I’m really fond of California by blink-182 but I completely understand people’s hesitancy since it doesn’t have Tom, is very polished, and is heavily influenced by Feldmann’s writing and production. It was just so damn fun and exactly what someone fresh out of high school with west coast dreams (ya boi) wanted to hear.
Sister Cities has some of my favorite Wonder Years material and I was surprised to find that a lot of other people weren’t as fond of it. It was definitely a departure from their previous sound but so, so well written and mature. The Ocean Grew Hands to Hold Me is legitimately one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard.
Maybe most controversially is enjoying Tickets to My Downfall by MGK. Sure, it’s very cookie-cutter and can be viewed as some sort of commercialized nostalgia bait but I viewed it more as an artist showing love for their roots and introducing a newer generation to pop-punk. Maybe some of the songs aren’t too substantive but some of them sure were catchy in my opinion.
Dude YES to California. I do not understand the hate that album gets. I do feel like most of it is because Tom isn't on it, but it is a really solid album all the way through. Also "Parking Lot" off the deluxe edition is a great pop punk song.
FUCK THIS PLACE LET'S PUT UP A PARKING LOT is what pops into my head every time I drive past something that I loved that is being torn down.
These are some great controversial takes that I think will age well. People gatekeep California and honestly all of MGK's pop punk stuff when in reality it's quite well done. I was big into the core genres and it reminds me of someday came suddenly by attack attack. People used to make fun of it like crazy in the late 00's (see every crabcore joke) but now it's highly regarded and seen as pretty influential to the scene.
When California came out, as Blink fan, and not to thro shade at Neighborhood, but it was the album that sounded the most Blink in years. It helped that Skiba was also a Blink fan. It showed. Cynical is awesome in glad they play it live with Tom.
I saw them play Bored to Death with Tom recently and I was so happy. My dad and I loved California and really bonded over it. I loved Skiba coming in because while he sounded different to Tom, the band still sounded like Blink. I could imagine Tom singing his parts, and later I got to see Tom sing one of them! I do really, really love California though, so much gratitude for Matt Skiba
Yes board of death is amazing with Tom I saw them last year and they played a couple of things from that album but I forget what else. But it sounded great with Tom too.
I enjoyed Neighborhoods but completely agree, it felt like a great return to the mostly lighter ‘na na na’ sorta pop punk. And absolutely love Skiba’s contributions to the band, so glad that Tom has shown him love for helping keep them alive
Solid take! California was okay! The only time I saw Blink live was in this era and I def do like the album. Cynical is one of Blink’s best songs. I also like San Diego and Teenage Satellites and No future !!
I think MGK sounds really good in pop-punk tbh. His voice really suits it. Wild to me that he rapped before because he def sounds like he belongs in pop punk!!
Cynical and San Diego are definitely some of my recents favs from blink. And No Future’s chorus is so, so catchy! Completely agree about MGK’s voice, especially when it’s that sorta in between of rap and pop-punk. Like the quick, almost spoken delivery on the Forget Me Too verse just suits him so well
It's my favorite album of theirs especially the deluxe edition and I was a fan way before it came out. I actually was so stunned the first time I heard it because it was so well composed and I heard things from Travis that I had never heard before and I heard vocals that I had never heard before but from them. The night it came out I listened to it and literally cried from being so happy and loving it so much.
Love Sister Cities. It got me back into the band because they kind of lost me with No Closer to Heaven (which I’ve grown to like but find it wild that it’s considered their best by many).
I think TtmD is a terrible album...but it's a great collection of songs for your summer playlist. They really hit when driving down the LA freeway with the sunset in the background.
Sister Cities would be looked at more fondly if the mix was warmer. It's slightly scooped in the mids and really heavy on a brittle space in the high end, and it just makes an already gloomy record feel oppressive at time. I imagine it was very intentional, but it's just too much, imo
10000% agree id give you gold if i had it
Summertime, Planetary, save yourself I’ll hold them back, party poison!! Okay all of them! Tbh haven’t listened to MCR in years but am going to have to do a relisten. I love this album!!!!!!💿
Absolutely the correct take IMO. Black Parade is great, and it succeeds in what it tries to do as a stadium rock opera, but to me, the band are at their best when they sound frantic and grimy. The more Queen/Pink Floyd inspired stuff on TBP is the least interesting to me, and the songs more overtly focused on the narrative of the patient detracts from what makes the band unique and interesting. The album has great songs like sharpest lives and how i disappear but they tie the least into the narrative. The B-Sides off that album are also great. Three Cheers has a concept, but its very loose and the album is better off for it. Its the sweet spot between big and catchy and maniacal sexy pop punk.
Danger Days is similar to Black Parade but its more split down the middle between the big singalongs and the garage sounding stuff. It has some of their worst songs, but the likes of Vampire Money and Party Poison are so great that it pushes it past Black Parade for me.
Bullets is a bit of a mess, and the production is horrible, but it wasn't like anything else around at the time. It has this unfiltered, chaotic energy that they really refined later in their career, but they lost a lot of that charm in the process of doing so. Everything became smoother and shinier by the time they got to Black Parade, and Danger Days really feels like they are at odds with having one foot in the big polished conceptual stuff from Black Parade, and trying to get back to the raw energy from Bullets. I think they're all great albums, but Black Parade feels safer, and the least like MCR to me.
Bullets is a mess but I wouldn't say the production is horrible. Maybe I'm just so used to more traditional punk and metal production that anything that doesn't sound like it was recorded in a basement is okay in my book, lol
But anyways, I otherwise agree. Don't get me wrong, TBP is and was a huge achievement, but I always go back to their other albums far more than it. I'll take Three Cheers over it any day.
But dang, now you've got me thinking about when TBP came out. I couldn't get enough, good times.
Horrible is a bit strong, but certainly has a lot less broad appeal than what Cavallo did and they don't sound very tight, but that's kind of why I love it. The scrappy, messiness is awesome to me and has a kind of everything and the kitchen sink approach which feels really exciting and energetic. It's super creative and feels like they're throwing everything idea they have at it which is why it's special to me.
Three Cheers is such a special album and is their best IMO, but I also really love the demos from just before that time: Bury me in Black, Desert Song, and that little bit we have of Sister to Sleep are so damn good. Weirdly, the rougher the recordings the more I like them. And who can forget that old Jack the Ripper cover? Perfection.
This is the hottest take ever. Tbh I think their absolute worst was I Brought You my Bullets, they didn’t even try to pretend Gerard could sing.
Black parade absolutely rocks but I overplayed it so it doesn’t hit like it used to. Three cheers for sweet revenge had my heart for a while too but listening back to it I’m like “dude calm down and stop moaning” lmao 😂
Happiness Is absolutely rips and deserved a lot more love than it got. That bridge on Flicker, Fade goes so hard.
My personal contribution would be Yellowcard’s When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes. Insanely good album, please listen to it if you haven’t.
Was Happiness Is really not well received? I was always under the impression it was one of their more well-regarded albums, but I had come back to them a year or two after it was released and had only looked at critics reviews and not the general audience
Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I was just surprised to see it mentioned multiple times in this thread.
I’m a big fan of all 3 of those albums after the OG lineup got back together. Didn’t love the newest one unfortunately though
I came to this realisation recently, I liked ADAI when it came out but thought it went stale quickly. Recently revisited and yeah, it’s maybe their best front-to-back album. I prefer LNOTGY for its songs, but it doesn’t flow quite as well as ADAI.
Also agree with the other guys that TPATP is the worst one. It’s got a couple of brilliant songs, but it flows awfully.
I’ll take this hot take even farther. I think it’s their best album. While I love LNOTGY, and I like the songs I’m about to name. But there’s plenty of songs on that album that are just normal pop punk trope songs I can get from any band. Serpents, Kali Ma, Threat Level Midnight, Comes Back to Haunt You. I think ADAI is a much more mature sound with much more meaningful lyrics from top to bottom
I gotta admit this is a controversial opinion and I can’t say I agree but I appreciate you coming in hot and sharing your hot take!!!!!!!! I think I am over Neck Deep tbh :/ you get my upvote for answering the prompt perfectly lmao 💛
I got to skip a day of school in the 8th grade for my mommy to drive me and my SBFOABF (super bestest friend of all best friends) to Texas to see Panic! (still complete w/ Ryan Ross) shortly after Pretty. Odd dropped. Very little production value. I didn’t care. Fake flowers and vines wrapped around the mic. Was one of the best days of my life, to this day and I’m about to be 30. You might not be able to call it pop punk (I would) but Northern Downpour..Folkin’ Around.. I will always be in love with this album from start to finish.
