The Ultimate POP-PUNK Iceberg (it goes deep...) 

Freshman 15 bassist here! Stoked to have made the cut! Yes

Whew! As the “singer” of Freshman 15 I was absolutely terrified Finn would rip us to shreds. Came out relatively unscathed! But that photo… woof.

The fact that Cartel is mentioned on this list makes me so happy, mega underrated band

outRAGEus drummer here. Thanks for the mention 😆😆🤘

I could listen to Finn talk about Pop Punk as much as most people love listening to him talk about Nu-Metal.

Zebrahead, Rufio, Millencolin, Lagwagon, No Use For a Name, The Living End

Pop-Punk was my gateway to Metal as a 14 yr old. The Offspring, Green Day and Blink 182 and more... I moved on to MOSTLY listen to different things but I will always had a soft spot for this type of music. Great to discover these "Hidden Gems" of Pop-Punk - this is like a MetalJesusRocks video for Pop-Punk! 😁

Man, how insane was the Drive Thru Records lineup in the early 2000s? Home Grown, The Starting Line, New Found Glory, Allister were all great.

Anytime someone brings up Unwritten Law, Mest or Home Grown, my grinch heart smiles.

The Home Grown album with the closeup of a mouth on the cover was FANTASTIC fun.

This is my wheelhouse as a 39 year old who lived through all of the best years of pop-punk... I still spend countless hours searching out unknown pop-punk bands all the time: Some more mid-tier bands not mentioned: The Academy Is, Hit the Lights, Count the Stars, Over It, The Matches, The Cab, Cute Is What We Aim For, Farewell, Every Avenue, Gob, Lucky Boys Confusion, The Maine, Marianas Trench, Matchbook Romance, Motion City Soundtrack, Punchline, Quietdrive, Set It Off, The Summer Set, Zebrahead, State Champs, Sugarcult, With Confidence, WSTR, Youth In Revolt, Bowling For Soup, Hands Like Houses, Hot Rod Circuit, Madina Lake, Mayday Parade, Rufio, Valencia, We The Kings Some lower-tier but good pop-punk bands: Off By One, Crash Romeo, Amber Pacific, Armor For Sleep, Artist Vs. Poet, The Audition, Between You & Me, Broadside, Carousel Kings, Chin Up Kid, Danger Is My Middle Name, Crash Romeo, Don't Look Down, Faber Drive, Figureitout, FM Static, Friday Night Fever, Go Radio, Halifax, Hawk Nelson, Hey Monday, Hidden In Plain View, In Her Own Words, The International Drive, School Boy Humor, Last Night Saved My Life, Loveless, Milestones, Modern Maps, Never Heard Of It, Northstar, Novice, Red Car Wire, Sleep On It, Slick Shoes, Stand Atlantic, A Story Told, Take Cover, These Hearts, A Thorn For Every Heart, Too Close To Touch, Wakefield, We Are The In Crowd, The Years Gone By, You Vs. Yesterday, Yours Truly, Youth Fountain More obscure pop-punk that is still awesome: 7 Minutes In Heaven, 15 Minutes Late, Ace Troubleshooter, All New Atmosphere, An American Skyline, As Night Falls, Aspire, Avion Roe, The Background, Barely Blind, Best Interest, Brighter Brightest, Calm Collected, Car Party, Dear Dakota, Digger, Ever We Fall, Eyes Catch Fire, False Image, Flashlight Brown, Forget Me In Vegas, The Great Valley, In Search of Symmetry, Jasper Drive, Kid Down, Late Night Habit, Late Night Reading, Lights Out Dancing, Ludo, Mugshot, My Aim Is True, Nuclear Saturday, Pathway To Providence, The Scenic, Shaded, Showoff, Snakefight, The Sophomore Year, Starting Over, Stellar Kart, Sunset Atlantic, The Victory Lap, The Wedding, Wester. Yes, I just went down my itunes playlists basically, but I've been building it for almost 25 years. Left off a lot more too.

Be careful with Relient K, they’ve got a song about going to the Sadie Hawkins dance in your khaki pants

When you're really into a c-tier band, it feels like you have a personal connection and it's your thing. Saying your favorite band is an s-tier band is like being a stan for Wal-Mart. I found my old iPod Nano recently and it goes really far down the iceberg. Me Vs Hero, Chunk No Captain Chunk, etc. There was this band that only ever got popular in the Long Island bringer show scene called This Condition (yes they sound like Jack's Mannequin minus the piano) that I'm still sad never got more exposure. Their singer is a pretty successful songwriter in Nashville now.

The guitar tone on that Cartel album is delicious

We need a Finn McKenty deep dive into stuff like the late 90’s Christian music festival Tomfest, and how wild that era was.

man i just wanna say that i have respect for all you older people talking about pop punk and having such a passion for it. im a 16 year old kid who found blink 182 a couple years ago on spotify and now i have become a full out pop punk and punk rock fan. i love how pop punk is coming back even through shit heads like mgk. but man it honestly is getting closer to what the 2000s pop punk sound used to be and the culture as well also quick thanks to finn mckenty for bringing me into the light of pop punk music without him i would never have found kennyhoopla, or better yet rancid.

