Punk is a pretty difficult thing to quantify. What with all its different subgenres, ideological strains, and the fact it’s existed for roughly 40 years, it’s a genre whose definition has always been hard to pin down. That is until Polygraph, in conjunction with Converse, mined the data of Spotify’s many punk playlists to find out who is the punkest band of them all based on how many times an artist shows up on a playlist with “punk” in the title. The results—which aren’t particularly surprising—put Blink-182, Green Day, and The Offspring at the top of the list. Given the fact that each band rose to prominence during the mid-’90s punk boom, it’s not surprising that those that went multi-platinum have continued to hold court over punk in the eyes of the public.
What is more fascinating though is what is found when the subgenres are broken out. The ”hardcore” tag sees classic acts such as Agnostic Front and Dead Kennedys leading the charge, though bands that came to prominence via the 2000s Warped Tour circuit—such as A Day To Remember and Bring Me The Horizon—aren’t far behind. The most troubling breakdown is found in the “emo” tag, which sees nary a single band from the genre’s creatively fertile ’80s and ’90s periods bubbling up, with My Chemical Romance standing head and shoulders above them all. Even the early-2000s crossover acts such as Dashboard Confessional are absent, meaning that all those claims to “Defend Emo” are apparently warranted. The one genre that apparently still respects its elders is post-punk, with Joy Division, The Cure, and Siouxsie And The Banshees still reigning over their dominion. The whole interactive piece is worth sifting through, if only for a reminder that, when it comes to punk, the kids will have their say.