Pop punk from the mid to late 2000’s will always have a special place in my heart. It’s angsty, a bit aggressive, and was the soundtrack to my middle and high school years. I was first introduced to pop punk from a 2004 Warped Tour Compilation album I picked up at Walmart (I mean technically I had been exposed to pop punk and stuff from my days listening to Relient K and other Christian pop punk bands, but this is for non-Christian pop punk bands). And I’ve always loved compilation albums because I get exposed to the hits from a variety of bands (pre streaming services this was a necessity because I could only crash my family’s computer with Kazaa and Limewire so many times before I got in trouble). And it’s why I currently like playlists from Spotify. I don’t make my own playlists but use existing playlists to learn about new bands. I don’t have time to scroll through the various websites I used to read to find new music. And even though my little high school hipster heart would be heartbroken to know I’m no longer the first person to “discover” bands and introduce my friends to them, I still find new music and find new storytellers to learn from and live with.

These songs are nods to the days when I put on my old pop punk albums (or stream them, let’s be realistic). It’s the perfect music to get me in a good mood, especially when I’m frustrated. And that’s where the angst comes in. There’s some aggression in these songs, but not anger. Grad school will do that to you. You’ll be frustrated at systems and at scholars and at people in your cohort and at yourself—and that’s ok. It’s ok to feel and be angry, but you have to keep going and move on.

Musically, I’m not a big solo person (because I don’t have the chops/knowhow), so there are attempts at solos here, but they’re more like layered lead lines hoping to trick your ear to believe there’s a solo happening. There’s also a blend of using Logic Pro X’s internal drummers and recording drums from the octapad. I tried to play as if I was playing a kit, but there’s nothing like playing an acoustic kit to play loud pop punk music.

I’ve listened to more current pop punk music in grad school than I realized (I skimmed through my Spotify played recently list and it’s there, nestled amidst singer songwriters, pop musicians, and other storytellers). A lot of pop punk music is about telling stories, nailing down the little moments of mundane existence and making sense out of them, or making them accessible to other people. It’s a feeling of connection. I made a friend in my last semester of grad school from another cohort. And one thing we’ve bonded over (besides shitty reality television) is pop punk music from our pasts. We’re able to tell stories of who we were and stories of who we are by referencing these common artists, albums, songs. It’s been a gift, kairotic in its inception. A wonderful surprise of sorts.