The overnight success and [[sell-out]] status controversy of Green Day created a media whirlwind which reached all corners of the country. In response, teens all over picked up guitars and started bands, many hoping to achieve what Green Day and The Offspring had done. Green Day was formed in the late 80's and was caustically anti-major label, turning down offers from the majors for years. [[Maximum RocknRoll]], which, apart from being a magazine, was anti-major labels and anti-corporate advertising, had supported Green Day and many other bands which eventually went on to sign with majors.
===Blink-182 and the Second Wave of Southern Californian Punk===
In [[1999]], blink-182 released their breakthrough album ''[[Enema of the State]]''. Whereas Green Day and their contemporaries had not really altered their sound during the move from indie to major label, blink-182's breakthrough record boasted a radio friendly sound and slick production when compared to the more thrashy, trashy sound of their independently released recordings. The album disappointed some fans who accused them of [[selling out]], blatantly softening their sound in pursuit of major success and playing the major label game by the book. By this point the pop punk genre had completely crossed over to the mainstream. Listeners of ''Enema'' were often jock or preppy kids who were seen to be in direct opposition to the punk kids to whom this music "belonged." However with the Internet full steam ahead, the accessibility of music and the impending dot com bubble and burst on the horizon, more and more kids were downloading songs and listening to music which would have previously been outside their "domain." The result was that all subcultures became much more accessible and as such also lost their potency. The listeners of music now were also probably listening to hundreds of other bands probably overlapping several genres.
Despite, or perhaps because of this, ''Enema of the State'' became the band's most commercially successful release to date, garnering much radio airplay and widespread airing of the band's pop-parody [[music video]] for "All the Small Things". Their next album, ''[[Take off Your Pants and Jacket]]'' continued their commercial success and was similar in style to ''Enema of the State'', alternating thrashy choruses with chuggy verses and combining the catchy melodies and anthemic choruses of Green Day with ''[[American Pie (movie)|American Pie]]'' [[Toilet humour|style humour]].
Following the success of the album, major recording labels began heavily recruiting and promoting punk pop acts.
Bands such as [[Good Charlotte]] and [[Sum 41]] had hits on both sides of the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] following this mass signing of punk bands by major labels. These, as well as lesser known bands such as [[Bowling for Soup]], became prime targets for criticism. They were perceived as adding little-to-nothing to the pop punk sound that already existed and were criticised from certain quarters that viewed them as pure careerists, apeing a sound that had reached its conclusion years ago, purely to become rich and famous.