Authority Zero never gets any love. One of my favorites from that time period and still putting out good music

Hell yeah, a Fenix TX shout out. I loved them!

I refer to bands like Cartel, Relient K, We the Kings, Cute Is What We Aim For, etc, as “Girlfriend Core.” While the dudes were listening to Job For A Cowboy or Terror their girlfriends were listening to All Time Low or The Summer Set 😂

Relient K played at my highschool in the Poconos once back around 01 or 02. What a gig.

I'd love to hear your take on Zebrahead sometime.

I wish more people talked about Hit the Lights. Top tier pop punk

Rufio & Amber Pacific. My cousin burnt me a mixed cd in 05 & I remember being completely blown away at where they were taking the pop-punk sound. Underrated asl. Years before four year strong or Adtr too.

Speaking of Sugar Ray, you should do a tier list on bands that totally changed their sound for commercial success. Goo Goo Dolls is another classic example.

My somewhat obscure pop punk band is Lucky Boys Confusion, also based out of Chicago, like the underground greats of the genre!

Finn please make a playlist. I’m ready to get into some obscure pop punk.

Loved goldfinger. Very underrated

I had not heard of Me Vs Hero, Major League or ALL, thank you for that! Here are some of my favorite honorable (mostly forgotten) mentions: Allister, Lucky Boys Confusion, Anberlin, Autopilot Off, Every Avenue, Twin Atlantic, Witterquick, Heartsink, June, Quietdrive, The Rocket Summer, Spitalfield, Stellar Kart, The Summer Set, We Shot the Moon 👌

I saw Cartel in the thumbnail and haven’t clicked on a video that fast in my life 😂

Those ALL and big drill car songs hit just right. Thank you for the brain learning, professor mckenty.

Was expecting to see American Hi-Fi, Allister and Spunge I here somewhere, but man there's some blasts from the past the lower we get on the ice berg, love this video

Pollen, Slick Shoes, Broken Cedar, Bodyjar, Melody Fall, Last Day Before Holiday, Ellegarden, For No One, F.O.D., Monoeyes, Hit The Lights, Can't Bear This Party, Reset, Radical Radical, Pop Disaster, Daylight, Better Luck Next Time, Dynamite Boy, Tonight Alive, Yours Truly

Unwritten law are definitely a vastly underrated band, had bangers

Matt from Set Your Goals sings in our band. He’s probably played with a majority of these bands. I think one of the big factors of why so many of these bands did well is the production. Pop punk is already catchy and combine that with solid production and it’s going to gain a following.

Alright, this video was great. It's like hanging out with an old friend ranting about music. I feel like I'm on a road trip and my friend is going through my mp3 player judging me

That me vs hero song grabbed me so fast. Thanks for the recommendation!

First tape I ever bought (with my lawn mowing money) was MxPx Life in General. Still one of my favorite albums of all time.

Not very fun fact about Me Vs Hero - they had a hard time as their guitarist died falling over a railing and dropping 50ft inside a block of flats in Preston. They did a reunion set at Slam Dunk festival a few years ago where they played the Days That Shape Our Lives album back to front, and it was outstanding.

This episode was made for me. Thank you Finn.

One of my favorite bands way down the iceberg would be Such Gold! 🤩

Love this list and 💯 agree with your logic on the iceberg! Stoked that you gave Unwritten Law a nod- they’re so slept on

The iceberg content is almost as good as your tier list content. Both are fantastic, keep up the great work Finn. When I get paid I'm going to support you on Patreon.

What therapy never managed to conclude was done here in the first 2 minutes. "I am not normal". So glad it's out of the system now. Lets celebrate with some Pop-Punk 😂

River Pheonix changed their name to Fenix TX due to a cease and desist from River Pheonix's mom. River Pheonix died before Fenix TX was a band.

This was so fun! Thank you for the video

So glad he mentioned City Lights!

I remember buying the album "Guitarded" when it came out by the relatively unknown pop punk band Limp. They sure had some fun songs in this genre !

Scott Russo is a great songwriter. I actually think his drinking and drug issues both helped (song writing) and hurt him. He also once dated Aimee Allen from The Interrupters who is an insanely hot punk rock star. I do remember hearing stories in the early to mid 2000's about him pissing off other bands he was on tour with.

I started watching your videos a few months back and have been the featured stream comment more than once and now my youtube ads are exclusively temu and coors light. Thanks for outing me as an elder millenial.

“Oz Factor” by Unwritten Law is one of my favorite albums. Always go back to it.

I really need to get a better sleeping pattern. When I notice a new upload here I realize its like 7am my time lol. Good work, Finn.

Omg I’m so glad you mentioned Me VS hero 😭😭😭

Growing up in San Diego in the late 90s....we all knew Unwritten Law. Finn is correct...they are awesome

With the punches "slizzards crossing" is so fucking badass... hulk hands is legit af too

I had a gf get me into Mest back in 2002. Their first two albums are great, especially “Wasting Time.” I saw them tour with UL and got a pic with them all after the show. Jeremiah was drunk and blatantly looking down my gf’s shirt.

now THIS is the content im here for. pop punk hell yea. i cant wait to look into some of these bands.

