I always love a good sequel. My friend Jay Castro and I tandem-posted a while back on the ten punk bands from the 1990s that are most essential to us. So we decided the obvious next step was to write up similar lists for the 2000s. If we were trying to explain to an extraterrestrial or someone who wasn't yet born in the 2000s why we love the punk music of that decade so much, which bands would we mention?
This was an interesting project for me to work on. For me, the '90s were my "heyday" for punk rock. That was when I discovered punk music, started doing zines, and was going to shows all the time. I have a certain romantic attachment to the punk music of the '90s that I don't quite have with later time periods. That said, I was still writing about punk music with great enthusiasm for most of the 2000s. I think what defined 2000s punk for me were the changes in the way I followed it. In the '90s, it was all about Maximumrocknroll and other print publications, record stores, mail order catalogs, tape trading with pen pals, and seeing bands at live shows. In the 2000s, the internet took over. Webzines and message boards were all the rage, and it became quicker and easier to interact with more people who liked the same stuff as me. By the end of the decade, YouTube, social media, and downloading & streaming were coming on strong. I had become more reclusive in my personal life but was more connected than ever to a worldwide community of punk rock fandom.
I shock myself sometimes when I do the math and realize that the music of the 2000s is now anywhere from 17 to 26 years old. That was how old '60s music (which seemed ancient) was when I was first getting into punk! So as I look back on the punk music of the 2000s, I can't assume that all of you remember this stuff or are even aware of it. But I imagine a lot you will be very familiar with all these bands.
I reiterate: this is not my list of the "greatest" or "top" punk bands of the 2000s. It's just the ten bands that are most essential to me on a personal level — the ones I keep going back to, year after year, decade after decade. This was a difficult list to limit to ten bands. I left off plenty of bands that I acknowledge were massively influential (Marked Men, The Briefs, Jay Reatard, The Spits, just to name a few). I decided not to recycle any bands from my '90s list, so that excluded the likes of the Dimestore Haloes and The Prostitutes. I left off a few really great one-album-and-done bands like The Busy Signals, The Lids, and The Minds. So this easily could have been a top 25. I wanted to select a list that would reflect all the different kinds of punk music I was listening to in the 2000s, and that's exactly what I ended up doing.
Here we go, then: in no particular order, the ten 2000s punk bands that are the most essential to me!
The Ergs!
If you've been following me for the past 25 years, you are probably tired of me talking about The Ergs! But that's one hill I'm willing to die on. In the 2000s, The Ergs! were more than just a great pop-punk band. Their genius was being the embodiment of music geekdom and geekdom in general. If Egghead. were their big brothers and Boris the Sprinkler their uncles, The Ergs! took that whole dork punk thing and ran with it. They never got proper credit for the variety and depth of their influences. You could write a 600-page book just on the cultural references in their lyrics. dorkrockcorkrod was a genre-defining album of its time, and it has only gotten better with age. And why does nobody ever talk about Upstairs Downstairs? Somehow this band amassed enough non-album tracks to fill not one but two odds and sods compilations! The Ergs! were the kind of band that would do fantastically ridiculous things like back their song "Blue" with a cover of Nirvana's "Blew" and turn a Pennsylvania geography joke into a love song. How could I not love a band like that?
The Exploding Hearts
The presence of The Exploding Hearts on this list will surprise no one. This is the first band that a lot of people would think of when the topic of 2000s punk came up. The mere fact that we now talk of "punk powerpop" or "powerpop punk" as a genre onto itself tells you what a game changer this band was. Guitar Romantic arrived with considerable buzz behind it and lived up to all of it — it was an instant classic on arrival, and it still shapes the musical universe that you and I now inhabit. It's record I'll never tire of. And The "(Making) Teenage Faces" 7" was a classic in its own right. RIP Adam, Matt, Jeremy, and Louie.
The Bobbyteens
I've been waiting a long time for someone to bring The Bobbyteens' catalog into the digital realm. This is a band that needs to be heard. The best we can do now are a few tracks on YouTube. The Bobbyteens came out of the Bay Area garage punk/budget trash scene in the later '90s but added their own secret sauce: a little power pop, a dash of '70s punk, a splash of early rock 'n' roll, and a big heap of '60s girl group energy. Tina Lucchesi owned the 2000s. Tina and the Total Babes, Deadly Weapons, and Top Ten were all absolutely awesome. But The Bobbyteens will always have a special place in my heart. Not So Sweet from 2000 is well worth tracking down if you can find it. The world barely seems to remember 2004's Cruisin' For A Bruisin', and that's a crying shame. Somebody please reissue this stuff!
