title: Bombyx mori

text: Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous, since they can eat other species of "Morus", as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the larval phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.


title: Bombyx mori

text: After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few—the Bombycidae, in particular the genus "Bombyx", and the Saturniidae, in particular the genus "Antheraea"—have been exploited for fabric production.


title: Bombyx mori

text: If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon and through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which seriously reduces the value of the silk threads, although these damaged silk cocoons are still used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets, etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.


title: Bombyx mori

text: As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larva, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute, and an extension of this principle has led to the modern production practice known as Ahimsa silk, which is wild silk (from wild and semiwild silk moths) made from the cocoons of moths that are allowed to emerge before the silk is harvested.


title: Bombyx mori

text: The moth – the adult phase of the lifecycle – is not capable of functional flight, in contrast to the wild "B. mandarina" and other "Bombyx" species, whose males fly to meet females and for evasion from predators. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved. This is because their bodies are too big and heavy for their small wings. Silk moths have a wingspan of and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (for they are carrying many eggs), but are similarly colored. Adult Bombycidae have reduced mouthparts and do not feed.


title: Bombyx mori

text: The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m (1,000 to 3,000 ft) long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 μm (0.0004 in) in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make 1 pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds (32 million kg) of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion cocoons.


title: Bombyx mori

text: Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm. One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual silkworm.


title: Bombyx mori

text: Many research works have focused on the genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described. Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide. One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet. Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. "Bombyx mori" females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.


title: Bombyx mori

text: has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.


title: Bombyx mori

text: Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.


title: Bombyx mori

text: Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the silkworms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.


title: Bombyx mori

text: Silkworms have been used in antibiotics discovery, as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models. Antibiotics such as lysocin E, a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5 and GPI0363 are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms.


title: Bombyx mori

text: In addition, antibiotics with appropriate pharmacokinetic parameters were selected that correlated with therapeutic activity in the silkworm infection model.


title: Bombyx mori

text: Silkworms have also been used for the identification of novel virulence factors of pathogenic microorganisms. A first large-scale screening using transposon mutant library of Staphylococcus aureus USA300 strain was performed which identified 8 new genes with roles in full virulence of S. aureus. Another study by the same team of researchers revealed, for the first time, the role of YjbH in virulence and oxidative stress tolerance in vivo.


title: Bombyx mori

text: The domestic species "B. mori", compared to the wild species (e.g., "B. mandarina"), has increased cocoon size, body size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has gained tolerance to human presence and handling, and also to living in crowded conditions. The domestic silk moths cannot fly, so the males need human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. The native color pigments have also been lost, so the domestic silk moths are leucistic, since camouflage is not useful when they only live in captivity. These changes have made "B. mori" entirely dependent upon humans for survival, and it does not exist in the wild. The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.


title: Bombyx mori

text: Silkworms were first domesticated in China more than 5,000 years ago. Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum output . It is second only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and crossbreeding.


title: Bombyx mori

text: Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworms from a commercial point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, and disease resistance. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage, shorter larval duration (this lessens the chance of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors, including genetics.


title: Bombyx mori

text: In the U.S., teachers may sometimes introduce the insect life cycle to their students by raising domestic silk moths in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete life cycles of insects from eggs to larvae to pupae to moths.


title: Bombyx mori

text: The domestic silk moth has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs, creating a non-commercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the life cycle of silk moths. The practice of raising silk moths by children as pets has, in non-silk farming South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silk moths, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species. However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.


title: Bombyx mori

text: The full genome of the domestic silk moth was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium. Draft sequences were published in 2004.


title: Bombyx mori

text: High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silk moths, though this is less than that among wild silk moths (about 83 percent of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild silkworms having been collected for domestication. Major questions, however, remain unanswered, according to Jun Wang, co-author of a related study published in 2008, who stated: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data", and research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.


title: Bombyx mori

text: In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress named Leizu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor, also known as Xi Lingshi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.


title: Bombyx mori

text: The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD. About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.


title: Bombyx mori

text: According to a Vietnamese folk tale, silkworms were originally a beautiful housemaid running away from her gruesome masters and living in the mountain, where she was protected by the mountain god. One day, a lecherous god from the heaven came down to Earth to seduce women. When he saw her, he tried to rape her but she was able to escape and hidden by the mountain god. The lecherous god then tried to find and capture her by setting a net trap around the mountain. With the blessing of Guanyin, the girl was able to safely swallow that net into her stomach. Finally, the evil god summons his fellow thunder and rain gods to attack and burn away her clothes, forcing her to hide in a cave. Naked and cold, she spit out the net and used it as a blanket to sleep. The girl died in her sleep, and as she wished to continue to help other people, her soul turned into silkworms.


title: Bombyx mori

text: "Bombyx mori" is essentially monophagous, exclusively eating mulberry leaves ("Morus" spp.). By developing techniques for using artificial diets, the amino acids needed for development are known. The various amino acids can be classified into five categories:


title: Bagpipes

text: Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Northern Africa, Western Asia, around the Persian Gulf and northern parts of South Asia.


title: Bagpipes

text: The term "bagpipe" is equally correct in the singular or the plural, though pipers usually refer to the bagpipes as "the pipes", "a set of pipes" or "a stand of pipes".


