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 BananasbyMelbourne’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!
The twitchy, idiosyncratic Detroit rap weirdo Veeze became a cult hero on the strength of his debut album Ganger, which Stereogum correspondent Peter A. Berry picked as 2023’s best rap album. Since then, Veeze has released a steady string of one-off singles like “Signed A Napkin,” “L.O.A.T.,” and the Lil Yachty collab “Can’t Be Crete…
Given the world domination recently achieved by The Peppermint Kicks, I got distracted from the fact that Sal Baglio hadn’t released any new songs from The Amplifier Heads since Rectifier came out at the end of 2022. Well, that situation has been, uh, rectified! “A Song Called Sha La La” is the brand-new single from The Amplifier Heads, and it’s a red-hot, super-duper, intergalactic smash! Writing a great rock ‘n’ roll song about the dearth of great rock ‘n’ roll songs now being written is just about the most meta thing ever. But if you’re going to do a song like this, this is how you do it! “A Song Called Sha La La” might be the best Amplifier Heads song ever, so you know that Sal is bringing it with all he’s got. The whole spirit of the song is nicely summed up by lyrics like these:
Somebody write a song that we can sing Get up and shout and not worry ‘bout who’s listening Somebody write a few bars That we can turn up loud in our cars Somebody write a song that goes
Sha La La
Amen! With this song, The Amplifier Heads are fully in 1960s classic radio hit form. Just press play, and you’ve got pure pop majesty for three-and-a-half glorious minutes. For sure, this is a song you can sing, and it will quickly have you up and shouting. And of course you will want to turn it up loud in your car as you rock out with full vigor and care not what a fool you look like to all those smug observers who live sad lives devoid of the joy that rock ‘n’ roll brings. Also on board are rhythm players Kevin “King” Rapillo and Brad Hallen along with some special guest stars: Jeff “G-Man” Giacomelli on tenor sax and Carlos Menenzes Jr, Matthew Naeger, and Henley Douglas Jr from the mighty Jambalaya Horns!
What do you do when you long for someone to write a song called “Sha La La”? You write a song called “A Song Called Sha La La,” and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy! Glenn Robinson’s cover art is so on-point that I briefly thought it was a photo of an actual 45 record! And that gives you the vibe this song is going for. If you grew up plugging coins into jukeboxes and amassing stacks of vinyl singles in your bedroom, this will be your jam. Look for Super 8, the new Amplifier Heads album, on Rum Bar Records this summer!
How about I throw a little more love to that state next door? New Jersey–based Civic Mimic, formerly Jeff Hersch’s rather prolific pandemic solo project, has made its full-band debut on an excellent new self-titled EP. Hersch (whom you might recognize from Casual & Glazer) is joined by Josh Stavola, Jeff Schroeck, and Phil Connor in this new iteration of Civic Mimic. Style-wise, it’s what you might expect: poppy, punky indie rock with just the right amount of noise and hooks a plenty. This EP is short and sweet with three songs clocking in at a total of six-and-a-half minutes. If you grew up on early ’90s college radio, this band will be speaking your language. I appreciate that the lyrics are clever and interesting in a way that’s very open to interpretation but not at all pretentious. If there’s really such a thing as a “New Jersey indie rock” sound (and I think there surely is), this record hits it bang-on. As a singer and songwriter, Hersch is likeable and endearingly offbeat. And Schroeck is such a unique and inventive player — an asset to any band he’s in. I’m going back to all the earlier EPs and really liking what I’m hearing, but I’m definitely pleased that Civic Mimic has morphed a proper band. More please!
Back with a new single, Toulouse, France’s Dimmicks continue to be one of the most exciting and delightful new bands in the pop-punk universe. Love, Raptors, and Robots delivers two more songs in the band’s wheelhouse of science fiction and pop culture obsession. Musically, this is top-tier pop-punk all the way. It’s full of tasty guitar leads, harmonies to die for, super-catchy melodies, and a pure spirit of fun that is truly infectious. Perhaps music sometimes ought to be serious and have something important to say. But sometimes you just want to crank up some tunes and feel good about life. Love, Raptors, and Robots will make you smile and fill your soul with joy. It ought to be a lock for your 2026 summer playlist!
The Reclusive Genius: Why Dupin is the Ultimate Noir Icon
C. Auguste Dupin didn’t just solve crimes; he defined the shadowed soul of the Noir protagonist.
At the intersection of shadow and sound, we find the “Reclusive Genius.” Long before the term “Film Noir” was coined, Edgar Allan Poe created the prototype for the brooding, nocturnal investigator. C. Auguste Dupin lives in a world of high contrast and deep isolation—a setting that serves as the primary inspiration for the Poe Noir Rock aesthetic. We don’t just see Dupin in the text; we hear his melancholy in every distorted chord.
The Architecture of Shadows
Dupin’s preference for the night is not a gimmick; it is a philosophy. By closing his shutters and living by candlelight, he removes the distractions of the mundane world to focus on the genius or madness of the human condition. This “Architecture of Shadows” is the visual language we use in our cinematography and design. It’s about what remains hidden, much like the unspoken grief in “Annabel Lee” or the lingering dread of “The Raven”.
