Study Says Green Day & Blink-182 Are the Most Punk – Really?

“What is punk rock?” has always been a dangerous question to ask, as many of us devoted to the genre have wildly contrasting opinions that’ll surely piss off someone – that’s just the way it goes.

Recently, shoe company Converse (for whatever brave reason) commissioned Polygraph to analyze what people streaming music online consider to be punk. And, well, many of you are going to be very agitated soon.

According to the study that analyzed which bands appear most in YouTube and Spotify playlists with “Punk” in the title, Green Day and Blink-182 are the two bands most people associate with punk rock.

Rounding out the top five is The Offspring, Sum 41 and Rise Against. Bad Religion and NOFX cracked the top 10, but somehow trail the likes of Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance.

Punk pioneers Ramones, The Clash and Sex Pistols didn’t make the cut, which shows that online listeners are either ignorant of the genre’s founding fathers, or would rather spin an LP on the turntable than stream music – we’re hoping the latter is the case.

“I have a theory: in 2015, Blink-182 epitomizes punk culture, just as the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Black Flag, etc. did ten years ago,” says Matt Daniels of Polygraph. “For the masses, Blink-182 isn’t just pop-punk – it’s real punk.”

Chew on that for a bit.