title: Bagpipes

text: A set of bagpipes minimally consists of an air supply, a bag, a chanter, and usually at least one drone. Many bagpipes have more than one drone (and, sometimes, more than one chanter) in various combinations, held in place in stocks—sockets that fasten the various pipes to the bag.


title: Bagpipes

text: The most common method of supplying air to the bag is through blowing into a blowpipe or blowstick. In some pipes the player must cover the tip of the blowpipe with their tongue while inhaling, but most blowpipes have a non-return valve that eliminates this need. In recent times, there are many instruments that assist in creating a clean air flow to the pipes and assist the collection of condensation.


title: Bagpipes

text: The use of a bellows to supply air is an innovation dating from the 16th or 17th century. In these pipes, sometimes called "cauld wind pipes," air is not heated or moistened by the player's breathing, so bellows-driven bagpipes can use more refined or delicate reeds. Such pipes include the Irish uilleann pipes; the border or Lowland pipes, Scottish smallpipes, Northumbrian smallpipes and pastoral pipes in Britain; the musette de cour, the musette bechonnet and the cabrette in France; and the , koziol bialy, and koziol czarny in Poland.


title: Bagpipes

text: The bag is an airtight reservoir that holds air and regulates its flow via arm pressure, allowing the player to maintain continuous, even sound. The player keeps the bag inflated by blowing air into it through a blowpipe or by pumping air into it with a bellows. Materials used for bags vary widely, but the most common are the skins of local animals such as goats, dogs, sheep, and cows. More recently, bags made of synthetic materials including Gore-Tex have become much more common. Some synthetic bags have zips that allow the player to fit a more effective moisture trap to the inside of the bag. However, synthetic bags carry risk of colonisation by fungal spores, and the associated danger of lung infection, because they require less cleaning than do bags made from natural substances.


title: Bagpipes

text: Bags cut from larger materials are usually saddle-stitched with an extra strip folded over the seam and stitched (for skin bags) or glued (for synthetic bags) to reduce leaks. Holes are then cut to accommodate the stocks. In the case of bags made from largely intact animal skins, the stocks are typically tied into the points where the limbs and the head joined the body of the whole animal, a construction technique common in Central Europe.


title: Bagpipes

text: The chanter is the melody pipe, played with two hands. All bagpipes have at least one chanter; some pipes have two chanters, particularly those in North Africa, in the Balkans, and in Southwest Asia. A chanter can be bored internally so that the inside walls are parallel (or "cylindrical") for its full length, or it can be bored in a conical shape.


title: Bagpipes

text: The chanter is usually open-ended, so there is no easy way for the player to stop the pipe from sounding. Thus most bagpipes share a constant legato sound with no rests in the music. Primarily because of this inability to stop playing, technical movements are made to break up notes and to create the illusion of articulation and accents. Because of their importance, these embellishments (or "ornaments") are often highly technical systems specific to each bagpipe, and take many years of study to master. A few bagpipes (such as the musette de cour, the uilleann pipes, the Northumbrian smallpipes, the piva and the left chanter of the surdelina) have closed ends or stop the end on the player's leg, so that when the player "closes" (covers all the holes), the chanter becomes silent.


title: Bagpipes

text: A practice chanter is a chanter without bag or drones and has a much quieter reed, allowing a player to practice the instrument quietly and with no variables other than playing the chanter.


title: Bagpipes

text: The term "chanter" is derived from the Latin "cantare", or "to sing", much like the modern French word "chanteur".


title: Bagpipes

text: The note from the chanter is produced by a reed installed at its top. The reed may be a single (a reed with one vibrating tongue) or double reed (of two pieces that vibrate against each other). Double reeds are used with both conical- and parallel-bored chanters while single reeds are generally (although not exclusively) limited to parallel-bored chanters. In general, double-reed chanters are found in pipes of Western Europe while single-reed chanters appear in most other regions.


title: Bagpipes

text: Most bagpipes have at least one drone, a pipe that generally is not fingered but rather produces a constant harmonizing note throughout play (usually the tonic note of the chanter). Exceptions are generally those pipes that have a double-chanter instead. A drone is most commonly a cylindrically bored tube with a single reed, although drones with double reeds exist. The drone is generally designed in two or more parts with a sliding joint so that the pitch of the drone can be adjusted.


title: Bagpipes

text: Depending on the type of pipes, the drones may lie over the shoulder, across the arm opposite the bag, or may run parallel to the chanter. Some drones have a tuning screw, which effectively alters the length of the drone by opening a hole, allowing the drone to be tuned to two or more distinct pitches. The tuning screw may also shut off the drone altogether. In most types of pipes with one drone, it is pitched two octaves below the tonic of the chanter. Additional drones often add the octave below and then a drone consonant with the fifth of the chanter.


title: Bagpipes

text: The evidence for bagpipes prior to the 13th century AD is still uncertain, but several textual and visual clues have been suggested. The "Oxford History of Music" posits that a sculpture of bagpipes has been found on a Hittite slab at Euyuk in Anatolia, dated to 1000 BC. Another interpretation of this sculpture suggests that it instead depicts a pan flute played along with a friction drum.


