WHAT'S happened to pop-punk? The genre is virtually unrecognisable to what it was only a few years ago. Its chief protagonists have got all serious on us.

Gone are the laugh-a-long lyrics about enemas, the all-singing, all-gurning stupidity of the videos and above all its sense of mischievous fun. This transition has worked wonders for the newly-political Green Day, whose Anti-Bush album, American Idiot, was a joy, and to a lesser extent, Blink 182. For Good Charlotte, however, the energy and thrills of their breakthrough album, The Young And The Hopeless, have been replaced by morose blandness. You can't fault their ambition for creating a concept album about life and death, but it doesn't work. The catchy single Predictable is a hook-laden reminder of happier days, but The Truth is the sort of bloated piano-led drivel, that makes true pop-punk fans weep. A serious mistake.

Updated: 09:01 Thursday, November 25, 2004