Tranzmitors
In the 2000s, I was thrilled to see many bands blur the lines between power pop and punk rock. Few did that better than Vancouver's Tranzmitors, whose run of greatness throughout the latter years of the 2000s is still not talked about nearly enough. Their self-titled album was the best 1979 punk-pop album to come out in the 2000s. If I can convince Jay that a sequel to this sequel is in order, Jeffrey McCloy will get his flowers a second time!
The Dents
I am still baffled as to why The Dents weren't more acclaimed and recognized outside of their native Boston. Co-fronted by Michelle Paulhus and Jen D'Angora, The Dents were pretty much the quintessential Boston punk rock band. They had it all: hooky tunes, killer harmonies, amazing lyrics, and boundless rock 'n' roll energy. 2005's Time for Biting is an album I'd put up against almost any 2000s punk rock album. Fun fact: The Dents were on Abbey Lounge Records, a label co-run by the man himself, Malibu Lou Mansdorf!
The Kidnappers
Formed from the ashes of the Highschool Rockers, Germany's The Kidnappers were one of the bands leading a youthful new wave of garage punk in the early 2000s. Ransom Notes & Telephone Calls infused a '70s punk influence into the band's lo-fi rock 'n' roll approach, and it was one of the albums that put Alien Snatch Records on the map. And by the time 2006's Neon Signs came out, the twins Chris and Philipp had seamlessly integrated a '70s power pop influence into their sound. "Spanish Girls" was one of the best singles released by anyone in the 2000s. Another change in style led to another new band name, so now these guys are going strong as the punk rock band Küken.
Spazzys
When it comes to truly perfect pop-punk albums, Aloha! Go Bananas by Melbourne's Spazzys is in that category. Of course everyone knows the greatest Ramones knock-off ever recorded, "Paco Doesn't Love Me." But how about "The Sunshine Drive"? "Action City"? "Hey Hey Baby"? "Steal a Kiss"? I could go on and on! It was remarkable for a band this young to arrive so fully formed with a bag of influences that included not just the Ramones but also '60s pop and girl groups, power pop, and '90s pop-punk. This is probably an all-time top 20 favorite album for me. Their later releases (some stretching into the 2010s) were awesome as well.
The Unlovables
When I first heard The Unlovables' demo (on a comp tape Lew Houston made for me), I was so floored that I almost drove my car off the road. It was an instant "Where has this band been all my life?" moment, and I was excited when The Punk Rock Club EP was released shortly thereafter. By the time Crush*Boyfriend*Heartbreak came out in 2005, Hallie Bulleit and company had refined their craft to the point where they were able to deliver one of the greatest pop-punk albums ever made. 2007's Heartsickle was pretty great in its own right. If the secret recipe for pop-punk is to be ability to write fun, upbeat-sounding songs about devastating emotional experiences, no band embodied that more than The Unlovables.
Zodiac Killers
Sometimes the Zodiac Killers get overlooked when people talk about Greg Lowery's musical legacy. Everyone brings up Supercharger, The Rip Offs, and The Infections. The Control Freaks get plenty of love. But the Zodiac Killers rivaled all those bands — especially on their 2000s LPs. When it comes to (as Lowery calls it) "fast, catchy, stupid punk rock," albums like Society's Offenders and Radiation Beach are as good as it gets. Those final years of Rip Off Records are very underrated.
Smogtown
Having first emerged in the late '90s with some face-melting singles on Hostage Records, Orange County's Smogtown really hit its stride in the 2000s with the dark vision and blistering melodic beach punk sound of albums like Führers Of The New Wave and Domesticviolenceland. When you talk about definitive, legendary Southern California punk bands, Smogtown takes a back seat to no one.
And that's that! 10 punk bands from the 2000s barely scratch the surface of what was going on in those days, so I encourage you to drop your own lists in the comments. Be sure to check out Jay's list over at Shock Treatment!
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