title: Bagpipes

text: Several authors identify the ancient Greek (ἀσκός "askos" – wine-skin, αὐλός "aulos" – reed pipe) with the bagpipe. In the 2nd century AD, Suetonius described the Roman emperor Nero as a player of the "tibia utricularis". Dio Chrysostom wrote in the 1st century of a contemporary sovereign (possibly Nero) who could play a pipe (tibia, Roman reedpipes similar to Greek and Etruscan instruments) with his mouth as well as by tucking a bladder beneath his armpit. Vereno suggests that such instruments, rather than being seen as an independent class, were understood as variants on mouth-blown instruments that used a bag as an alternative blowing aid and that it was not until drones were added in the European Medieval era that bagpipes were seen as a distinct class.


title: Bagpipes

text: In the early part of the second millennium, representation of bagpipes began to appear with frequency in Western European art and iconography. The Cantigas de Santa Maria, written in Galician-Portuguese and compiled in Castile in the mid-13th century, depicts several types of bagpipes. Several illustrations of bagpipes also appear in the "Chronique dite de Baudoin d’Avesnes", a 13th-century manuscript of northern French origin. Although evidence of bagpipes in the British Isles prior to the 14th century is contested, they are explicitly mentioned in "The Canterbury Tales" (written around 1380):


title: Bagpipes

text: Bagpipes were also frequent subjects for carvers of wooden choir stalls in the late 15th and early 16th century throughout Europe, sometimes with animal musicians.


title: Bagpipes

text: Actual specimens of bagpipes from before the 18th century are extremely rare; however, a substantial number of paintings, carvings, engravings, and manuscript illuminations survive. These artifacts are clear evidence that bagpipes varied widely throughout Europe, and even within individual regions. Many examples of early folk bagpipes in continental Europe can be found in the paintings of Brueghel, Teniers, Jordaens, and Durer.


title: Bagpipes

text: The earliest known artifact identified as a part of a bagpipe is a chanter found in 1985 at Rostock, Germany, that has been dated to the late 14th century or the first quarter of the 15th century.


title: Bagpipes

text: The first clear reference to the use of the Scottish Highland bagpipes is from a French history that mentions their use at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. George Buchanan (1506–82) claimed that bagpipes had replaced the trumpet on the battlefield. This period saw the creation of the "ceòl mór" (great music) of the bagpipe, which reflected its martial origins, with battle tunes, marches, gatherings, salutes and laments. The Highlands of the early 17th century saw the development of piping families including the MacCrimmonds, MacArthurs, MacGregors, and the Mackays of Gairloch.


title: Bagpipes

text: The first probable reference to the Irish bagpipe is from 1544, a mention attributing their use to Irish troops in Henry VIII's siege of Boulogne. Illustrations in the 1581 book "The Image of Irelande" by John Derricke clearly depict a bagpiper. Derricke's illustrations are considered to be reasonably faithful depictions of the attire and equipment of the English and Irish population of the 16th century.


title: Bagpipes

text: The "Battell" sequence from "My Ladye Nevells Booke" (1591) by William Byrd, which probably alludes to the Irish wars of 1578, contains a piece entitled "The bagpipe: & the drone". In 1760, the first serious study of the Scottish Highland bagpipe and its music was attempted in Joseph MacDonald's "Compleat Theory". A manuscript from the 1730s by a William Dixon of Northumberland contains music that fits the border pipes, a nine-note bellows-blown bagpipe with a chanter similar to that of the modern Great Highland bagpipe. However, the music in Dixon's manuscript varied greatly from modern Highland bagpipe tunes, consisting mostly of extended variation sets of common dance tunes. Some of the tunes in the Dixon manuscript correspond to those found in the early 19th century manuscript sources of Northumbrian smallpipe tunes, notably the rare book of 50 tunes, many with variations, by John Peacock.


title: Bagpipes

text: As Western classical music developed, both in terms of musical sophistication and instrumental technology, bagpipes in many regions fell out of favour because of their limited range and function. This triggered a long, slow decline that continued, in most cases, into the 20th century.


title: Bagpipes

text: Extensive and documented collections of traditional bagpipes may be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the International Bagpipe Museum in Gijón, Spain, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England and the Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum in Northumberland, and the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.


title: Bagpipes

text: During the expansion of the British Empire, spearheaded by British military forces that included Highland regiments, the Scottish Great Highland bagpipe became well-known worldwide. This surge in popularity was boosted by large numbers of pipers trained for military service in World War I and World War II. This coincided with a decline in the popularity of many traditional forms of bagpipe throughout Europe, which began to be displaced by instruments from the classical tradition and later by gramophone and radio.


title: Bagpipes

text: As pipers were easily identifiable, combat losses were high, estimated at one thousand in World War I. A front line role was prohibited following high losses in the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1943, though a few later instances occurred.


title: Bagpipes

text: In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Nations such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia, the Great Highland bagpipe is commonly used in the military and is often played during formal ceremonies. Foreign militaries patterned after the British army have also adopted the Highland bagpipe, including those of Uganda, Sudan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Jordan, and Oman. Many police and fire services in Scotland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and the United States have also adopted the tradition of fielding pipe bands.


