menace" is... well... interesting to say the least. This was one of the strangest songs put out by the band due to its lack of pop rock sound. The drumming is the closest thing we can relate to the original sound of Fall Out Boy, and if you want to see for yourself what exactly I am talking about, click here. Us pop punk fans are not too sure what to expect from the band, but to my knowledge, sugar we're going downhill.

Paramour music is getting funky, and not in a good way.

The heavily distorted riffing days of Paramore seem to be a thing of the past after their After Laughter album dropped in 2017. This album officially dropped the "punk" from pop punk for the band, sounding like some sort of mainstream Katy Perry album. They released their first music video of the album for "Hard Times" and it looks like a strange video that would even seem out of place if coming out in the '80s. After adapting to modern music, Paramore's Riot days are over as their new album completely lacks their bad ass persona in which brought them to fame. The band has had a tough time adapting to modern music over time due to the amount of members coming and going, then coming back again, leaving lead Haley Williams as the only consistent member through its history. Historically, their music was grungy and quite angry, with Haley leading as a kick-ass, rocking front-woman but this new look and sound characterizes that band as laid back and emotionally stable. But Paramore's song lyrics still have dark and sad characteristics, which relates to the bands old music yet comes as a surprise with the happy and upbeat tempo of the song. I am not sure what made this adaption more obvious, the funky electric sound or the paint on their faces and pink beanie that the drummer wears throughout the video, either way this is not pop PUNK!

"Oh My My" is right, OneRepublic.

These pop rockers made their debut on the music scene in 2007, after being dropped by Columbia Records just a few months before their first was set to drop in the summer of 2006. OneRepublic music had all of the sad, edgy lyrics and distorted guitars that bring the band to this genre, but over the years the band slowly but surely adapted to modern music. Since they were not as hardcore as other pop punk bands, this evolution of the band does not come as obvious as others. After their debut album Dreaming Out Loud, the band began releasing softer acoustic songs which lead to their much lighter album, Native. OneRepublic has always released albums with multiple pop rock songs to make it to the charts, but their 2017 single "No Vacancy" has adapted that modern electric drum sound that dance music consists of. Within the first month of this songs drop date, there have been several dance driven remixes added onto streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes and Tidal. As OneRepublic continues to evolve and adapt to modern music, their genre is slowly changing, as is their fan base.

Panicking from Panic! at the Disco's Adaption to Modern Music

Forming in Las Vegas in the year 2004, Panic! at the Disco had just enough eye liner and was just loud enough to catch people's attention on the pop punk scene. Enough so that the lead bassist for Pete Wentz went out of his way to get the band their first record deal. As lead singer Brandon Urie and the rest of the band released their first three albums, they were a hit with teen rockers all around the world. Their most popular song "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" gave listenings an insight to their very interesting persona and sound. Although the band became very popular from their unique music style, their sound began changing and not all of its members were happy about this adaption to modern music. Over the years Panic!'s sound has become extremely poppy, which created musical and creative differences between the band members. As they slowly but surely dispersed, Brandon Urie is the only member of Panic! at the Disco, but is still writing music under the bands name. With the 2016 release of Death of a Bachelor, this was the first album for the "band", if you still consider it that, that Urie wrote without any other members of Panic! at the Disco. After losing multiple band members, the band has also lost its popularity, as their original fans are not fond of how Urie has adapted to modern music.

BUT WAIT! There is still hope for pop punk!

Although the genre is slowly losing its bands as it adapts to modern music genres like pop and electronic music, there are those bands who will stay strong to their pop punk ways. Band like Green Day, blink182 and Good Charlotte have been still pumping out albums just as distorted and edgy as before. With a member change from blink182, the band picked up lead singer Matt Skiba from rock band Alkaline Trio, giving them enough positive vibes and creative flow to drop two albums, California (2016) and California Deluxe (2017). Good Charlotte sounds just as pop punk they did in their youth, most likely why they titled their 2016 comeback album Youth Authority. And with Green Day making their return from a three year break after lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong finished his time in rehab, the band released five albums in just four years. So before you completely lose faith in your favorite pop punk bands as they continue to adapt to modern music, keep on listening and keep on rockin'!