The Modern Visual Language of Poe
When we discuss Poe’s influence on modern culture, we are really talking about the birth of the “cool” anti-hero. Dupin isn’t interested in fame or wealth; he is driven by a restless analytical mind. We see this same spirit in the physics-defying theories Poe explored—a constant search for the patterns underneath the surface of reality. This is the pulse of our music: a rhythmic investigation into the heart of the macabre.
Conclusion: Finding Beauty in the Dark
To be a fan of Edgar Allan Poe is to be a detective of the soul. Whether you are analyzing a “Tell-Tale Heart” or losing yourself in a cinematic riff, you are participating in the legacy of the reclusive genius. Embrace the shadows, trust the logic, and keep searching for the light in the dark.
Once again, Mike D is getting on the mic. A couple of weeks ago, Mike D released his solo single “Switch Up,” the first new music from any Beastie Boy in 15 years. Recently, Mike has been playing shows with Very Nice Person, the band led by his sons Skyler and Davis Diamond, and he…
In a new interview with Andy Guitar, Joe Satriani reflected on taking part in the 2024 “The Best of All Worlds” tour with Sammy Hagar, during which Hagar and his bandmates in The Circle — including Satriani and ex-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony — performed Van Halen material largely. Satriani discussed how he approached the challenge of learning and reproducing Eddie Van Halen‘s guitar parts.
Satriani told Andy Guitar (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Well, I definitely started with original recordings and just used my ear to get the chords and the arrangement. And that’s the easy part. The hard part is the quirky fingering string choices. Every guitar player we have our own pluses and minuses, and it might be speed, timing, touch, tone, intonation — all kinds of things that certain people have a lot of, and then there are areas where we’re kind of deficient. And so, yeah, you have to kind of come up against that and see, like, ‘Well, how do I measure up in that particular area, and how do I work around it?’ But I think one thing that really helped me was this amazing community — these guitar players of all ages dedicated so many hours to figuring out exactly how Ed played a lot of these songs. And so I would, after I learned the song, I’d go, and I’d spend an hour or two on YouTube just watching how other people address this immense problem of trying to emulate Ed‘s playing. And you can’t capture the magic, but you can get pretty close to the fingering, and some players are better than others.”
He added: “There are players out there like Phil X [Bon Jovi and Triumph] who will play great Van Halen songs without any vibrato bar. And it reminds you that the spirit is sometimes more important than just imitating the part. There are a lot of ways. And then when you go deep into any live clips or if you have memories of seeing Van Halen, as I do, you remember, like, ‘Oh, yeah, [Ed] played it differently every single time.’ He shocked you with how he would just forget about some part or purposely not play it the way it is on the record, and just replace it with something you never expected. And you loved it anyway.”
Satriani also spoke at length about the experience in a separate December 2023 interview with Ultimate Guitar‘s Justin Beckner. He described the particular difficulty of shifting his own deeply ingrained stylistic habits to serve Van Halen‘s music: “The main thing is that for the last five decades I’ve tried so hard to be myself and to be me and not copy anybody. I’ve been lucky, since the late ’80s, to have a solo career, so I really had a job that forced me to be myself as much as possible. So I made a point not to play like anybody.”
Satriani identified three specific areas where Eddie‘s sensibility differed sharply from his own. First, timing: “He plays so on the beat and makes it feel like he’s pushing the beat, but he’s actually not. It’s really amazing how he does it. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s me, sitting on the backbeat as much as I can,’ because I’m playing the melody. When you play the melody, you don’t wanna be on top… And all of a sudden, you go to play a song like ‘I’m the One,’ and it’s like, ‘No, you have to be the guy way in front.’ Every nerve ending in your body is saying, ‘Sit back.’ But to make the song work, you’ve gotta sit forward.”
Second, technique: “Our vibratos aren’t that different. He holds his pick [with his thumb and middle finger], so he’s always got [his index] finger for tapping, and I don’t. The way that he would do the tapping, when he would use it, [was] opposite of the way that I had forced myself to go with it.” Third, right-hand speed: “One of the things that Eddie had was this super-tight swing that was ultrafast with his right hand. I remember hearing for the first time and thinking, ‘Well, I’m gonna have to work on that.’ That’s gonna take me, I thought, three months of 45 minutes a day just working with a metronome to work that into my bag of tricks.”
Satriani, Hagar, and Anthony previously worked together in the supergroup Chickenfoot, recording two albums between 2009 and 2011 and touring across America — though the group never performed any Van Halen material. Hagar and Anthony had also performed the Van Halen catalog with guitarist Vic Johnson and drummer Jason Bonham in Sammy Hagar and the Circle before the “Best of All Worlds” run.
Pop-punk legends Good Charlotte have officially announced the UK leg of their “Motel Du Cap World Tour” for November 2026. The announcement arrives just ahead of their highly anticipated, coveted main stage headline appearances at Slam Dunk Festival this coming weekend, where they are scheduled to top a massive twentieth-anniversary bill. The winter run marks … Continue reading Good Charlotte announce two November 2026 tour dates in England