title: Bagpipes

text: In recent years, often driven by revivals of native folk music and dance, many types of bagpipes have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity and, in many cases, instruments that had fallen into obscurity have become extremely popular. In Brittany, the Great Highland bagpipe and concept of the pipe band were appropriated to create a Breton interpretation known as the bagad. The pipe-band idiom has also been adopted and applied to the Galician gaita as well. Bagpipes have often been used in various films depicting moments from Scottish and Irish history; the film "Braveheart" and the theatrical show "Riverdance" have served to make the uilleann pipes more commonly known.


title: Bagpipes

text: Bagpipes are sometimes played at formal events at Commonwealth universities, particularly in Canada. Because of Scottish influences on the sport of curling, bagpipes are also the official instrument of the World Curling Federation and are commonly played during a ceremonial procession of teams before major curling championships.


title: Bagpipes

text: Bagpipe making was once a craft that produced instruments in many distinctive, local and traditional styles. Today, the world's largest producer of the instrument is Pakistan, where the industry was worth $6.8 million in 2010. In the late 20th century, various models of electronic bagpipes were invented. The first custom-built MIDI bagpipes were developed by the Asturian piper known as Hevia (José Ángel Hevia Velasco).


title: Bagpipes

text: Astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is thought to be the first person to play the bagpipes in outer space, having played "Amazing Grace" in tribute to late research scientist Victor Hurst aboard the International Space Station in November 2015.


title: Bagpipes

text: Traditionally, one of the purposes of the bagpipe was to provide music for dancing. This has declined with the growth of dance bands, recordings, and the decline of traditional dance. In turn, this has led to many types of pipes developing a performance-led tradition, and indeed much modern music based on the dance music tradition played on bagpipes is suitable for use as dance music.


title: Bagpipes

text: Numerous types of bagpipes today are widely spread across Europe and the Middle East, as well as through much of the former British Empire. The name bagpipe has almost become synonymous with its best-known form, the Great Highland bagpipe, overshadowing the great number and variety of traditional forms of bagpipe. Despite the decline of these other types of pipes over the last few centuries, in recent years many of these pipes have seen a resurgence or revival as musicians have sought them out; for example, the Irish piping tradition, which by the mid 20th century had declined to a handful of master players is today alive, well, and flourishing, a situation similar to that of the Asturian gaita, the Galician gaita, the Portuguese gaita transmontana, the Aragonese gaita de boto, Northumbrian smallpipes, the Breton biniou, the Balkan gaida, the Romanian cimpoi, the Black Sea tulum, the Scottish smallpipes and pastoral pipes, as well as other varieties.


title: Bagpipes

text: Since the 1960s, bagpipes have also made appearances in other forms of music, including rock, metal, jazz, hip-hop, punk, and classical music, for example with Paul McCartney's "Mull of Kintyre", AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)", and Peter Maxwell Davies's composition "An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise".


title: Pop punk

text: Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other punk-variant genres by drawing more heavily from 1960s bands such as the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Beach Boys. The genre has evolved throughout its history, absorbing elements from new wave, college rock, ska, rap, emo, and boy bands. It is sometimes considered interchangeable with power pop and skate punk.


title: Pop punk

text: Pop punk emerged in the late 1970s with groups such as the Ramones, the Undertones, and the Buzzcocks. 1980s punk bands like Bad Religion, Descendents and the Misfits were influential to pop punk, and it expanded in the 1980s and early 1990s by a host of bands signed to Lookout! Records, including Screeching Weasel, the Queers, and the Mr. T Experience. In the mid–late 1990s, the genre saw a massive widespread popularity increase with bands like Green Day, the Offspring and Blink-182. The genre was further popularized by the Warped Tour. Pop punk's popularity continued throughout the early 2000s, with artists such as Avril Lavigne, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Sum 41, Good Charlotte and New Found Glory achieving various levels of critical and commercial success.


title: Pop punk

text: In the mid–late 2000s, pop punk acts were largely indistinguishable from artists tagged as "emo", to the extent that emo crossover acts such as Fall Out Boy and Paramore popularized a punk pop style dubbed emo pop. By the 2010s, pop punk's mainstream popularity had waned, with rock bands and guitar-centric music becoming rare on dance-focused pop radio. During this period, however, a wave of underground artists defined a rawer and more emotional take on the genre, namely the Story so Far, the Wonder Years and Neck Deep. In the early 2020s, a new crop of pop punk music began experiencing mainstream resurgence with various new acts such as Machine Gun Kelly, KennyHoopla and Yungblud.


title: Pop punk

text: Pop punk is variously described as a punk subgenre, a variation of punk, a form of pop music, and a genre antithetical to punk in a similar manner as post-punk. It has evolved stylistically throughout its history, absorbing elements from new wave, college rock, ska, rap, emo, and boy bands. Writers at "The A.V. Club" described pop punk as a punk subgenre that has "essentially been around as long as punk itself" with roots in the "classic pop of the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Beach Boys, often pitting sweet harmonies against bratty, rowdy riffs." According to Ryan Cooper of About.com, "pop punk is a style that owes more to The Beatles and '60s pop than other sub-genres of punk".


