There was a time in the late 90s and early 2000s when two of life's simplest pleasures peaked: teen movies and pop punk. This resulted, for years, in an inexplicably harmonious relationship between them. Artists like Sum 41 and Green Day popped up on soundtracks. Others rocked up in cameos. Some covered classic movie songs. I mean, sure, pop punk's link to films like the American Pie series and Grind made the most sense; pop punk and slacker storylines made a perfectly cargo-shorted pair given their mutual interest in fart jokes and boobs. More surprising? Bowling For Soup, Simple Plan and American Hi-Fi all featuring in Lindsay Lohan classic Freaky Friday. Or Dashboard Confessional, Taking Back Sunday, Yellowcard and others being on Spider-Man 2's very emo soundtrack. Or Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen covering Weezer's "Island in the Sun" for their obviously direct-to-video Holiday in the Sun. The list is, strangely, endless.
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Nothing really ties pop punk to teen film soundtracks other than the fact that they were both popular at the same time, and started out with absolutely not a shred of respectability in the first place. They were, and still are, both looked down on in most critical circles, and have no need to even put up a facade of being in high taste. As a result, most pop punk bands didn't really have to think twice when they were offered the opportunity to "sell out". But what's more surprising than their presence on every soundtrack of the era is probably that brief, fleeting trend for bands to appear in films themselves – mostly in prom scenes, tbf, but occasionally as integral parts of the plot. In an effort to continue living in the past, because freaking Sugar Ray's Scooby-Doo appearance is somehow 15 years old now, it is essential that we look at some of pop punk's weirdest moments in teen movies.In the no man's land between Good Charlotte's only OK first album and reaching mainstream success with The Young and the Hopeless was Not Another Teen Movie. One of Chris Evans' earliest and best works, the cloud of Joel Gallen froth parodied teen films from American Pie to Sixteen Candles to Cruel Intentions. It also had, as you might expect, a lengthy prom scene. Keen for money and literally any level of exposure, up-and-coming pop punk sweeties Good Charlotte appeared onstage for all the teens, covering "If You Leave", "Footloose" and "Put Your Head(s) on My Shoulder". Despite Good Charlotte literally saying on their first record that they wanted to be, "on the movie screen", they have still been questioned throughout their career about "selling out", to which Benji Madden has said, "we didn't have money and we wanted it". And that's it - when a film, any film, wants to offer you a load of money to do pop punk covers of teen movie classics for five minutes, why the fuck wouldn't you?
GOOD CHARLOTTE IN NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE (2001)
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SIMPLE PLAN IN NEW YORK MINUTE (2004)
THE OFFSPRING IN IDLE HANDS (1999)
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FALL OUT BOY IN SEX DRIVE (2008)
BOWLING FOR SOUP IN CROSSROADS (2002)
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