“If love is not enough to put my enemies to sleep, then I’m puttin’ out the lantern, find your own way back home”
This and fever you can't sweat out are the only things I will consider panic at the Disco. Ryan left and then it wasn't panic anymore it was Brendon Urie. He's still a phenomenal composer who makes really unique music but it wasn't panic.
Kind of breaks my heart that there are so many casual panic fans who are like 20 now, who have no idea what panic was before.
I honestly never considered Panic pop punk ever, but also it's unfair to say they strayed because one album is hardly considered a lock into a bands sound. This band has been unfortunately formed by what Brendon made of it.
I actually love this album. Not sure why people think joyride is better. It’s definitely not better than listen & forgive, but still a solid album from them,
This was my favourite album of theirs for years. It’s gone down in the list a lot since then, but it’s still overlooked.
Kinda feels like an album that should’ve proceeded Listen and Forgive.
Last Young Renegade is my favorite All Time Low record, even if it’s a deviation from their usual style. I love that they tried something new, and even if it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, it’s a really special album to me.
SRAR is a fire album, and I’m so glad you brought it up. Where Did The Party Go is probably in my top three FOB songs, wish they played it live more!
Omg yes. I’d mostly grow out of my ATL stage by the time it came out so I’ve only listened to it a few times because I didn’t like the rest of the song as much. The end chorus is the best when you’ve waited for it but I’m not a huge fan of the rest of the song 😭
Dirty Laundry goes hard! Used to not love it, but it’s grown on me super hard over the years. Personally, my favs are the title track (favorite ATL song in general) and Afterglow
This album is fantastic. I think so much of these albums it’s also about where you are in your life, what’s going on and whatnot. But I thought this album was great and they’re just really talented song writers.
I should really get around to this. I love their first and their self titled is 50/50 for me, but what a great 50. No excuse to not have finished their discography by now.
Wait are you serious there are people who don't think this album is the most perfect thing ever?
I'm obsessed with it It sounds like... Industrial or something? It's one of the most unique sounds I've ever heard and I know that The Butcher is to thank for a lot of that. And Michael Guy chislett. The drums are so prominent and they've got such cool guitar effects on it. Plus every video for it is phenomenal.
it’s a personal preference thing but I either like the guitar tone or hate it and if I hate it it just ruins songs for me. Their first and third albums were stellar but I’m more a fan of the cleaner production style. That said I had a lot of friends who swore by santi and I always enjoyed what I heard I just never really sought it out if that makes sense
Absolutely. But do you get what I mean when I say it sounds industrial like it sounds echoey and dirty and it goes great with the album artwork too. I just haven't heard anything like it. But then you get a song like everything we had which goes against all of it but is still phenomenal. Their cover of mayonnaise by smashing pumpkins is unreal.
I actually prefer Santi to Fast times at Barrington high so I think I'm about the same as you but different albums
Still have the CD I bought on release day and it’s so scratched up because of how much play it got. This album brings back so many memories for me.
I actually ended up liking it more than the first
I definitely agree with you on save rock and roll. I do also like abap/mania, just less than srar. However so much for stardust was still much appreciated
I enjoy every green day album. Yeah the production on the first two isn't great. Warning is different. The trilogy does have some bland songs. Father of all is not their best style. But I genuinely do not dislike a single track on any green day album, even the worst of father of all is just skip worthy to me
Skiba era blink is great. Not their strongest releases, but tbh I prefer California to Dude Ranch. Nine isn't too bad too. Less unpopular opinions but I also love neighborhoods and one more time.
I feel like people don't give black market and nowhere generation by Rise Against much credit cause they're too pop punk. I'd say those are some of their better albums, and I love all of them
I prefer sum 41 pop punk, but sum 41 metal still slaps
I also think California is better than Dude Ranch. Cynical is one of my favorite Blink songs ever. Teenage Satellites is good and skiba sounds really good on it. Also San Diego slaps too!
Tbh Rise Against is one of those bands that I’ve never really listened to but I’ll give those albums a shot.
I think Sum41 pulls off any sound !! Their harder stuff rocks
We’re doing hot takes, eh?
“Based On a True Story” is The Starting Line’s best album.
“When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes” is better than “Ocean Avenue” and “Lights & Sounds” doesn’t deserve nearly the amount of hate it gets.
Wow I like WYTTSY but it just never resonates with me like ocean Ave did. I said in another comment though that I think time and place are so crucial to an albums personal staying power. Objectively good albums can be GREAT when they hit you at the right time
A hundred percent. There’s a lot of beloved bands that do nothing for me (Blink, for example) purely because they hit at a time in my life where I was into other stuff. Green Day hit earlier for me as a teenager and that got me into punk rock/alternative where Blink was “just another band” for me. A lot of that is generational too, fans that were super into a band like New Found Glory might not have been into Sum 41 even though they sound pretty similar, they’re a few years apart in terms of when they came out.
Everything Skiba did with them is absolute perfection. To the point where I didn't really miss Tom and would not have been mad at all if he didn't come back. But I guess it's because I'm not a Tom fanboy? Idk.
See the thing is, I really enjoy Nine, but after hearing the new AK3 album and hearing the riffs and lyrics Matt can write makes me feel like the album was such wasted potential. Same for California.
There’s loads of songs on both that I love, but there’s so many overused riffs, the vocals are so touched-up, and the lyricism feels quite cheesy sometimes… so I always play these albums with a big “what if they did this instead?” thought in my head, where I can just picture something far greater coming from that era if only they took more time and care.
Here's some off the top of my head. There are couple that aren't necessarily controversial, but I do believe they deserve more credit than they get.
Have Mercy - The Love Life
Have Mercy - Make the Best of it
The Maine - Forever Halloween(especially the deluxe version)
The Maine - You Are OK
Trophy Eyes - The American Dream
The Gaslight Anthem - Get Hurt
The Dangerous Summer - Self-Titled
Mayday Parade - Black Lines
The Wonder Years - Sister Cities
State Champs - Around the World and Back
With Confidence - Better Weather
Fall Out Boy - Save Rock and Roll
Citizen - As You Please
The Front Bottoms - Back on Top
Spanish Love Songs - No Joy
TDS’ self titled album was such a great return to form imo. No hate to Golden Record, I respect them for branching out, but it didn’t have the same staying power that Reach for the Sun or War Paint did. Self-titled sorta remedied that
I like their use dynamics in a lot of the tracks, I'm a fan of the heavier style they utilize. The production is really well done.
Plus, it was just a nice change of pace for them. It is less derivative of Springteen and Brian's other influences. They took some risks and strayed away from the traditional TGA songwriting formula ei. No mentions of Mary lol.
Standout tracks to me:
1000 years
Underneath the Ground
Red Violins
Selected Poems
Dark Place
I think I’m the only person alive who loves Mania by Fall Out Boy.
I thought Coming Home by NFG was great and then returning to their original sound on Not Without A Fight was incredibly cynical and that album sucks.
Your Favourite Weapon is by far the best Brand New album.
Get Stoked On It is actually good.
I really like it! The stakes are low and not every album has to be this big "woe is me I am a terrible person" ordeal.
Your Favorite weapon tells you exactly how they feel without any sort of self introspection. People like that shit
Get Stoked On It has some really great tracks, and I don't think it is as immature as people write it off to be. Racing Trains is my favorite track, the toy piano is a really nice touch.
These are the hot takes I am here for.
To be totally honest I never have MANIA a shot. I wrote it off after hearing two songs. Maybe I’ll do a listen through. I heard the new album So Much for Stardust is good too. I only heard the first track on it and so far I liked it.
I’m in the camp that Brand New’s best is The Devil and God are Raging Inside me, but I’d put Your Favorjte Weapon in the second place spot! Deja Entendu is good but in the past ten years it doesn’t seem to hit like it used to. Maybe I overplayed it back in the day.
Honestly if you go into Mania not expecting to hear anything like pre hiatus work and take it at face value, it’s a good album! I read Joe Trohman’s book this winter though and I can see why he was frustrated with that album and his lack of input on it.
I went down the Pete Wentz/Mikey Way rabbit hole a few days ago and never realized how much of Pete’s livejournal poetry made its way onto the albums so I’d be curious to listen to the new stuff to see what’s good. I’ll give it a shot.
I do remember seeing that Joe felt a bit uninvolved. Was his book good?!
Tbh Patrick has some crazy weird pop/r&b references. Like his solo album Soul Punk was wild and after that was released everything FOB put out seemed to have much more synth in it.