Always love to hear the RK call outs.

Man, I didn't think Major League would make this list. The Truth Is... is my favorite pop punk album, probably. Great video, Finn.

When you paused for MEST’s drum rack I thought you were gonna talk about Tony’s tramp stamp 4:07

Unwritten Law is 🔥 You a real one for the shout out 🤌🏽

Fenix TX was my favorite punk band for the longest time . They are really good .. The singer battled throat cancer multiple times.. so the band split up and did a hiatus, came back in 2016 for an EP.. reformed -- then cancer reimurged.. Things have been tough for that band being able to continue what they do

I miss tumblr era so bad. Nothing like it. I wish someone would make a movie or something

For me, the ultimate pop punk label was Drive-Thru Records.

I saw Unwritten Law play the whole Black Album from start to finish, sick show

Musically speaking, alot of the "sad boy" era bands had really great arrangements, multiple guitar layers and harmonies, and great vocal melodies most of the earlier bands lacked.

Love that you brought up the starting line. Such a good song

I often feel like Spraynard sounds so awesome they could've/sould've been bigger

I met Unwritten Law in a 7 Eleven parking lot around 2002. Knew they were band because of their van and we talked for a few minutes. I'm pretty sure I talked to the singer and he could have been chatting me up because I looked very ubergoth during that time, meaning I was wearing a corset.

Home grown was and still is wildly under rated

Great format!

Thanks for showing this! I’m looking for something new to listen to.

MX Superfly was the Gamecube Motocross Game with Cadillac on the Soundtrack.

Unwritten Laws latest album is slept on. Underrated band in general

I remember seeing that last music video once on a drunk RU-vid binge looking for new music a decade ago.

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE VIDEO FINN! Since we are the same age, like you I was still going to Warped Tour will into my later 20s. Man, I love all these bands and still listen to them every day. I have been listening to Unwritten Law for ages and Major League is one of my all time favorites. Home Grown and Mest definitely has some bangers! I love a lot of 90s skate punk that transitioned into pop-punk. What a time to be alive! More videos like this please!

no mention of Finch or Distorted Penguins...

I friggin' love Me vs Hero. Finn, I got into easycore because of your main channel videos on it back in 2019.

appreciate you so much 🤘

Big Drill Car was just a descendants/All copy

Unwritten Law is one of my favorites. I'm definitely late to the game with them, but they're awesome.

Should ALL be really that low down? Featured on Punk-O-Ramas, Them being a The Descendents continuation etc, I would put them in the same category as Unwritten Law, Lagwagon, Pennywise in terms of popularity and exposure...

Homegrown has been one of my favorite bands since the early 2000s, they’re f’n rad… Check out the album “Kings of Pop” A few other people have mentioned Zebrahead too, another banger of a band…they opened for 311 back in 00 or 01, they have a rap-rock element to their sound as well.

Anyone remember Fenix TX being the end credit music for the Nickelodeon movie “Clockstoppers”?

I have all these bands on my Spotify playlist. This is confirmation that my parents were right: I am a weirdo.

Saw the story so far with stick to your guns back in 2014-2015, one of the best shows I’ve been to. Surprised story so far wasnt higher on the iceberg

This video made me realize how bad my musical tastes have lived in a bubble, some of my mainstream picks were way lower down the iceberg than I guessed

Nothing to lose from San Diego is one of the greatest pop punk bands ever, and soooooo underrated

that neck deep tssf state champs era is still amazing

I was half expecting some older stuff from Fat Wreck or Honest Don's, but I guess this was more of a later-era pop punk iceberg.

crunkasaurus mentioned!! I toured with Major League in 2010. I was in Carousel Kings at the time. You could throw a dart and hit a Major League sticker anywhere in Philly/South Jersey at the time.

My great grandma would have loved Me Vs Hero but sadly she passed away in 2006 so they have always reminded me of her. RIP.

Cigar just changed my mind about poppy skate punk. Legacy of seven plies may convert you. It’s insane.

That Mest song is so good, John Feldman produced that and The GC dudes were all getting produced bt Feldy. That was a changing era of punk when producers started using sound replacement for their drums and making pop punk sound actual mainstream.

The Dangerous Summer is one of the really underrated ones from the late 00s, early 10s. They had that really summery feel but with heart-rending lyrics, almost in the realms of midwest emo.

29:34 “chris d’elia’s fav band” sent me😭

Is Zebrahead pop punk because I love that band If so.. definitely my favourite pop punk band.

the Tumblr era pop punk was and still is a lot bigger than some of those C tier early 2000s bands you mentioned

The tumblr era is still my favorite era of pop-punk but you’re definitely right about it not getting much mainstream attention. I didn’t even discover many of those bands until I was an adult and tumblr was no longer a thing and when a bunch of these bands changed up their sound

Phoebe Kates is the greatest pop punk song from Feinix TX!

Loving the longer form content