title: Pop punk

text: There is considerable overlap between power pop and pop punk, and the two styles are often conflated. Web publication "Revolver" acknowledged that, while pop punk and power pop are often presented interchangeably, "the core concept is simple — melodic songs packaged with a punk slant." In Brian Cogan's "The Encyclopedia of Punk Music and Culture" (2006) pop punk is characterized as "a catchy, faster version of power pop." AllMusic defines "punk-pop" as "a post-grunge strand of alternative rock" that combines the textures and fast tempos of punk rock with the "melodies and chord changes" of power pop. In the 1990s, there was overlap between pop punk and skate punk. Music journalist Ben Myers wrote that the two terms were synonymous.


title: Pop punk

text: Rock writer Greg Shaw, who wrote extensively about power pop and took credit for codifying the genre in the 1970s, originally defined power pop itself as a hybrid style of punk and pop. Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, who described power pop as "the greatest music on Earth that no one likes", opined that the pop punk term was an oxymoron: "You're either punk or you're not." Writing in "Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Guide to Power Pop" (2007), actor Robbie Rist felt that much of the genre merely consisted of pop bands who "add the 'punk' moniker so the kids will think they are pissing off their parents."


title: Pop punk

text: "Rolling Stone", in an article about pop punk, wrote that the term was a retroactive label for punk bands who had "always championed great songwriting alongside their anti-authoritarian stance. And punk's focus on speed, concision and three-chord simplicity is a natural fit with pop's core values." "Vice"s Jason Heller described "an open respect for the tradition and craft of pop songwriting" as a key characteristic of pop punk. Bill Lamb, also from About.com, writes that punk pop is a variant of punk music that features "a hard and fast guitar and drums base but powered by pop melodies like much of '70s punk rock." "Alter the Press!" defines pop punk as "a genre that originates from mixing punk rock with pop sensibility".


title: Pop punk

text: Lyrically, pop punk often addresses adolescent themes of lust, drugs, suburbia, and rebellion. Some pop punk lyrics focus on jokes and humor. "The New Yorker"s Amanda Petrush summarized that the "rawness" of punk pop "lies not in the music" but by conveying the "spectrum of human experience, all that longing and self-doubt."


title: Pop punk

text: Punk rock has always shared sensibilities with pop music, especially since the late 1970s. In his book "Rock and Roll: A Social History" (2018), author Paul Friedlander lists the following English artists as representative of the "new wave of pop punk synthesis" that occurred in the late 1970s: Elvis Costello and the Attractions, the Police, the Jam, Billy Idol, Joe Jackson, the Pretenders, UB40, Madness, the Specials, the English Beat. Likewise, among American acts, Friedlander references Talking Heads, Blondie, the B-52s, the Motels, and Pere Ubu.


title: Pop punk

text: Heller said that the Ramones crafted a blueprint for pop punk with their 1976 debut album, but 1978 was the year that the genre "came into its own". He noted that some bands "were unmistakably pop punk bands by today's definition of the term, but in 1978, the distinction wasn't so clear. Plenty of punk groups of the era threw a token pop tune or two into their set—sometimes for ironic effect, other times earnestly." Heller also acknowledged that many "burgeoning pop punk groups in 1978 bordered on power-pop, a parallel genre on the rise at the time. But power-pop began earlier, and it was a more American phenomenon". Among the influential pop punk bands of the late 1970s were the Buzzcocks. An "LA Weekly" writer later referred to the band's 1979 compilation album "Singles Going Steady" as "the blueprint for punk rock bands preferring tuneful tales of lost love and longing to rage against the machine." Cooper similarly cited the album as one of punk's most influential and added that Buzzcocks' "pop overtones [led] them to be a primary influence on today's pop punk bands.". Heller referred to the Undertones as "the most subversive band" of the genre during this period, particularly their 1978 single "Teenage Kicks", "one of the most striking and definitive pop punk classics."


title: Pop punk

text: Bad Religion, formed in 1979, helped to lay the groundwork for the pop punk style that emerged in the 1990s. They and some of the other leading bands in Southern California's hardcore punk scene emphasized a more melodic approach than was typical of their peers. According to Myers, Bad Religion "layered their pissed off, politicized sound with the smoothest of harmonies". Myers added that another band, the Descendents, "wrote almost surfy, Beach Boys-inspired songs about girls and food and being young(ish)". Their positive yet sarcastic approach began to separate them from the more serious hardcore scene. The Descendents' 1982 debut LP "Milo Goes to College" provided the template for the United States' take on the more melodic strains of first wave punk. Many pop punk bands, including Blink-182, cite the Descendents as a major influence. Descendents paved the way for future pop punk bands with their themes of hating parents, struggling to find a girlfriend, and social alienation. Horror punk band The Misfits also influenced pop punk with their 1982 album "Walk Among Us", which was a forerunner to later pop punk music with the album's vocal harmonies and pop-inspired melodies. The Misfits' gothic image inspired later pop punk bands like Alkaline Trio and My Chemical Romance. Marginal Man was a Washington D.C. hardcore punk band who mixed hardcore punk with melodic chord progressions and clean, melodic singing, being influenced by power pop, jangle pop and new wave music.