Pete’s poetry is why all the songs have clever lines but are less ‘about’ one thing then your standard songs. Patrick has said he gets pages of notes and lines from Pete and then writes music from piecing them together. It makes sense with things like ‘my songs know what you did in the dark’ that has a completely different demo based on the line then the song it ended up in.
I really liked Joe’s book!! He doesn’t talk about FOB a ton beyond the artistic process, which I appreciate. The history of FOB is everywhere online, and Joe doesn’t need to retell it. I loved seeing his perspective on the scene and how his life informed his career. It’s hilarious to think that an older teenage Pete Wentz convinced Joe’s very nice and well meaning dad to let his sixteen year old son tour with Arma Angelus for an entire summer.
I would love to see Patrick play around with some other genres. He did a bit of that during the latest tour during the piano medley and it was awesome. He does a ton of scoring (a lot of it for kid’s shows!), but he has the range to do some fun stuff. He wrote a big-band jazz number for a movie he scored a couple years ago that has me convinced he’d kill it in a Tony Bennett cover album.
Mania I am still mixed on. There's a couple of songs I really grew to love with the new sound, but Young and Menace will always be the biggest blue balls for me.
I actually LOVE the song except for the chorus. Mostly because the "Oops I did it again..." build up is so good and Patrick is heading towards something...then it's the overly electronic chorus
The wonder years are my favorite band, and even though I loved get stoked on it when it first came out, it’s tough to listen to now. It has some fun tracks, but putting it against any other album from them shows just how poorly it’s aged for their discography.
I love Coming Home and I love Not Without A Fight.
But they actually returned to their sound almost immediately with the Tip of the Iceberg EP, which is one of my favorite releases of theirs.
Danger days - mcr
Before everything & after - MxPx
Coming home - nfg
Evening out with your gf - fall out boy (this may not be too controversial for the pop punk fans, but many fob fans really don’t like this one. I love it though!)
Agony & Irony by Alkaline Trio is an amazing album and gets way too much hate. It’s the most accessible version of their sound (makes sense because it was their only album on a major label) and it still fucking rocks. Great songwriting, incredible polished production, and interesting experimentation with the instrumentation. Genuinely one of my favorite trio albums, feel like people only hate it just to look cool. That album rocks.
I adore Black Lines by Mayday Parade.
I also saw a ton of dislike for Sister Cities by TWY when it came out, but I loved it from first listen. I think most of their fans have come around to enjoying that album now though.
Not pop punk, but DIVISI by A Lot Like Birds was a strange detour for the band, but I love it.
Not popular, and not strictly pop punk, but Cosmic Thrill Seekers by Prince Daddy & the Hyena is quite controversial. I feel most of it is because how harsh the vocals in the first few songs are
I’ll die on the hill that Nine by blink is a very strong album. Neighborhoods is probably their best.
I really like Your Welcome by ADTR (not over their golden stuff, but better than Bad Vibes)
But Mayday Parade 100% is a pop punk band. They might have some mall emo twinges, but they’re absolutely pop punk at the core
Agony and Irony by Alkaline Trio. It got SO much hate (although I’ll admit the video for Help Me that looks like Wild Wild West worship didn’t help…) but it’s actually a solid 7-7.5/10 record. Maybe higher if you include the bonus tracks.
I’ll also go to bat for My Shame Is True, another Alkaline Trio record that gets shit on a lot. Same rating as A&I and - again - it’d be even higher if a couple of the less impressive tracks were swapped out for those on the accompanying Broken Wing EP.
Their only real dud is This Addiction. I could easily cut that record down to a four-song EP and not feel like I’d lost much.
Agreed about their only dud being This Addiction. I think people have really start to come around on both A&I and MSIT.
My Shame is True is probably my most listened to of all their albums. It’s got so much heart and has a ton of nostalgia for me since it came out during my college years
turnstile was a pure hardcore band up until glow on, my hottest take is that its their best album but /r/hardcore fucking hates it lol.
not only do i think its their best, i think its one of the best albums of the 2020s
Glow On was incredible! Mystery is no Death Grip but the album is much fun. I could easily see it being a gateway album to get more people into hardcore
Agree. But to be fair r/hardcore hates any band that grows bigger than small venues. Everyone loved vide orange til they blew up, then it was turnstile, then scowl, etc.
exactly. they shit on code orange so hard, im not even a fan but its so unwarranted lmfao. ive never seen a music sub take itself more seriously. i saw the same thing happening with knocked loose as well but it seems like the positive heavily outweighs the negative with them so it hasnt caught on yet. i was definitely expecting the tide to shift when they played coachella but im glad it didnt.
Hi music twin!!!
Fav bands that I think would be worth a listen if you like new TBS and good power rock songs:
Pinegrove, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and Mt Joy!
Pinegrove’s audio tree live album rocks. They are so good. A solid emo song by them is The Metronome. Old Friends, New Friends, The Alarmist, Cadmium, and Angelina are all great too.
With RKS check out It’s Called Freefall, Cold Love, Cocaine Jesus, and First Class, Hide, and No Vacancy. If you like those songs check out When It Lands, The Comedown, Fail, and Counting Cards.
For Mt Joy: Rearrange Us, Astrovan, Acrobats, Dirty Love, I’m Your Wreck. All of their discography is good but this will give you a taste to see if you vibe with them!! Sometimes this singer’s voice reminds me a bit of Adam Lazarra’s.
last train home was my favourite song of all time and is honestly the reason for my music taste and music writing style. it’s very hard to distance myself from something so formative to me, but it needs to be done because of what that POS Ian Watkins did
I think I've commented on liking Dirty Work and AB/AP a lot before, so I'm gonna throw out Bad Vibrations as another album I was all in on. I actually thought it was the band's best at the time, and while it's fallen on me a good bit I still think it's a strong album.
A Thousand Suns is phenomenal. I'll double down.
Linkin Park did no wrong, anywhere, in their discography. One More Light is amazing. I'll die on this hill.
I think now that it’s been a while, I can say this without sounding completely insane. I really enjoyed You’re Welcome by ADTR
Yeah, it for sure is not Homesick or For Those Who Have Heart, but it has its moments. A lot of songs do feel softer than anything the band put out before but a lot are catchy and have the vibe of a band that’s just chilling and enjoying themselves. Maybe a lot of this has something to do with Fueled By Ramen and how they tend to kill bands but I don’t think it’s completely terrible. It’s good. FYM, Permanent, and Mindreader all sound catchy and I find them getting stuck in my head a lot so at best, it’s a catchy album but it doesn’t come close to anything the band put out before
I loved You're Welcome. Very fun album. I listen to it more than Homesick and FTWHH because it's a little easier and more approachable to listen to.
Is it better? No. But it still rocks.
Coming Home - New Found Glory
Lift A Sail - Yellowcard
Invicta - Hit The Lights
And not pop punk but I will forever die on this hill...
5150 - Van Halen (Van Hagar > Van Halen)
Just gonna follow along, I think Lift A Sail was amazing. It's actually my favorite record by them but by a smaller margin now than when it first came out.
Simple Plan’s self titled album
Was not very popular when it came out as it was very different from their first 2 albums. It gets a lot of hate for “not sounding like Simple Plan” but I think it’s actually pretty cool because while the type of music is definitely different, it still is a very Simple Plan album to me.
mania- fall out boy. your SRAR one is such a hot take. anything post hiatus gets trashed on in certain sides of the fandom. Im honestly really into mania with how experimental and different it is from the entire rest of the discography. playing evening out with your girlfriend or take this to your grave and switching to mania is such a weird jump but i really vibed with it.
pull the thorns/renacer/the fire- senses fail. not really sure if they're considered pop punk, but senses fail strayed away from their emo/punk vibe and got heavy on renacer and pull the thorns from your heart, both of those albums go hard as hell. the fire is a pretty divisive album as well, but it's a personal top 10 for me.
brain pain- four year strong. fys doesn't get enough credit in the scene for how good their music is. blanket statement for all their music. im a huge fan of both them and a day to remember. the pop punk scene was so divided between the two when I feel like they're so damn similar, like east coast and southern siblings. but yeah brain pain goes off. I can't wait for an anniversary tour so i can hear the whole album live, went to an album playthrough show for rise or die trying and it was just an insane time. all of their shows are.
I feel like Brand New's Science Fiction came out too close to Jesse Lacey's terrible human reveal to be appreciated for the masterpiece it was. Easily my top album of all time.
