10 Pop-Punk Bands You Definitely Loved, Even Though You Pretend You Didn't

The early 2000s were an absolute goldmine for bands that had the catchiness of pop music but dressed up in the "edge" of punk, meaning you could sing along to it with your friends while still pretending to rebel against your parents.

While some of the genre's heavy-hitters like Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy are still selling millions of albums today, we're willing to bet you haven't thought about these 10 bands in a long time.

AFI

AFI started out as a legitimate punk band before getting progressively more poppy, but they somehow always managed to do it with a level of credibility. This is thanks to great hooks, solid instrumentation, and singer Davey Havok's killer voice.

Good Charlotte

The Madden brothers and company were definitely more on the "pop" side of the spectrum, but that made for some pretty catchy tunes.

All-American Rejects

These guys really hit big around the time that everyone was going through their "emo" phase, and their angsty anthems were a huge hit.

Taking Back Sunday

I always felt like these guys never got the attention they deserved. What do you think?

I guarantee you've forgotten about a least a few of the rest of these bands...

Bowling For Soup

With one of the weirdest names in the business, these guys never really got all that big. Still, they had some insanely catchy hits.

Story of the Year

Not gonna lie, even I had forgotten about these guys before writing this list.

Sum 41

The other big pop-punk band with a number in their name, Sum 41 were pretty huge for a while and seem to have kind of fizzled out in recent years. Too bad, because they had some killer songs.

Simple Plan

One of several pop-punk bands to come out of Canada (like Sum 41), these guys had the dubious "honor" of being the whiniest of the bunch, complaining about their parents not understanding them well into their 20s.

Fountains of Wayne

They played "Stacy's Mom." That's about all you need to know.

New Found Glory

I swear you could put these guys next to the dictionary definition of "pop-punk" and people would instantly get it.

What pop-punk band do you remember that people seem to have forgotten about?