underrated punk bands from the 2000s

These 10 punk bands of the 2000s were underrated but not forgotten

If you’re a diehard music fan, you have the story. It usually starts with going to see your favorite band and having to endure an opening act so repugnant, they made you want to chew sand. Then two years later, said band are everywhere and everyone loves them. And now you’re even more pissed-off about them. This APTV video isn’t about that situation. These are the underrated punk bands of the 2000s that have not been forgotten.

Every generation of music fans has its own criteria for worship and hatred. The groups on this list of underrated punk bands have one thing in common: They should’ve been massive. But many fans want bands to stay small and underground. It’s a massive catch-22. We want our favorite groups to make enough money for rent, groceries and maybe pay their phone bills. But we don’t want them to end up on the radio alongside some American bland-stand act. Or worse yet, see them cavorting with some hack that should be on the business end of a lead pipe filled with cement.

Read more: Here are 20 bands keeping punk alive in 2020 and beyond

Who made our list of underrated punk bands of the 2000s? Well, there are a couple units whose frontmen went on to do bigger things on their own volition. (One of these dudes is still giving his music away for free, by the way.) About half of these acts belong to history now. Fortunately, the other half are still at it. Because for lack of a better phrase, they simply have to. They’ve most assuredly come to terms with their audience size. And their fans are still with them.

These underrated punk bands of the 2000s didn’t do anything massively embarrassing or cloying. They merely played their music. And they did it in front of audiences great and small. We know a dude who saw U2 play a club the size of most people’s kitchens. But he’d rather talk about all the times he saw these guys tear shit up. And that’s the takeaway from this list. Oftentimes, the stuff that really matters is what you saw in the smallest of gatherings, sometimes in the shortest window of time.