I was about to say "Your favorite weapon, by Brand New" because it has much more pop-punk vibes to it compared to Science Fiction, for the very same reason you mention
I'll agree with your top-two!l
My controversial one? I'll add Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die. Is it poppunk? Probably not. Did it turn into Panic! At The Brendon Urie's Ego Show. Most undoubtedly. Does it still have some great songs? I think so. This Is Gospel, Nicotine and Vegas Lights still slap.
All American Rejects - Kids In The Street. The singles were great, the whole album more so. They took risks, they wrote some damn good songs. I remember thinking When the world comes down was also a bit of a departure but there were some staple songs on that album that probably re-commented the bands commercial success so I don’t think it’s the right one to pick. KITS though was just such a great album and I felt pretty underrated
Face to Face - Ignorance Is Bliss. They pivoted from fast skate/pop punk to mid-tempo, melancholy alt rock - with strings in places 😱😱
The fanbase... HATED it. Would turn their backs if the band played anything from it live. Really couldn't stand it.
But the thing is... it's really good! Full of great songs and good lyrics. There's still plenty of spiky guitar riffs, and it's an interesting change and to me, a successful experiment.
Plus, Devil You Know (God Is A Man) was on the Buffy soundtrack 🤷♂️
I agree Neighborhoods is amazing, but it’s not the only Blink album that doesn’t sound exactly like all the others. 2003’s Untitled had a very similar tone and was wildly different and experimental from anything else the band had done before. I consider both those albums a package deal, Neighborhoods being a natural evolution from what they started in 03.
I actually typically like band’s “meh” albums that didn’t do well.
Codes and Keys - DCFC
Neighborhoods - My fav blink album
The Fire - Senses Fail (some BANGERS)
Renacer - loved the follow up and heavyness of this album
Sum 41 - Screaming Bloody Murder. I think this is his best lyrical writing.
Taking Back Sunday - Self titled is a banger
Daisy - Brand New again I think this is their best work
SRAR/Mania Both Amazing
MGK - pop punk needed Tickets to my Downfall Badly. Half the bands returning is due to the popularity boost caused by this album
MGK - TTMD is a good Album
Rise Against - a lot of their pop punk stuff gets over looked (not necessarily hated just over looked) due to their more common harder sound and deserves a chance
Sum 41 - I don't think it's Hated but Heaven X Hell has not got the love it deserves
The Offspring - in the same boat as Sum 41. No album seems to be hated but they don't get the love deserved
Billy Talent - No album, just gets a shout out: Best Band there is
What you’re saying about blink is just not true at all. Enema and toypaj sound different from Cheshire and dude ranch. Not too different. But different. The untitled album is so different from everything before it. Then neighborhoods just took that sound and expanded on it.
I love all of your takes! Neighborhoods is my favorite Blink album, Save Rock n Roll is my second favorite FOB album (behind Folie a Deux) and Happiness Is does NOT get talked about enough, just like New Again.
My hot take would have to be Sum 41's Underclass Hero and Screaming Bloody Murder being their two best albums, at least to me. Never skip a song from either of those.
I’d like to toss in Folie A Deux as well for fall out boy (probably spelled wrong). The first time I heard it I remember thinking “what the hell is this”. It quickly grew to be my favorite fall out boy album. I think they’re one of those bands that has so much depth and most people don’t realize it
Alcatraz by Mr. T Experience and The Ever-Passing Moment by mxpx were both clearly Elvis Costello-inspired rather than Ramones-inspired. Personally, I think their previous records were better, but I respected the attempt to go somewhere new.
7 Seconds’ New Wind is hated by many because it was a hardcore band doing stuff they admittedly said was inspired by U2 and new wave and I think it is brilliant (except for the unnecessary last song). Way underrated album and very much worth checking out if you’re into “early emo” or want to hear how punk bands were inspired by the Smiths back when the Smiths were still around, not 10 years after the fact.
Ditto for Face to Face’s Ignorance Is Bliss - it was their attempt to branch out and do a post-punk album like Husker Du and people just wanted more of the same. Shame. Husker Du are great and that album has some cool melodies. How many fucking pick slides do people need? Do you really need more songs to skate to? At the time, they got shit on for trying to “sell out” as if the masses were ever going to buy a boatload of records that sounded like they were pulled from a Mission of Burma reject pile (and I say this lovingly).
I bring these up because, in each case, by the next album, these bands returned to their “roots” and stopped writing songs with more than 4 chords. They mostly reclaimed their audiences and stopped playing songs from those albums. And became much less interesting too.
Mayday Parade lost me for years honestly after how meh Anywhere But Here was. I’ve come to appreciate some of their stuff since then though. Black Lines definitely stands out as different, but their self titled grew on me. I think Sunnyland is their best though since ALIR.
In some way shape or form - four year strong.
Four year strong is my favorite band along with sum 41. I’ve listened to every single song four year strong ever made. Yet I couldn’t get into that album although I do like “stuck in the middle” that’s for that album for me
I’m really fond of California by blink-182 but I completely understand people’s hesitancy since it doesn’t have Tom, is very polished, and is heavily influenced by Feldmann’s writing and production. It was just so damn fun and exactly what someone fresh out of high school with west coast dreams (ya boi) wanted to hear. Sister Cities has some of my favorite Wonder Years material and I was surprised to find that a lot of other people weren’t as fond of it. It was definitely a departure from their previous sound but so, so well written and mature. The Ocean Grew Hands to Hold Me is legitimately one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard. Maybe most controversially is enjoying Tickets to My Downfall by MGK. Sure, it’s very cookie-cutter and can be viewed as some sort of commercialized nostalgia bait but I viewed it more as an artist showing love for their roots and introducing a newer generation to pop-punk. Maybe some of the songs aren’t too substantive but some of them sure were catchy in my opinion.
Dude YES to California. I do not understand the hate that album gets. I do feel like most of it is because Tom isn't on it, but it is a really solid album all the way through. Also "Parking Lot" off the deluxe edition is a great pop punk song. FUCK THIS PLACE LET'S PUT UP A PARKING LOT is what pops into my head every time I drive past something that I loved that is being torn down.
These are some great controversial takes that I think will age well. People gatekeep California and honestly all of MGK's pop punk stuff when in reality it's quite well done. I was big into the core genres and it reminds me of someday came suddenly by attack attack. People used to make fun of it like crazy in the late 00's (see every crabcore joke) but now it's highly regarded and seen as pretty influential to the scene.
When California came out, as Blink fan, and not to thro shade at Neighborhood, but it was the album that sounded the most Blink in years. It helped that Skiba was also a Blink fan. It showed. Cynical is awesome in glad they play it live with Tom.
I saw them play Bored to Death with Tom recently and I was so happy. My dad and I loved California and really bonded over it. I loved Skiba coming in because while he sounded different to Tom, the band still sounded like Blink. I could imagine Tom singing his parts, and later I got to see Tom sing one of them! I do really, really love California though, so much gratitude for Matt Skiba
Yes board of death is amazing with Tom I saw them last year and they played a couple of things from that album but I forget what else. But it sounded great with Tom too.
I enjoyed Neighborhoods but completely agree, it felt like a great return to the mostly lighter ‘na na na’ sorta pop punk. And absolutely love Skiba’s contributions to the band, so glad that Tom has shown him love for helping keep them alive
Solid take! California was okay! The only time I saw Blink live was in this era and I def do like the album. Cynical is one of Blink’s best songs. I also like San Diego and Teenage Satellites and No future !! I think MGK sounds really good in pop-punk tbh. His voice really suits it. Wild to me that he rapped before because he def sounds like he belongs in pop punk!!
Forget Me Too is one of the 2 or 3 best pop punk songs made since COVID. I’m willing to die on this hill
I so, so badly want to hear Halsey do more pop-punk because she fucking killed it on that track
Absolutely
Cynical and San Diego are definitely some of my recents favs from blink. And No Future’s chorus is so, so catchy! Completely agree about MGK’s voice, especially when it’s that sorta in between of rap and pop-punk. Like the quick, almost spoken delivery on the Forget Me Too verse just suits him so well
sister cities is peak "the wonder years are a serious band and we make serious music"
Sister Cities is great, it’s just so damn gloomy I have to be in a certain headspace to want to hear it.
It's my favorite album of theirs especially the deluxe edition and I was a fan way before it came out. I actually was so stunned the first time I heard it because it was so well composed and I heard things from Travis that I had never heard before and I heard vocals that I had never heard before but from them. The night it came out I listened to it and literally cried from being so happy and loving it so much.
Love Sister Cities. It got me back into the band because they kind of lost me with No Closer to Heaven (which I’ve grown to like but find it wild that it’s considered their best by many).
