There are lots of bands jumping on the
pop punk bandwagon alright... and along with that, comes lots and lots of people who diss them because they think "they're not true punk". Come on, get a grip: if you consider
the Sex Pistols was a publicity stunt for
Malcolm McLaren's clothes store (named
Sex, hence the name Sex Pistols), who gathered four or so guys who had questionable musical skills (I don't care if it's necessary in punk rock or not, it's just the
ideology since that's what's most people are looking for)... you can't really say there is such a thing like "punk was always meant to be underground". McLaren's antics grabbed the attention of the media just like a pot of honey attracted bugs.
Surely enough, it was good to showcase a new look and style on
rock music. But
revolutionary and
underground it wasn't. You see, I'm living proof: when I was younger, I used to like
Green Day. Then I got a bit annoyed of all the they-are-not-punk thing, and ended up trading their CDs. Today I think they're pretty good musicians who never needed to live under the shadow of previous
punk rockers. Lots of people end up missing out on fairly good music because of
racehorse ideologies. You know, when they put on those stuff to cover the horses' lateral view... they only see one way. And don't give me that "yeah, but they only look frontwards" crap...