title: Pop punk

text: During the late 1980s and early 1990s, pop punk bands such as Green Day, the Queers, The Mr. T Experience and Screeching Weasel emerged from the record label Lookout! Records with a sound indebted to Buzzcocks, the Ramones, and the Undertones. In August 1992, early 1990s California punk rock and pop punk was noticed by the magazine "Spin" when the magazine published a story called "California Screamin'", which is about the early 1990s underground punk rock scene in California, mentioning pop punk bands like Screeching Weasel and Green Day. Screeching Weasel's 1991 album "My Brain Hurts" influenced many subsequent pop punk bands, with bands like Blink-182, Allister and Alkaline Trio citing them as an influence. Social Distortion, known for playing genres like traditional punk and cowpunk, achieved moderate success starting in the early 1990s prior to the 1994 mainstream explosion of pop punk. The band's self-titled album (1990) and "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell" (1992) both eventually were certified gold in the United States.


title: Pop punk

text: In the wake of Nirvana and Grunge breaking through in the early 1990's, California's Green Day and Bad Religion were both signed to major labels in 1993, and by 1994, pop punk was quickly growing in mainstream popularity. Many punk rock and pop punk bands originated from the California punk scene of the late 1980s, and several of those bands, especially Green Day and the Offspring, helped revive interest in punk rock in the 1990s. Green Day arose from the 924 Gilman Street punk scene in Berkeley, California. After building an underground following, the band signed to Reprise Records and released their major-label debut album, "Dookie", in 1994. "Dookie" sold four million copies by the year's end and spawned several radio singles that received extensive MTV rotation, three of which peaked at number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Green Day's enormous commercial success paved the way for other North American pop punk bands in the following decade. In 1999, "Dookie" was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The Offspring also achieved mainstream success in 1994 with their album "Smash" being certified 6× platinum by the RIAA.


title: Pop punk

text: MTV and radio stations such as Los Angeles' KROQ-FM played a major role in the genre's mainstream success. The Warped Tour brought punk even further into the United States mainstream. With punk rock's renewed visibility came concerns among some in the punk subculture that the music was being co-opted by the mainstream. Some punk rock fans criticized Green Day for "selling out" and rejected their music as too soft, pop-oriented and not legitimate punk rock. They argued that by signing to major labels and appearing on MTV, bands like Green Day were buying into a system that punk was created to challenge.


title: Pop punk

text: In 1999, Blink-182 achieved mainstream success with "Enema of the State". In the description of journalist Matt Crane, the record initiated "a new wave of pop punk". He added, "At any given time in the late ’90s/early 2000s, it was not uncommon to see Blink-182 and Sum 41 on MTV. You couldn't escape it. Pop punk was "in", and it became the undisputed mainstream choice." Lamb described second-wave pop punk bands, led by Blink-182, as having "a radio friendly sheen to their music, but still maintaining much of the speed and attitude of classic punk rock". "Enema of the State" was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA and its song "All the Small Things" peaked at number six on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Sum 41's debut album All Killer No Filler was certified triple platinum in their home country of Canada. Its song "Fat Lip" peaked at number one on the US Billboard alternative airplay chart and number eight on the UK singles chart.


title: Pop punk

text: Around this time the genre saw the rise of the "Drive-Thru Records Era", where a number of bands that were signed to independent record labels gained mainstream attention, namely those on Drive-Thru Records. This included bands such as New Found Glory, Allister, Fenix TX, the Early November, Something Corporate, the Starting Line, Midtown, Hellogoodbye, Rx Bandits and the Movielife. A 2017 article by Upset Magazine called New Found Glory "pop punk's most consistent and influential bands for 20 years" and the Starting Line's song "Best of Me" was cited by Alternative Press as one of the most influential songs in the genre.


title: Pop punk

text: Avril Lavigne's 2002 album "Let Go" set a precedent for the success of female-fronted punk pop acts. Journalist Nick Laugher wrote that it was "undeniable" that the record launched pop punk into the mainstream, "blurring the lines with it and straight-up pop music, and making it more of a cultural movement than a genre." Other critics and publications noticed that because of Lavigne's punk-driven-pop anthems, she has earned the reputation as the genre's "queen". For her part, Lavigne preferred to describe her music as "heavy pop rock", rather than punk. Other pop punk bands that achieved popularity include Good Charlotte, Simple Plan and MxPx. Good Charlotte's 2002 album "The Young and the Hopeless" went triple platinum. Simple Plan's 2002 debut album "No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls" was certified double platinum and its 2004 follow-up "Still Not Getting Any..." went platinum.


title: Pop punk

text: In the United Kingdom, Busted and McFly gained notability through merging pop punk musicality with boy band aesthetics. Busted's 2002 self-titled debut album was certified 4× platinum and their second album "A Present for Everyone" was certified 3× platinum. McFly's 2004 debut album "Room on the 3rd Floor" peaked at number one on the UK albums chart and was certified 2× platinum.