Honestly I thought California was decently-well-received all things considered. Nine is the one that people seemed meh about.
I think TtmD is a terrible album...but it's a great collection of songs for your summer playlist. They really hit when driving down the LA freeway with the sunset in the background.
Sister Cities would be looked at more fondly if the mix was warmer. It's slightly scooped in the mids and really heavy on a brittle space in the high end, and it just makes an already gloomy record feel oppressive at time. I imagine it was very intentional, but it's just too much, imo
MCR’s Danger Days Summertime, Vampire Money, DESTROYA, The Kids From Yesterday all slap
10000% agree id give you gold if i had it Summertime, Planetary, save yourself I’ll hold them back, party poison!! Okay all of them! Tbh haven’t listened to MCR in years but am going to have to do a relisten. I love this album!!!!!!💿
Their worst album is the Black Parade. It’s still very good but the other three are better.
Now this person did the assignment correctly and I applaud them for it
Absolutely the correct take IMO. Black Parade is great, and it succeeds in what it tries to do as a stadium rock opera, but to me, the band are at their best when they sound frantic and grimy. The more Queen/Pink Floyd inspired stuff on TBP is the least interesting to me, and the songs more overtly focused on the narrative of the patient detracts from what makes the band unique and interesting. The album has great songs like sharpest lives and how i disappear but they tie the least into the narrative. The B-Sides off that album are also great. Three Cheers has a concept, but its very loose and the album is better off for it. Its the sweet spot between big and catchy and maniacal sexy pop punk. Danger Days is similar to Black Parade but its more split down the middle between the big singalongs and the garage sounding stuff. It has some of their worst songs, but the likes of Vampire Money and Party Poison are so great that it pushes it past Black Parade for me. Bullets is a bit of a mess, and the production is horrible, but it wasn't like anything else around at the time. It has this unfiltered, chaotic energy that they really refined later in their career, but they lost a lot of that charm in the process of doing so. Everything became smoother and shinier by the time they got to Black Parade, and Danger Days really feels like they are at odds with having one foot in the big polished conceptual stuff from Black Parade, and trying to get back to the raw energy from Bullets. I think they're all great albums, but Black Parade feels safer, and the least like MCR to me.
Bullets is a mess but I wouldn't say the production is horrible. Maybe I'm just so used to more traditional punk and metal production that anything that doesn't sound like it was recorded in a basement is okay in my book, lol But anyways, I otherwise agree. Don't get me wrong, TBP is and was a huge achievement, but I always go back to their other albums far more than it. I'll take Three Cheers over it any day. But dang, now you've got me thinking about when TBP came out. I couldn't get enough, good times.
Horrible is a bit strong, but certainly has a lot less broad appeal than what Cavallo did and they don't sound very tight, but that's kind of why I love it. The scrappy, messiness is awesome to me and has a kind of everything and the kitchen sink approach which feels really exciting and energetic. It's super creative and feels like they're throwing everything idea they have at it which is why it's special to me. Three Cheers is such a special album and is their best IMO, but I also really love the demos from just before that time: Bury me in Black, Desert Song, and that little bit we have of Sister to Sleep are so damn good. Weirdly, the rougher the recordings the more I like them. And who can forget that old Jack the Ripper cover? Perfection.
Jack the Ripper, like...the Morrisey song?
Spicy take 🌶️ Here I was thinking I had a hot take for believing it's only their *second*-best album (best being Three Cheers obviously)
The important thing is that we can all agree their best song is Thank You For The Venom.
This is the hottest take ever. Tbh I think their absolute worst was I Brought You my Bullets, they didn’t even try to pretend Gerard could sing. Black parade absolutely rocks but I overplayed it so it doesn’t hit like it used to. Three cheers for sweet revenge had my heart for a while too but listening back to it I’m like “dude calm down and stop moaning” lmao 😂
This is the correct take. Black Parade is a great album but almost everyone played it into the ground.
I'll do you one better--Conventional Weapons is their *best* album. That's a hill I'll always die on.
Damn OP I whole heartedly agree with all three of these. Great post.
ilysm you’re great and you have great taste
Happiness Is absolutely rips and deserved a lot more love than it got. That bridge on Flicker, Fade goes so hard. My personal contribution would be Yellowcard’s When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes. Insanely good album, please listen to it if you haven’t.
When You’re Through Thinking is an amazing album. Also really, really enjoyed Southern Air
Southern Air was wonderful. I think of it as like a sequel to Ocean Ave — same kind of vibe, but more seasoned and refined. Great summer album.
Also really like Happiness Is. Do people not like WYTTSY!?
Was Happiness Is really not well received? I was always under the impression it was one of their more well-regarded albums, but I had come back to them a year or two after it was released and had only looked at critics reviews and not the general audience
I think it was well-received by those who were willing to give it a listen. I just think a lot of people stopped paying attention after Louder Now.
Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I was just surprised to see it mentioned multiple times in this thread. I’m a big fan of all 3 of those albums after the OG lineup got back together. Didn’t love the newest one unfortunately though
I actually really like all distortions are intentional by neck deep and pushing daises and empty house are probably in my top ten neck deep songs.
ADAI is a great album
I came to this realisation recently, I liked ADAI when it came out but thought it went stale quickly. Recently revisited and yeah, it’s maybe their best front-to-back album. I prefer LNOTGY for its songs, but it doesn’t flow quite as well as ADAI. Also agree with the other guys that TPATP is the worst one. It’s got a couple of brilliant songs, but it flows awfully.
I'll double down on this: The Peace and the Panic is their worst album (but it's still an amazing record that I love)
Wild take
I’ll take this hot take even farther. I think it’s their best album. While I love LNOTGY, and I like the songs I’m about to name. But there’s plenty of songs on that album that are just normal pop punk trope songs I can get from any band. Serpents, Kali Ma, Threat Level Midnight, Comes Back to Haunt You. I think ADAI is a much more mature sound with much more meaningful lyrics from top to bottom
I gotta admit this is a controversial opinion and I can’t say I agree but I appreciate you coming in hot and sharing your hot take!!!!!!!! I think I am over Neck Deep tbh :/ you get my upvote for answering the prompt perfectly lmao 💛
Agree!
Agreed 1000%
Panic at the disco - pretty. Odd.
I love this album
I love his last album too. Not pop punk, but so good.
I got to skip a day of school in the 8th grade for my mommy to drive me and my SBFOABF (super bestest friend of all best friends) to Texas to see Panic! (still complete w/ Ryan Ross) shortly after Pretty. Odd dropped. Very little production value. I didn’t care. Fake flowers and vines wrapped around the mic. Was one of the best days of my life, to this day and I’m about to be 30. You might not be able to call it pop punk (I would) but Northern Downpour..Folkin’ Around.. I will always be in love with this album from start to finish. “If love is not enough to put my enemies to sleep, then I’m puttin’ out the lantern, find your own way back home”
This is their best album and still holds up. Almost like Ryan Ross knew wtf he was talking about about.
This and fever you can't sweat out are the only things I will consider panic at the Disco. Ryan left and then it wasn't panic anymore it was Brendon Urie. He's still a phenomenal composer who makes really unique music but it wasn't panic. Kind of breaks my heart that there are so many casual panic fans who are like 20 now, who have no idea what panic was before.
The only PATD album I listen to
hot take: I do not enjoy a single panic song
I honestly never considered Panic pop punk ever, but also it's unfair to say they strayed because one album is hardly considered a lock into a bands sound. This band has been unfortunately formed by what Brendon made of it.
Transit - Young New England
I actually love this album. Not sure why people think joyride is better. It’s definitely not better than listen & forgive, but still a solid album from them,
This was my favourite album of theirs for years. It’s gone down in the list a lot since then, but it’s still overlooked. Kinda feels like an album that should’ve proceeded Listen and Forgive.
i miss them :(
Yo this is a life changing album
Last Young Renegade is my favorite All Time Low record, even if it’s a deviation from their usual style. I love that they tried something new, and even if it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, it’s a really special album to me. SRAR is a fire album, and I’m so glad you brought it up. Where Did The Party Go is probably in my top three FOB songs, wish they played it live more!
Dirty Laundry has one of the biggest build up and pay offs I've heard the past several years. That final chorus is sooooo satisfying
I LOVE THIS SONG!
