Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars. About.com has described contemporary pop punk bands as having "a radio friendly sheen to their music, but still maintaining much of the speed and attitude of classic punk rock".

It is not clear when the term pop punk was first used, but pop-influenced punk rock had been around since the mid- to late-1970s. An early use of the term pop punk appeared in a 1977 New York Times article, "Cabaret: Tom Petty's Pop Punk Rock Evokes Sounds of 60's". In the mid-1990s, the California pop punk bands Green Day, Blink-182 and The Offspring achieved worldwide commercial success. From the mid-1990s onwards, some bands associated with the genre have been described as "happy punk", "faux-punk", "mall punk", "pseudo-punk" or "bubblegum punk".

History