title: Pop punk

text: As emo pop's merger of pop punk and emo coalesced, the record label Fueled by Ramen became a center of the movement, releasing platinum selling albums from bands like Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco and Paramore. Fall Out Boy's 2005 song "Sugar, We're Goin Down" received heavy airplay, climbing to number eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 music charts. Plain White T's was another Illinois emo pop band that received major mainstream success. Their album "Every Second Counts" (2006) went number 10 on the Billboard 200 charts and featured their number one single "Hey There Delilah". New Jersey band My Chemical Romance was one of the faces of emo pop during the 2000s. MCR's albums "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" (2004) and "The Black Parade" (2006) both sold more than 3 million copies in the US alone. The latter of the albums debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 charts. The album's lead single "Welcome to the Black Parade" topped the US Alternative Songs chart and reached number 9 on the Billboard hot 100. Taking Back Sunday's third album "Louder Now" (2006) debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 charts.


title: Pop punk

text: According to "Brooklyn Vegan"s Andrew Sacher, after the success of "hugely popular" 2000s bands such as Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and My Chemical Romance, "the line between pop punk and emo look[ed] close to nonexistent." Several pop punk bands took different directions in the late 2000s, with Panic! at the Disco crafting the Beatles-inspired, baroque-styled record "Pretty. Odd." (2008) and Fall Out Boy experimenting with glam rock, blues rock and R&B on "Folie a Deux" (2008), both of which created fan confusion and backlash. "Folie a Deux" sold worse than their preceding albums, a representation of the backlash from their fanbase as the group experimented with a musical style differing from their pop punk background.


title: Pop punk

text: The late-2000s also saw the pioneering of neon pop punk, a style of pop punk that embraced more elements of pop and electronic music than was traditional in the genre. Popular groups in the style at the time included All Time Low, the Maine, the Cab, Metro Station, Boys Like Girls, Cobra Starship and Forever the Sickest Kids. Metro Station's 2007 single "Shake It" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. All Time Low's 2008 single "Dear Maria, Count Me In" is certified double platinum in the United States, and their 2009 album "Nothing Personal" peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Digital Albums chart. The Maine's 2008 debut album "Can't Stop Won't Stop" peaked at number 9 on the Billboard digital albums chart. Cobra Starship's 2009 album "Hot Mess" reached number 4 on the Billboard 200. Boys Like Girls' 2009 second album "Love Drunk" peaked at number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart.


title: Pop punk

text: Pop punk lost its mainstream popularity in the early 2010s, with rock bands and guitars becoming rare on dance-focused pop radio. Some acts, such as New Found Glory, have seen concert attendance numbers decrease steadily. Devon Maloney of MTV wrote that "Pop punk and emo bands don't headline Coachella or Bonnaroo; they rarely, if ever, are even billed on mainstream festival stages," and notes that it has similarly disappeared from the press. The only magazines that feature pop punk bands are niche publications like "Alternative Press" and the occasional teen magazine, while influential pop punk magazine "AMP" ceased publication in 2013. The decline in mainstream popularity for the genre, coupled with the closure of many mid-size venues associated with it, has resulted in many venues and labels returning to the DIY ethic that first spawned the punk movement.


title: Pop punk

text: By 2012, pop punk bands that had achieved minimal mainstream success had seen a return to grassroots form, "the micro-operation style that yielded the results that caught the mainstream's attention in the first place." Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory wrote in an op-ed for "Alternative Press" entitled "Why Pop Punk's Not Dead—And Why It Still Matters Today": "This isn't a dead genre, and just because there isn't a song on the radio to clarify that shouldn't matter. ... Pop punk means something to a lot of people and to me, having success as a band in our genre is about longevity, touring a lot and staying true to your fans."


title: Pop punk

text: By the 2010s, many pop punk bands had folded; "once essentially child stars, their members are now adult musicians hoping to move beyond the teen trappings that gave them careers." Fall Out Boy and Paramore, two groups that achieved mainstream success within the genre, had two number one albums—"Save Rock and Roll" and "Paramore"—side by side on the "Billboard" 200. Fall Out Boy along with other pop punk bands that peaked during the mid-2000s began experimenting with the more pop side of pop punk, in order to maintain their relevancy and keep the interest of their fanbase while gaining the appeal of the newer generations that may not relate as much to the punk themes of the 1970s. Their popularity provoked conversations about the state of the genre; Maloney opined that these records could not be viewed as pop punk.


title: Pop punk

text: In the early 2010s, a new wave of pop punk groups emerged, fronted by the Wonder Years, State Champs, Neck Deep, Real Friends and Knuckle Puck. Dave Beech of "Clash" noted that these groups were "[d]arker and more mature" than those previously, taking influence "and occasional indifference" from , music commentator Finn McKenty also cited the influence from hardcore punk as being prominent during this period. On the Wonder Years' "The Upsides" (2010), vocalist Dan Campbell sung about "His early twenties soul-searching and tales of strife" which "resonated with a [new] generation, inspiring countless imitators in the process." This pushed Campbell to "the forefront of a new wave", and the album influencing a new wave of pop punk bands. "Rock Sound" included The Wonder Years' "The Greatest Generation" on their best albums of 2013 list, calling it "the defining album of what may well have been the genre's best year for a decade." "Kerrang!" said the album "ripped up the pop punk blueprint" pushing the genre to "new peaks of invention, both lyrically and musically." The Story So Far's "What You Don't See" (2013) "cemented their place at the top table of nu pop punk". In early 2014, Welsh band Neck Deep released their debut album "Wishful Thinking", which "Rock Sound" later called it "the greatest UK pop punk record of "all time"." During this period, Man Overboard's "Defend Pop Punk" shirt design, which featured an AK-47, became a popular symbol of the scene, to the extent that a number of publication have posthumously described this period as the "Defend Pop Punk Era".


