For the better part of the last 30 years,pop-punkhas been one of alternativemusic’s biggest exports. Relentlessly chirpy melodies with yearning lyrics, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, and VansWarped Tour. The genre’s cultural relevancy and impact on pop culture is indisputable at this point.

Better yet, there are numerous legends with Hall of Fame-worthy careers and the adoration of millions, but even the best bands are capable of extreme dips in quality. These are the most terrible albums written by genuinely great bands in pop punk history.

10In Some Way, Shape, Or Form

Four Year Strong

It’s worth pointing out thatFour Year Strong are one of pop-punk’s most consistent bands. It seems to be flying under the radar, but the boys from Massachusetts are currently on an incredible hot streak. This album goes a long way to explaining why that’s going unnoticed.

Coming out of the gates withRise Or Die TryingandEnemy Of The World, Four Year Strong tried something different for their third album. Changing the breakdowns and easycore vibes that had proved to be a winning formula,In Some Way, Shape or Formwas closer to the slick, middle-aged rock of the Foo Fighters.

The result was a drab collection that’s the sole bad album in their canon.

9Sister Cities

The Wonder Years

After wowing the underground and Warped Tour audiences with their first few releases, 2013’sThe Greatest Generationmade The Wonder Years one of pop-punk’s most loved bands. Writing in such a genius way that their words and music felt immensely personal, the follow-up,No Closer To Heaven, split the fanbase with its matured and less explosive sound.

Dan “Soupy” Campbell got his nickname from the famous soup brand of the same name.

This first dalliance with criticism seemed to wobble the Pennsylvanians' confidence, asSister Citieslacked so much of what made The Wonder Years special. The delivery was half-hearted, the words less affecting, and only the title track makes its way into the band’s live shows.

8This Addiction

Alkaline Trio

Carrying a gothic sound and lyrical narrative that’s the antithesis to the genre’s many clichés,Alkaline Trio are pop-punk’s most grown-up export. Songs about skeletons and serial killers and their melancholic approach to songwriting made them legends, but it’s not always plain sailing with the eyeliner-clad punkers.

This Addiction is derided by even the most stringent of fans.

One of the most notoriously hit-and-miss live bands in rock,Alkaline Trio’s recorded output has been inconsistent in their later years. Arguments can be made aboutMy Shame Is TrueandAgony & Irony, butThis Addictionis derided by even the most stringent of fans.

7Days Go By

The Offspring

Formed in the late ’80s,The Offspring are one of the most important punk bands of all time. Smashing through glass ceilings, Dexter and the gang have a greatest hits collection that can stand up against anyone’s. They may have very definitive creative highs (Smash,Ixnay On The Hombre, andAmericana), and plenty of moments that have been considered too novelty for their own good.

Of all the band’s questionable moments,Days Go Byis the moment The Offspring fell off dramatically. Best characterized by the embarrassing “Cruising California (Bumpin' In My Truck),“Days Go Byis a confused mess that misses every mark. Too lame to reach the youth and too juvenile to play to their age range, it’s a misfire on every level.

6All Distortions Are Intentional

Neck Deep

Smashing international barriers,Neck Deep is one of pop-punk’s most inspirational stories. America has been the end-all, be-all of pop-punk, but these Welsh sensations opened up the borders for the genre like so few have since the genre rose to prominence in 1994.

Neck Deep took a slight detour into more Jimmy Eat World-influenced songwriting on the popularThe Peace And The Panic, but follow-up albumAll Distortions Are Intentionalpleased neither the emo nor pop-punk audience. They have since returned to pop-punk glory on 2024’s self-titled rager.

5Dirty Work

All Time Low

One of the most inoffensive-sounding bands in the scene,All Time Low have always had more in common with the pop half of pop-punk. That’s all fine and dandy when you’re droppingAll Time Low timeless classicslike “Dear Maria, Count Me In” and “Weightless”, butDirty Workhad none of the band’s trademark qualities.

All Time Low left Interscope Records after the release of Dirty Work.

One of the genre’s biggest misconceptions is that fans demand an edge to pop-punk. In truth, the likes of Waterparks and Five Seconds Of Summer changed the landscape forever and the punk part of the bargain is inconsequential to a lot of the audience. What’s unforgivable is the lack of quality, andthis is All Time Low sounding flat and without any edge whatsoever.

4Cardiology

Good Charlotte

Riding the crest of a wave after the excellent, club-ready sounds ofGood Morning Revival, it was a shock thatGood Charlotte dropped the ball withCardiology. Taking their electronic approach way more seriously, it’s so out of character that it sounds like a completely different band.

What’s so surprising aboutCardiologyis thatit’s the only Good Charlotte album that lacks heart. Like them or loathe them, the Maddens are always brimming with passion and a willingness to move with the times. This one just saw them out of odds with the zeitgeist and their own fanbase.

3The Story So Far

The Story So Far

Arriving in a tidal wave of adoration,The Story So Far are pop-punk’s most influential modern band. Vocalist Parker Cannon has been ripped off by hundreds of bands, and their stoner take on a genre losing its ability to reinvent itself was a breath of fresh air.

Things hit a giant snag whenThe Story So Far’s self-titled album took their credible sound as far as it could go. Trading in lesser versions of songs they’d already written, it felt lazy and going through the motions. Since then, they’ve found greatness again, merging Brit Pop and California cool into a potent and beloved package.

2NINE

Contrary to popular belief,much of Blink-182’s union with Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba was pretty great. His voice gave a more grown-up tone to their classic material andCaliforniawas a great start to their songwriting collaborations. Unfortunately, it only got worse from there.

On the band’s final album together,NINEsounds like a band out of ideas. Blink-182 sounded uninspired, there’s no fun factor, and it tells its own story that Tom DeLonge returned to the band shortly after this album’s release.

1Father Of All…

Green Day

Coming from a world where they received death threats for taking punk into the mainstream,Green Day could be forgiven for hating the landscape they helped buildat the turn of this decade. Full of artists that had more in common with tween popsters than Bad Religion, the Berkley trio tried putting their frustrations into their art on this dud of an album.

Preceded by an album campaign congratulating themselves for writing their own songs, it’s ironic that the songs they were lauding themselves for were irredeemable. Reaching for a sound that was organic and raw,Father Of All…only sounded desperate for relevancy.

Saviorsreturn to the classic Green Day sound, and the distance they’ve put between themselves and the album since speaks volumes.