News you may have missed! (2/17/21)
Hayley is "ready" for a new Paramore album. Is pop punk dead? A new Green Day song. Hoobastank goes viral on TikTok and much more!
Good morning! And welcome back to another mailer. Let’s just get to it, shall we?
News you may have missed…
Some of the links below may be to publications other than All Punked Up.
Hayley Williams is “ready” to start working on Paramore’s next album
Responding to a Twitter follower's question about songs that didn't make Hayley Williams' recent solo album FLOWERS for VASES / descansos, Hayley says she is "ready" to make Paramore's next album.
Hayley is ready and so are we.
Nearly Two Decades Into Their Career, All Time Low Are at an All Time High
Billboard wrote a piece this week about the story behind All Time Low’s hit “Monsters”:
In September 2020, ”Monsters” became All Time Low's first No. 1 on any airplay chart when it topped the Alternative Airplay listing -- and parked there for 18 nonconsecutive weeks, tying with Foo Fighters’ "The Pretender" for the third-longest reign at No. 1 in the chart’s 32-year history. Four months later, “Monsters” broke out of the alternative sphere and became ATL’s second-ever Hot 100 chart entry, reaching No. 67 -- “Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)” being their sole entry in 2009 -- where it’s peaked at No. 64, as of this week's Feb. 13-dated chart.
Meanwhile, as the group is in the throes of that particular song’s, ahem, monstrous success, one of their other signature hits is experiencing a surprise revival. Their 2007 single "Dear Maria, Count Me In” blew up on TikTok in December 2020 when user @yungricepatty shared a clip of himself singing along to the track, thereby launching the “it’s not a phase” trend. “Dear Maria” eventually entered the Rock Streaming Songs chart, where it peaked at No. 5 this January.
The article goes on to talk about how Blackbear ended up on the track and the decisions to then create a “Monsters” 2.0 version that would feature Demi Lovato.
Demi Lovato, a longtime friend of the band’s, turned out to be game for it. “I was so excited when they asked me to jump on the song,” Lovato says now. “I’ve known these guys for over 10 years, and to see them having so much success has brought me a lot of joy.”
Once Lovato cut her vocals, the label rushed to release “Monsters” 2.0 before the holidays, when many radio stations traditionally pivot to Christmas music. Gaskarth had shown the Lovato version to “a couple key radio people, and they started bugging us [about a release date],” says Easterlin. Not wanting to lose pop radio’s excitement over the track, FBR quickly cleared Lovato’s part with her label, Island, and officially released the new track on Dec. 4, 2020. “The remix with Demi on it was one of those added layers of, ‘This can't possibly get bigger or better, [can it]?’” Minardi remembers.
It did indeed.
I’d highly recommend checking out this article. I love hearing back stories behind songs and albums. This is some good insight.
Is Pop Punk Dead?
If pop punk is actually dead, then it would have had to have been alive at some point. And without a doubt, pop punk had its heyday right at the end of the 90s through the mid-00s. But did pop punk actually die there? Bailey, John and I team up to discuss and answer the age old question: Is pop punk dead?
This was a fun discussion. Going into this recording, I had my mind made up about the answer I’d give to this question, but our conversation made me think differently by the end of the episode.
You can listen to this episode here.
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Dave Grohl Believes Nirvana Would Still Be Around Today
In promoting their new album, Medicine At Midnight, every member of the Foo Fighters has been hosting their own episode of Medicine At Midnight Radio on Apple Music. For Dave Grohl’s turn, he looks back on the early days of Foo Fighters and the end of Nirvana and how he thinks the alternative grunge band would still be making music today.
“Of course, it was an incredibly challenging experience [Cobain’s death],” Grohl says. “And ultimately one of the greatest heartbreaks of my life that Nirvana isn’t still here today making music. Whether it would be called Nirvana or something else. It is one of my life’s greatest heartbreaks that Kurt isn’t still here to write more amazing songs because it’s pretty clear that he was blessed with a gift. I think it’s safe to say that he was the greatest songwriter of our generation. I’m very proud to say that I got to be his drummer and play those songs every night.”
Grohl goes on to describe the decision to form Foo Fighters:
“I didn’t necessarily want to just go join another band,” he said. “I was in mourning and just the thought of sitting down at a drum set or playing music, it just made me very sad. It was even difficult just to turn on the radio,” he continued. “I kind of blocked it all out for a while, but my whole life I’d been recording songs on my own, by myself, where I play all of the instruments and I kept it a secret. [I] was so insecure that I didn’t want anyone to hear it, I didn’t like the songs. I didn’t like the lyrics [and] I didn’t like my voice, but I felt like it was necessary as some sort of creative exercise or outlet.”