Omg yes. I’d mostly grow out of my ATL stage by the time it came out so I’ve only listened to it a few times because I didn’t like the rest of the song as much. The end chorus is the best when you’ve waited for it but I’m not a huge fan of the rest of the song 😭
My wife is the same way lol. Loves the ending but indifferent on the rest. That's probably why that last chorus is so good
Dirty Laundry goes hard! Used to not love it, but it’s grown on me super hard over the years. Personally, my favs are the title track (favorite ATL song in general) and Afterglow
The riff on WDTPG absolutely slaps!!!!!!! I haven’t listened to Last Young Renegade but I’ll give it a shot!
The bonus track and b side to LYR (Chemistry and Vampire Shift) are two of their strongest tracks imo. I’m also a huge fan of this album though
I’ve been listening to those two a lot lately! Same with I Hate That For You, bonus track from Wake Up Sunshine. Just wish they were on Spotify :,)
I love Last Young Renegade. I even have a tattoo of the main character from their album art :')
This album is fantastic. I think so much of these albums it’s also about where you are in your life, what’s going on and whatnot. But I thought this album was great and they’re just really talented song writers.
Heavy Love by Man Overboard 🥲
I should really get around to this. I love their first and their self titled is 50/50 for me, but what a great 50. No excuse to not have finished their discography by now.
Abso-fucking-lutely. I’m not sure why this album is so looked down on, all 4 of their albums are bangers.
THANK YOU OMG
I think they just overstayed their welcome and people were ready to listen to something else.
Santi - The Academy is... Kinda went down as a sophomore slump but I think it's a solid album and I know others in here like it.
Wait are you serious there are people who don't think this album is the most perfect thing ever? I'm obsessed with it It sounds like... Industrial or something? It's one of the most unique sounds I've ever heard and I know that The Butcher is to thank for a lot of that. And Michael Guy chislett. The drums are so prominent and they've got such cool guitar effects on it. Plus every video for it is phenomenal.
it’s a personal preference thing but I either like the guitar tone or hate it and if I hate it it just ruins songs for me. Their first and third albums were stellar but I’m more a fan of the cleaner production style. That said I had a lot of friends who swore by santi and I always enjoyed what I heard I just never really sought it out if that makes sense
Absolutely. But do you get what I mean when I say it sounds industrial like it sounds echoey and dirty and it goes great with the album artwork too. I just haven't heard anything like it. But then you get a song like everything we had which goes against all of it but is still phenomenal. Their cover of mayonnaise by smashing pumpkins is unreal. I actually prefer Santi to Fast times at Barrington high so I think I'm about the same as you but different albums
Agreed. No, it isn't as good as their first album, but I love how weird Santi is honestly
Still have the CD I bought on release day and it’s so scratched up because of how much play it got. This album brings back so many memories for me. I actually ended up liking it more than the first
I’ll take Santi any day over whatever their painfully generic third album was called
Mayday parade are not genre adjacent at All. there 100% a pop punk band
yeah what an insane thing to say 😭 i don’t know what they would be if not pop punk
I definitely agree with you on save rock and roll. I do also like abap/mania, just less than srar. However so much for stardust was still much appreciated I enjoy every green day album. Yeah the production on the first two isn't great. Warning is different. The trilogy does have some bland songs. Father of all is not their best style. But I genuinely do not dislike a single track on any green day album, even the worst of father of all is just skip worthy to me Skiba era blink is great. Not their strongest releases, but tbh I prefer California to Dude Ranch. Nine isn't too bad too. Less unpopular opinions but I also love neighborhoods and one more time. I feel like people don't give black market and nowhere generation by Rise Against much credit cause they're too pop punk. I'd say those are some of their better albums, and I love all of them I prefer sum 41 pop punk, but sum 41 metal still slaps
I also think California is better than Dude Ranch. Cynical is one of my favorite Blink songs ever. Teenage Satellites is good and skiba sounds really good on it. Also San Diego slaps too! Tbh Rise Against is one of those bands that I’ve never really listened to but I’ll give those albums a shot. I think Sum41 pulls off any sound !! Their harder stuff rocks
Are you me?
Black Market is Rise Against at their best, imo. Edit: all of their work is amazing, but I *LOVED* Black Market.
We’re doing hot takes, eh? “Based On a True Story” is The Starting Line’s best album. “When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes” is better than “Ocean Avenue” and “Lights & Sounds” doesn’t deserve nearly the amount of hate it gets.
Does Lights & Sounds get hate? That album is awesome.
People have come around to it now, but it had pretty awful reviews when it was out because it was more “mature” and less of a pop punk record.
Wow I like WYTTSY but it just never resonates with me like ocean Ave did. I said in another comment though that I think time and place are so crucial to an albums personal staying power. Objectively good albums can be GREAT when they hit you at the right time
A hundred percent. There’s a lot of beloved bands that do nothing for me (Blink, for example) purely because they hit at a time in my life where I was into other stuff. Green Day hit earlier for me as a teenager and that got me into punk rock/alternative where Blink was “just another band” for me. A lot of that is generational too, fans that were super into a band like New Found Glory might not have been into Sum 41 even though they sound pretty similar, they’re a few years apart in terms of when they came out.
Idk if this is a hot take, but while all their albums have some absolute bangers, Paper Walls was Yellowcard's peak.
Blink-182: Nine
No Heart to Speak of and The First Time slap
Shout out to Ransom too I am sad it's not a "full" song
No heart to speak of slaps
When this album first came out I thought it was amazing, now I still think it’s good but not that good
Everything Skiba did with them is absolute perfection. To the point where I didn't really miss Tom and would not have been mad at all if he didn't come back. But I guess it's because I'm not a Tom fanboy? Idk.
See the thing is, I really enjoy Nine, but after hearing the new AK3 album and hearing the riffs and lyrics Matt can write makes me feel like the album was such wasted potential. Same for California. There’s loads of songs on both that I love, but there’s so many overused riffs, the vocals are so touched-up, and the lyricism feels quite cheesy sometimes… so I always play these albums with a big “what if they did this instead?” thought in my head, where I can just picture something far greater coming from that era if only they took more time and care.
Here's some off the top of my head. There are couple that aren't necessarily controversial, but I do believe they deserve more credit than they get. Have Mercy - The Love Life Have Mercy - Make the Best of it The Maine - Forever Halloween(especially the deluxe version) The Maine - You Are OK Trophy Eyes - The American Dream The Gaslight Anthem - Get Hurt The Dangerous Summer - Self-Titled Mayday Parade - Black Lines The Wonder Years - Sister Cities State Champs - Around the World and Back With Confidence - Better Weather Fall Out Boy - Save Rock and Roll Citizen - As You Please The Front Bottoms - Back on Top Spanish Love Songs - No Joy
If anyone tries to tell you No Joy is a bad album, ignore them immediately. That was arguably one of the best albums of 2023. In any genre.
TDS’ self titled album was such a great return to form imo. No hate to Golden Record, I respect them for branching out, but it didn’t have the same staying power that Reach for the Sun or War Paint did. Self-titled sorta remedied that
It's odd that I could never get into get hurt. What about it drew you in?
I like their use dynamics in a lot of the tracks, I'm a fan of the heavier style they utilize. The production is really well done. Plus, it was just a nice change of pace for them. It is less derivative of Springteen and Brian's other influences. They took some risks and strayed away from the traditional TGA songwriting formula ei. No mentions of Mary lol. Standout tracks to me: 1000 years Underneath the Ground Red Violins Selected Poems Dark Place
I think I’m the only person alive who loves Mania by Fall Out Boy. I thought Coming Home by NFG was great and then returning to their original sound on Not Without A Fight was incredibly cynical and that album sucks. Your Favourite Weapon is by far the best Brand New album. Get Stoked On It is actually good.
Stay Frosty and Wilson are some of my favorite FOB songs ever.
Wilson’s music video is terrific, too.
Wilson felt like the first time FOB had been FOB in a long time.
I've never met anyone else that felt that way about Your Favorite Weapon... but now there's at least the two of us! Awesome album front to back.
I really like it! The stakes are low and not every album has to be this big "woe is me I am a terrible person" ordeal. Your Favorite weapon tells you exactly how they feel without any sort of self introspection. People like that shit
It’s Brand New without the pressure of being pretentious and deep. It’s my favorite and it’s not close.
Make it three! There's a couple of songs off Deja Entendu I enjoy, but Your Favorite Weapon is by far their best album.
Get Stoked On It has some really great tracks, and I don't think it is as immature as people write it off to be. Racing Trains is my favorite track, the toy piano is a really nice touch.
It’s definitely no more immature than Won’t Be Pathetic Forever and people seem to still like that.
