While the When We Were Young festival of 2022 cemented the return of pop-punk music, 2023 saw the release of long-awaited new albums from three veterans of the genre: blink-182, Fall Out Boy and Paramore.
Paramore’s This Is Why arrived first, in February. It marked the first record from Hayley Williams and company in six years, as well as the first time two consecutive Paramore albums featured the same lineup. The This Is Why title track was released as the album’s lead single and gave Paramore their first #1 single on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart.
Next up was Fall Out Boy’s So Much (for) Stardust, which dropped in March. Arriving five years after the experimental M A N I A was released in 2018, Stardust hinted at a return to a more rock-oriented sound with lead single “Love from the Other Side.” Like Paramore’s “This Is Why,” “Love from the Other Side” was Fall Out Boy’s first #1 Alternative Airplay hit.
Fall Out Boy also put out a cover of Billy Joel‘s history-reciting 1989 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire” with updated lyrics, which they performed at the MTV VMAs.
Finally, blink-182 released ONE MORE TIME… in October. The “All the Small Things” trio first teased the record in October 2022, when they announced the return of Tom DeLonge, who’d been absent from the band since 2015.
ONE MORE TIME… marked the first blink album to feature the classic lineup of DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker in 12 years. The album’s title track addressed the band’s messy history head-on, referencing their past dysfunction and hardships, such as Hoppus’ cancer battle.
Blink spent much of 2023 on a reunion tour, which kicked off with a surprise set at Coachella. Barker also made headlines for welcoming his first baby with wife Kourtney Kardashian.
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