In related news: Foo Fighters' 'Medicine at Midnight' Tops Billboard Album Chart
After going viral on TikTok, Hoobastank may release new music
That’s right! Remember Hoobastank's 2004 big hit song "The Reason"? Well, it started going viral on TikTok this week as part of a new challenge where people post embarrassing and regrettable choices they’ve made to the tune starting with the song’s first line: “I’m not a perfect person.” The resurgence of the song’s popularity has singer Doug Robb thinking about releasing new music.
Speaking with Stereogum, when asked about the band’s plans for their upcoming 20th anniversary of their self-titled album, Robb says:
“Our guitar player, Dan [Estrin], probably spent half the year transferring old digital video tapes to actual hard drive stuff, because out of any album cycle we documented, the first one we have the most footage. We just have so much footage of us doing pre-production and writing and recording and tours. It was our first everything, so it was almost like we were over-documenting everything. And I’m talking a garbage bag full of these tapes, and each one is three to four to five hours. We have a lot of footage to sift through and I think amongst a lot of boring stuff, there’s probably a lot of stuff that our fans would find really interesting.
So we’re going to compile that and either release it in chunks or a little bit at a time or something, but we’ll figure something out that I think will be appropriate and cool for anybody who would actually enjoy the 20th anniversary. Recently I’m thinking and talking with our guitar player about possibly writing a song or two to go along with it, something new.”
Green Day to release new song “Here Comes The Shock”
Green Day has announced that they will release a new song called "Here Comes The Shock" in North America this Sunday (February 21) and to the rest of the world on February 22.
However, the band will be performing the song live at this Saturday’s NHL Outdoor Games at Lake Tahoe at 3PM ET on NBC. So be sure to set your timers!
Other notable news…
The E-Girl Review: exploring a hyperpop trend, new releases from Lil Huddy, Wallows, and more
LILHUDDY shares new Travis Barker-produced song “The Eulogy Of You And Me”
Watch Kelly Clarkson perform cover of Foo Fighters’ “Times Like These”
Dropkick Murphys announce St. Patrick’s Day 2021 livestream, tease new album
Machine Gun Kelly to appear alongside his daughter in new film ‘One Way’ (NME)
Twenty One Pilots continue to tease new era with cryptic selfie (NME)
Dance Gavin Dance guitarist Will Swan’s label partners with Rise Records (Alt Press)
This MGK and YUNGBLUD collab gets 11 pop-punk renditions in new cover (Alt Press)
Weezer preparing 4 more albums & movie musical (BrooklynVegan)
Spotify and Apple Music bosses to address DCMS streaming inquiry (NME)
Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic still jam as Nirvana from time to time (NME)
Album Spotlight
Guys, we really need to talk about MOD SUN’s recently released album Internet Killed The Rockstar.
All I can say is I’m here for the new pop punk sound that has seemed to be popping up lately.
As for this record, it’s an absolute banger. The 11-song album, which dropped on February 12th, comes in at just 30 minutes, so it’s a quick listen (which is genius because it makes you crave more). I will say, if you liked Machine Gun Kelly’s Ticket to My Downfall album, then you’re, without a doubt, going to love MOD SUN’s album. Internet Killed The Rockstar is doing exactly what MGK’s album set out to do–or at the very least, what it ended up doing. That is, bring a new evolution to the pop punk genre’s sound that we’ve all grown to love for decades now.
This album is filled with so many melodic ear worms. And the fact that John Feldmann (Goldfinger, The Used, blink-182) produced the album, it makes sure that the rock vibes come off and are delivered just right.
It wouldn’t surprise me if MOD SUN’s new album hits #1 on some charts (and it really should) while being an important stepping stone album in bringing pop punk (albeit maybe an evolved version) back to the mainstream. The title track of the album even has some Dashboard Confessional vibes!
You can stream MOD SUN’s Internet Killed The Rockstar on Spotify here. And you really should. You have my permission to close this mailer now to do so.
Sponsor
Our thanks to Postcards from the Moon for sponsoring All Punked Up this week!
The pop-rock quartet from Texas, Postcards from the Moon, have officially kicked off the new year with their latest single “You Deserve the World Too,” which is now available for online streaming and digital download. Check it out below!
13 songs All Punked Up was digging this week…
If All Punked Up made an album for this past week, these are the songs that would be included on it. These songs could be old or new, maybe even unrelated, but they all traveled through APU team members’ headphones this week.
If you’re interested in listening to this “album”, we’ve got the playlist created over on Spotify here. Feel free to give it a listen. Maybe go ahead and just subscribe to the playlist while you’re at it. This same playlist will be updated weekly with new songs.
Thank you so much!
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Thanks again! Remember… spread love.
Peace,
Tyler Winters, Founder
All Punked Up