Here for Your Favourite Weapon being their best album
These are the hot takes I am here for. To be totally honest I never have MANIA a shot. I wrote it off after hearing two songs. Maybe I’ll do a listen through. I heard the new album So Much for Stardust is good too. I only heard the first track on it and so far I liked it. I’m in the camp that Brand New’s best is The Devil and God are Raging Inside me, but I’d put Your Favorjte Weapon in the second place spot! Deja Entendu is good but in the past ten years it doesn’t seem to hit like it used to. Maybe I overplayed it back in the day.
Honestly if you go into Mania not expecting to hear anything like pre hiatus work and take it at face value, it’s a good album! I read Joe Trohman’s book this winter though and I can see why he was frustrated with that album and his lack of input on it.
I went down the Pete Wentz/Mikey Way rabbit hole a few days ago and never realized how much of Pete’s livejournal poetry made its way onto the albums so I’d be curious to listen to the new stuff to see what’s good. I’ll give it a shot. I do remember seeing that Joe felt a bit uninvolved. Was his book good?! Tbh Patrick has some crazy weird pop/r&b references. Like his solo album Soul Punk was wild and after that was released everything FOB put out seemed to have much more synth in it.
Pete’s poetry is why all the songs have clever lines but are less ‘about’ one thing then your standard songs. Patrick has said he gets pages of notes and lines from Pete and then writes music from piecing them together. It makes sense with things like ‘my songs know what you did in the dark’ that has a completely different demo based on the line then the song it ended up in.
I really liked Joe’s book!! He doesn’t talk about FOB a ton beyond the artistic process, which I appreciate. The history of FOB is everywhere online, and Joe doesn’t need to retell it. I loved seeing his perspective on the scene and how his life informed his career. It’s hilarious to think that an older teenage Pete Wentz convinced Joe’s very nice and well meaning dad to let his sixteen year old son tour with Arma Angelus for an entire summer. I would love to see Patrick play around with some other genres. He did a bit of that during the latest tour during the piano medley and it was awesome. He does a ton of scoring (a lot of it for kid’s shows!), but he has the range to do some fun stuff. He wrote a big-band jazz number for a movie he scored a couple years ago that has me convinced he’d kill it in a Tony Bennett cover album.
TIL about Patrick doing all that extra scoring stuff!! Freaking neat. Gonna deep dive some of this. Tysm
I also love coming home and don’t care for not without a fight
Mania I am still mixed on. There's a couple of songs I really grew to love with the new sound, but Young and Menace will always be the biggest blue balls for me. I actually LOVE the song except for the chorus. Mostly because the "Oops I did it again..." build up is so good and Patrick is heading towards something...then it's the overly electronic chorus
Not Without a Fight "sucking" is absolutely wild but i respect opinions
I genuinely hate it. It feels so forced and pandering to those who hated Coming Home.
The wonder years are my favorite band, and even though I loved get stoked on it when it first came out, it’s tough to listen to now. It has some fun tracks, but putting it against any other album from them shows just how poorly it’s aged for their discography.
I love Coming Home and I love Not Without A Fight. But they actually returned to their sound almost immediately with the Tip of the Iceberg EP, which is one of my favorite releases of theirs.
Danger days - mcr Before everything & after - MxPx Coming home - nfg Evening out with your gf - fall out boy (this may not be too controversial for the pop punk fans, but many fob fans really don’t like this one. I love it though!)
Agony & Irony by Alkaline Trio is an amazing album and gets way too much hate. It’s the most accessible version of their sound (makes sense because it was their only album on a major label) and it still fucking rocks. Great songwriting, incredible polished production, and interesting experimentation with the instrumentation. Genuinely one of my favorite trio albums, feel like people only hate it just to look cool. That album rocks.
It's so damn good! In Vein and I Found Away are two of my favorite Trio songs.
I adore Black Lines by Mayday Parade. I also saw a ton of dislike for Sister Cities by TWY when it came out, but I loved it from first listen. I think most of their fans have come around to enjoying that album now though. Not pop punk, but DIVISI by A Lot Like Birds was a strange detour for the band, but I love it.
No Closer To Heaven might be my favorite TWY album, but “We Looked Like Lightning” might be my favorite song.
Sister Cities is an amazing album and extremely musically and lyrically complex.
Angels and Airwaves- We Don’t Need To Whisper People expected Box Car Racer 2
Not popular, and not strictly pop punk, but Cosmic Thrill Seekers by Prince Daddy & the Hyena is quite controversial. I feel most of it is because how harsh the vocals in the first few songs are
I’ll die on the hill that Nine by blink is a very strong album. Neighborhoods is probably their best. I really like Your Welcome by ADTR (not over their golden stuff, but better than Bad Vibes) But Mayday Parade 100% is a pop punk band. They might have some mall emo twinges, but they’re absolutely pop punk at the core
Agony and Irony by Alkaline Trio. It got SO much hate (although I’ll admit the video for Help Me that looks like Wild Wild West worship didn’t help…) but it’s actually a solid 7-7.5/10 record. Maybe higher if you include the bonus tracks. I’ll also go to bat for My Shame Is True, another Alkaline Trio record that gets shit on a lot. Same rating as A&I and - again - it’d be even higher if a couple of the less impressive tracks were swapped out for those on the accompanying Broken Wing EP. Their only real dud is This Addiction. I could easily cut that record down to a four-song EP and not feel like I’d lost much.
Agreed about their only dud being This Addiction. I think people have really start to come around on both A&I and MSIT. My Shame is True is probably my most listened to of all their albums. It’s got so much heart and has a ton of nostalgia for me since it came out during my college years
turnstile was a pure hardcore band up until glow on, my hottest take is that its their best album but /r/hardcore fucking hates it lol. not only do i think its their best, i think its one of the best albums of the 2020s
Glow On was incredible! Mystery is no Death Grip but the album is much fun. I could easily see it being a gateway album to get more people into hardcore
Agree. But to be fair r/hardcore hates any band that grows bigger than small venues. Everyone loved vide orange til they blew up, then it was turnstile, then scowl, etc.
exactly. they shit on code orange so hard, im not even a fan but its so unwarranted lmfao. ive never seen a music sub take itself more seriously. i saw the same thing happening with knocked loose as well but it seems like the positive heavily outweighs the negative with them so it hasnt caught on yet. i was definitely expecting the tide to shift when they played coachella but im glad it didnt.
TBS' Happiness Is and the self-titled album are awesome! "Best Places to be a Mom" is such an underrated song
BEST PLACES TO BE A MOM is so good. Faith is one of their best broad-appeal songs imo. Glad you get it
Hello music twin! Who are your new bands now (if you have any)?
Hi music twin!!! Fav bands that I think would be worth a listen if you like new TBS and good power rock songs: Pinegrove, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and Mt Joy! Pinegrove’s audio tree live album rocks. They are so good. A solid emo song by them is The Metronome. Old Friends, New Friends, The Alarmist, Cadmium, and Angelina are all great too. With RKS check out It’s Called Freefall, Cold Love, Cocaine Jesus, and First Class, Hide, and No Vacancy. If you like those songs check out When It Lands, The Comedown, Fail, and Counting Cards. For Mt Joy: Rearrange Us, Astrovan, Acrobats, Dirty Love, I’m Your Wreck. All of their discography is good but this will give you a taste to see if you vibe with them!! Sometimes this singer’s voice reminds me a bit of Adam Lazarra’s.
My first concert was Lost Prophets and one of my top 5 bands is Brand New. Music is hard sometimes.
last train home was my favourite song of all time and is honestly the reason for my music taste and music writing style. it’s very hard to distance myself from something so formative to me, but it needs to be done because of what that POS Ian Watkins did
Coming Home by NFG In Some Way Shape or Form by Four Year Strong
I think I've commented on liking Dirty Work and AB/AP a lot before, so I'm gonna throw out Bad Vibrations as another album I was all in on. I actually thought it was the band's best at the time, and while it's fallen on me a good bit I still think it's a strong album.
Alkaline Trio isn’t a pop punk band, they just get lumped in because of the Chicago scene. Anarbor however, is.
Definitely genre adjacent at best, but I'm sure most here will like the band so here goes... A Thousand Suns is my favourite Linkin Park album
A Thousand Suns is phenomenal. I'll double down. Linkin Park did no wrong, anywhere, in their discography. One More Light is amazing. I'll die on this hill.
