THE RETURN OF POP-PUNK’S PIONEERS
It’s no secret that pop-punk has recently returned to mainstream prominence thanks to established stars exploring the explosive genre like Machine Gun Kelly and later Willow, as well as hits from emerging talent like Olivia Rodrigo and jxdn. This year, the turn-of-the-century leaders of the movement reclaimed their thrones, announcing long-awaited reunions, delivering epic live shows and teasing new albums. Tom DeLonge returned to Blink-182 — rejoining Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, the latter of whom played an essential role in last year’s pop-punk revival — and the band promptly scored its highest-charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1999 with its lead single, “Edging,” ahead of an album out next year. Paramore resumed touring for the first time in four years, released new single “This Is Why” and confirmed an album, due out in February 2023; and My Chemical Romance embarked on its pandemic-delayed reunion tour around the world. Nostalgia reached an apex in October at the When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas, with two weekends reminiscent of the golden days of Warped Tour and a lineup that included Bring Me the Horizon, Bright Eyes and Jimmy Eat World. And even with inclement weather canceling one of the festival’s three days, the bet on early-2000s pop-punk proved a smart one. Already, the festival has announced its return in 2023, with Blink-182 and Green Day set to headline. In an Instagram post afterward, the Chris Carrabba-fronted Dashboard Confessional wrote, “I am always and forever proud to be part of this scene.”