Though this is not an official genre it should be, or at least a sub-genre.  Even in stores, several Pop and Mainstream Rock CDs were grouped together. At this time, 2000-2003, there were so many Rock bands and singer-song writers of Pop music that were categorized as this. Maybe the Pop had a light Rock sound. But a lot of Rock that would otherwise be called Soft Rock or even Alternative had very Pop vibes to it.

Here is one example: Lifehouse. All the songs I've heard of their's fit this sound well. Some of you may have a different way of calling this music mash up but this is what I have always called it.

There were a few songs in the late 90's that were of this kind, such as "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain, who is an Indie Rock artist. Sugar Ray had a few big hits as well. They are known for this style when they were actually metal and punk before "Fly".
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The new blink-182 album is red hot, but I'll always go back to

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I heard Hanging By A Moment a few weeks ago on the classic rock radio station. It was trippy! ;D

The only true distinction of early 2000s pop rock versus late 90s pop rock is that grunge made a resurgence in popularity and became much more commercial and no longer targeted at Gen-X at all. Oleander's "Why I'm Here" is pretty much the last significant 90s-style post-grunge airplay hit, while Creed's "Higher" inaugurated the 2000s era of post-grunge, which lasted all the way to 2010. Bands like Hole, Garbage, and the Smashing Pumpkins, which were still huge in the late 90s, were finally fading from the charts while the new generation of post-grunge bands like Staind, 3 Doors Down, Fuel, and Nickelback overtook them.

While pop punk was overall much more popular in the early 2000s than the late 90s, it wasn't stylistically that different from the late 90s, as Jordan has pointed out several times. The Ataris' Anywhere but Here and Look Forward to Failure, blink-182's Dude Ranch and Enema of the State, Green Day's Nimrod, and the Offspring's Americana were all pretty close to what dominated the early 2000s.

If you're focusing on independent rock, things get a little more interesting, as this was when groups like the White Stripes, the Strokes, Modest Mouse, Wilco, and the like were growing in popularity. Radiohead also released Kid A, a huge influence to indie music later in the decade.

Wasn't this the era of Nu-Metal  8-P

Wasn't this the era of Nu-Metal  8-P


Yep, the Nu-Metal genre was huge in the late 1990s and early 2000s.


The only true distinction of early 2000s pop rock versus late 90s pop rock is that grunge made a resurgence in popularity and became much more commercial and no longer targeted at Gen-X at all. Oleander's "Why I'm Here" is pretty much the last significant 90s-style post-grunge airplay hit, while Creed's "Higher" inaugurated the 2000s era of post-grunge, which lasted all the way to 2010. Bands like Hole, Garbage, and the Smashing Pumpkins, which were still huge in the late 90s, were finally fading from the charts while the new generation of post-grunge bands like Staind, 3 Doors Down, Fuel, and Nickelback overtook them.

While pop punk was overall much more popular in the early 2000s than the late 90s, it wasn't stylistically that different from the late 90s, as Jordan has pointed out several times. The Ataris' Anywhere but Here and Look Forward to Failure, blink-182's Dude Ranch and Enema of the State, Green Day's Nimrod, and the Offspring's Americana were all pretty close to what dominated the early 2000s.

If you're focusing on independent rock, things get a little more interesting, as this was when groups like the White Stripes, the Strokes, Modest Mouse, Wilco, and the like were growing in popularity. Radiohead also released Kid A, a huge influence to indie music later in the decade.


Yeah, late 1990s and early 2000s pop rock sounded pretty similar. I didn't even notice the distinctions that you were able to point out. With independent rock the it's easy to see how the music had a distinct sound mainly since indies do quite a bit of experimentation with their music. Although I must admit that my knowledge of early 2000s indie rock is limited.