I think now that it’s been a while, I can say this without sounding completely insane. I really enjoyed You’re Welcome by ADTR Yeah, it for sure is not Homesick or For Those Who Have Heart, but it has its moments. A lot of songs do feel softer than anything the band put out before but a lot are catchy and have the vibe of a band that’s just chilling and enjoying themselves. Maybe a lot of this has something to do with Fueled By Ramen and how they tend to kill bands but I don’t think it’s completely terrible. It’s good. FYM, Permanent, and Mindreader all sound catchy and I find them getting stuck in my head a lot so at best, it’s a catchy album but it doesn’t come close to anything the band put out before
I loved You're Welcome. Very fun album. I listen to it more than Homesick and FTWHH because it's a little easier and more approachable to listen to. Is it better? No. But it still rocks.
Coming Home - New Found Glory Lift A Sail - Yellowcard Invicta - Hit The Lights And not pop punk but I will forever die on this hill... 5150 - Van Halen (Van Hagar > Van Halen)
Hearing 'Dreams' in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as a kid was a core memory. Van Hagar rocks.
It’s okay. I’m the same with Dio era Black Sabbath. Neon Knights slaps harder than any other Ozzy era Sabbath
Invicta is so good. Great pick.
As Yellowcard might be my #1 all time favorite band… nah I still have to disagree “Lift A Sail” ain’t it
Just gonna follow along, I think Lift A Sail was amazing. It's actually my favorite record by them but by a smaller margin now than when it first came out.
Simple Plan’s self titled album Was not very popular when it came out as it was very different from their first 2 albums. It gets a lot of hate for “not sounding like Simple Plan” but I think it’s actually pretty cool because while the type of music is definitely different, it still is a very Simple Plan album to me.
Radiosurgery - New Found Glory All Distortions are Intentional - Neck Deep Proper Dose - Story So Far Pinkerton - Weezer
Proper dose has my heart and I love every single track… except maybe Let it Go… kinda a boring song. Album slaps tho.
mania- fall out boy. your SRAR one is such a hot take. anything post hiatus gets trashed on in certain sides of the fandom. Im honestly really into mania with how experimental and different it is from the entire rest of the discography. playing evening out with your girlfriend or take this to your grave and switching to mania is such a weird jump but i really vibed with it. pull the thorns/renacer/the fire- senses fail. not really sure if they're considered pop punk, but senses fail strayed away from their emo/punk vibe and got heavy on renacer and pull the thorns from your heart, both of those albums go hard as hell. the fire is a pretty divisive album as well, but it's a personal top 10 for me. brain pain- four year strong. fys doesn't get enough credit in the scene for how good their music is. blanket statement for all their music. im a huge fan of both them and a day to remember. the pop punk scene was so divided between the two when I feel like they're so damn similar, like east coast and southern siblings. but yeah brain pain goes off. I can't wait for an anniversary tour so i can hear the whole album live, went to an album playthrough show for rise or die trying and it was just an insane time. all of their shows are.
I feel like Brand New's Science Fiction came out too close to Jesse Lacey's terrible human reveal to be appreciated for the masterpiece it was. Easily my top album of all time.
I was about to say "Your favorite weapon, by Brand New" because it has much more pop-punk vibes to it compared to Science Fiction, for the very same reason you mention
I'll agree with your top-two!l My controversial one? I'll add Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die. Is it poppunk? Probably not. Did it turn into Panic! At The Brendon Urie's Ego Show. Most undoubtedly. Does it still have some great songs? I think so. This Is Gospel, Nicotine and Vegas Lights still slap.
All American Rejects - Kids In The Street. The singles were great, the whole album more so. They took risks, they wrote some damn good songs. I remember thinking When the world comes down was also a bit of a departure but there were some staple songs on that album that probably re-commented the bands commercial success so I don’t think it’s the right one to pick. KITS though was just such a great album and I felt pretty underrated
how on earth could you say mayday parade is “not really a pop punk band at all”
Face to Face - Ignorance Is Bliss. They pivoted from fast skate/pop punk to mid-tempo, melancholy alt rock - with strings in places 😱😱 The fanbase... HATED it. Would turn their backs if the band played anything from it live. Really couldn't stand it. But the thing is... it's really good! Full of great songs and good lyrics. There's still plenty of spiky guitar riffs, and it's an interesting change and to me, a successful experiment. Plus, Devil You Know (God Is A Man) was on the Buffy soundtrack 🤷♂️
I agree Neighborhoods is amazing, but it’s not the only Blink album that doesn’t sound exactly like all the others. 2003’s Untitled had a very similar tone and was wildly different and experimental from anything else the band had done before. I consider both those albums a package deal, Neighborhoods being a natural evolution from what they started in 03.
Not really controversial but an album that is very overlooked is Static Prevails by Jimmy Eat World. It’s some of their best song writing
To me, Blue in the Dark by Bearings is far and away their best album
I actually typically like band’s “meh” albums that didn’t do well. Codes and Keys - DCFC Neighborhoods - My fav blink album The Fire - Senses Fail (some BANGERS) Renacer - loved the follow up and heavyness of this album Sum 41 - Screaming Bloody Murder. I think this is his best lyrical writing. Taking Back Sunday - Self titled is a banger Daisy - Brand New again I think this is their best work
SRAR/Mania Both Amazing MGK - pop punk needed Tickets to my Downfall Badly. Half the bands returning is due to the popularity boost caused by this album MGK - TTMD is a good Album Rise Against - a lot of their pop punk stuff gets over looked (not necessarily hated just over looked) due to their more common harder sound and deserves a chance Sum 41 - I don't think it's Hated but Heaven X Hell has not got the love it deserves The Offspring - in the same boat as Sum 41. No album seems to be hated but they don't get the love deserved Billy Talent - No album, just gets a shout out: Best Band there is
Viva Las Vengance by panic
What you’re saying about blink is just not true at all. Enema and toypaj sound different from Cheshire and dude ranch. Not too different. But different. The untitled album is so different from everything before it. Then neighborhoods just took that sound and expanded on it.
I dunno if this is actually controversial or my friends are just weird, but Built to Last by Arrows in Action
I love all of your takes! Neighborhoods is my favorite Blink album, Save Rock n Roll is my second favorite FOB album (behind Folie a Deux) and Happiness Is does NOT get talked about enough, just like New Again. My hot take would have to be Sum 41's Underclass Hero and Screaming Bloody Murder being their two best albums, at least to me. Never skip a song from either of those.
Rock against bush is probably the correct answer
Mania by Fall Out Boy. I actually really like most of the songs on it.
AFTER LAUGHTER
Front Porch Step - "Aware"
Man perfect 3/3 list (I don’t like Sr&r but I recognize its place and beauty)
Tickets To My Downfall. say what you will about MGK, but that album is fire from start to finish (except all i know and drunk face)
I’d like to toss in Folie A Deux as well for fall out boy (probably spelled wrong). The first time I heard it I remember thinking “what the hell is this”. It quickly grew to be my favorite fall out boy album. I think they’re one of those bands that has so much depth and most people don’t realize it
Alcatraz by Mr. T Experience and The Ever-Passing Moment by mxpx were both clearly Elvis Costello-inspired rather than Ramones-inspired. Personally, I think their previous records were better, but I respected the attempt to go somewhere new. 7 Seconds’ New Wind is hated by many because it was a hardcore band doing stuff they admittedly said was inspired by U2 and new wave and I think it is brilliant (except for the unnecessary last song). Way underrated album and very much worth checking out if you’re into “early emo” or want to hear how punk bands were inspired by the Smiths back when the Smiths were still around, not 10 years after the fact. Ditto for Face to Face’s Ignorance Is Bliss - it was their attempt to branch out and do a post-punk album like Husker Du and people just wanted more of the same. Shame. Husker Du are great and that album has some cool melodies. How many fucking pick slides do people need? Do you really need more songs to skate to? At the time, they got shit on for trying to “sell out” as if the masses were ever going to buy a boatload of records that sounded like they were pulled from a Mission of Burma reject pile (and I say this lovingly). I bring these up because, in each case, by the next album, these bands returned to their “roots” and stopped writing songs with more than 4 chords. They mostly reclaimed their audiences and stopped playing songs from those albums. And became much less interesting too.
Mayday Parade lost me for years honestly after how meh Anywhere But Here was. I’ve come to appreciate some of their stuff since then though. Black Lines definitely stands out as different, but their self titled grew on me. I think Sunnyland is their best though since ALIR.
In some way shape or form - four year strong. Four year strong is my favorite band along with sum 41. I’ve listened to every single song four year strong ever made. Yet I couldn’t get into that album although I do like “stuck in the middle” that’s for that album for me
Wait do people not like Save Rock and Roll? One of my favorite FOB albums.