10 Perfect Rock Songs Of The 2000s

And on the complete opposite of the spectrum from nu metal, we had pop punk. As opposed to the tattooed metal guys that always wanted to talk about their inner pain, here was the kind of adolescent acts that sang about not having a care in the world, with songs that felt destined to populate beach parties until the end of time. Although Blink-182 may have started the bubblegum side of the genre, Sum 41 came away with the one song that hit on pure teenage angst.

From the minute that Fat Lip starts, it has a hook every couple of seconds, from the catchy guitar riff that kicks off everything to the rap verses from Stevo, Derek, and Dave. For any other band, this is the kind of thing that would make people cringe, but the chemistry of these guys is enough to sell it, whether that be talking about listening to Maiden and Priest when they were kids or laughing when old people fall. This is still pop punk though, and Sum 41 pretty much nailed the chorus here, not wanting to be a casualty in society and refusing to conform to what the rest of the world wants them to be.

It was actually pretty prophetic for the band as well, moving on from being just pop punk later down the line and adopting a more metallic sound that almost puts them in the hard rock category. Just like they sang right here, they're still not quite willing to fall in line with the rest of the crowd.