In Defense Of The Genre: 5 Seconds Of Summer's favorite pop-punk songs

August 5, 2014

Whether you consider 5 Seconds Of Summer a boy band, a pop-punk band or something in-between, there’s no denying their love for the likes of Green Day, Blink-182, and All Time Low. (Along with these scene staples, 5SOS also devour music by bands including Of Mice & Men, Anarbor and Sleeping With Sirens.) With that in mind, we asked the guys to pick some of their favorite pop-punk songs. Be warned, not everyone in the band ascribed to the genre’s typical tropes. “If there's one thing I hate about pop-punk, it's people thinking you have to do the whole [double-time] thing,” drummer Ashton Irwin explains. “I think that's a bit ugly; it can sound quite shit. I wasn't raised on that. When I'd go to pubs and see bands like that, I'd just think, ‘Slow down!’”

GREEN DAY, “21st Century Breakdown”

ASHTON IRWIN: “I'm more a fan of Green Day’s live recordings. They're so amazing; I love that Billie can command a stadium. He and Dave Grohl have that power. I look at that and get really inspired. That's the way we perform, a lot of yelling and shit. We want to get a toilet paper gun for the next tour.”

ALL TIME LOW, “The Girl’s A Straight-Up Hustler”

CALUM HOOD: “Early All Time Low is really what got me into writing, and it’s so cool that you can hear the progression in Alex’s songwriting. His writing skills are amazing.”

SUM 41, “In Too Deep”

MICHAEL CLIFFORD: “If I had to show someone what pop-punk was, it would probably be this song. Either this one or ‘Fat Lip.’ I think it's the perfect mix of what should be on radio. Plus, ‘In Too Deep’ has the video where he comes out of the water playing the insane guitar solo.

YELLOWCARD, “Light Up The Sky”

LUKE HEMMINGS: “What a great song. I was gonna say ‘Ocean Avenue,’ but that's a bit too cliche.”

GREEN DAY, “Jesus Of Suburbia”

CALUM HOOD: “I think that’s one of the craziest songs that’s ever been written. At some point, you think you’d be like, ‘Okay, that’s enough,’ but the whole nine minutes is just so good. I love it.”