title: Pop punk

text: Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer's 2014 self titled album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and in many other countries, and received what the Guardian journalist Harriet Gibsone described as "the kind of mania only ever granted to a massive boyband". However, the band's status as pop punk was controversial, "Alternative Press" described the band as important to the marketing of the pop punk scene, whereas in a Clash magazine interview with Terry Bezer, he described them as "not pop punk... [but] a valuable gateway for young kids to begin taking their first steps towards bands of... more substance." Around this time, a number of other pop punk-influence pop artists gained mainstream attention, including Charli XCX and Halsey.


title: Pop punk

text: Several pop punk bands have embarked on anniversary tours in the early to mid-2010s, playing some of their most popular albums in full. While some members of these bands have had mixed feelings about these performances, quite often these tours sell as well as or better than the first time around. Club promoters in the UK have created nights based around lasting appreciation of the genre. The Warped Tour still attracts hundreds of thousands of attendees each year; the 2012 tour attracted 556,000 festival-goers, its third-best attendance. Bobby Olivier of "The Star-Ledger" wrote: "The genre ... continues to reinvent itself and Warped is pop punk's prom."


title: Pop punk

text: In 2016, "Rolling Stone" reported that pop punk was "still one of the most predominant and popular rock genres". The magazine conducted a reader's poll for the "10 Best Pop Punk Albums of All Time" that ultimately included Green Day ("Dookie", "American Idiot", "Nimrod"), Blink-182 ("Enema of the State", "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket", "Dude Ranch"), the Ramones ("Ramones"), the Offspring ("Smash"), Jimmy Eat World ("Bleed American"), and Generation X ("Valley of the Dolls").


title: Pop punk

text: In the late 2010s, the genre was influential on the development of emo rap. Many emo rappers gained mainstream attention during this period. In particular, Lil Peep, Lil Uzi Vert, Juice WRLD and XXXTentacion were all vocal about their love for and influence from pop punk. Emo rapper Wicca Phase Springs Eternal was even a member of the influential 2010s pop punk band Tigers Jaw. This brought about a revived interest in the genre in popular culture, leading to a number notable artists beginning to release pop punk songs towards the end of the decade. Emo rapper Lil Aaron and pop singer Kim Petras released the pop punk song "Anymore" on September 5, 2018. On 13 February 2019, Yungblud and pop singer Halsey released the pop punk song "11 Minutes" featuring Travis Barker. The song was certified gold in the United States, peaked at number one on the Billboard Bubbling under Top 100 chart and was performed at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards. On June 7, 2019, Machine Gun Kelly, who had been established as a rapper for over a decade, released the pop punk song "I Think I'm Okay" featuring Yungblud and Travis Barker. His first release in the genre, the song was nominated at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards and was certified platinum within a year. On July 12, 2019, Cold Hart and Yawns of the influential emo rap collective GothBoiClique, released the pop punk album "Good Morning Cruel World" and on September 18, 2019, emo rapper Lil Tracy released the pop punk song "Beautiful Nightmare".


title: Pop punk

text: An October 2019 article by Mic cited emo rap as bringing an interest to a new wave of pop punk groups like Stand Atlantic, Doll Skin, Waterparks and rapper Vic Mensa's band 93PUNX. Alternative Press also cited English bands Trash Boat, Boston Manor and As It Is as making "significant contributions to the latest revival era".


title: Pop punk

text: In September 2020, Machine Gun Kelly released his fifth studio album "Tickets To My Downfall", his first entirely pop punk album. The album debuted at number 1 on the "Billboard 200" chart, becoming the first rock album to top this chart since Tool's "Fear Inoculum" in September 2019. The Evening Standard credited the album as "bridg[ing] the gap" between the modern pop punk scene and the mainstream interest that developed from the emo rap scene. "My Ex's Best Friend", a song from "Tickets to My Downfall", has since peaked at number 21 on Billboard Hot 100. Because of this, a number of media outlets began crediting him with leading a pop punk revival.


title: Pop punk

text: An article by "Kerrang!" credited Machine Gun Kelly as well as Yungblud as bringing the genre back to mainstream attention. In addition to this, the publication cited the app TikTok as one of the key factors, as videos tagged #poppunk had received 400 million views by January 21, 2021. On the app, viral trends took place using tracks from pop punk bands like All Time Low, Simple Plan and Paramore. Some popular TikTok content creators even began releasing music in the genre around this time. Notably, TikToker Jxdn began releasing pop punk music in February 2020, while LilHuddy did the same the following year. This led "Polygon" to term this new wave of artists "TikTokcore". "Spin" writer Al Shipley described pop punk and its new association with hip hop as 2020's "commercial juggernaut".


title: Pop punk

text: "Our Culture Mag" cited KennyHoopla as a "key player in the [return] of the genre", and Kerrang! called him the "leader of pop punk's new generation". Olivia Rodrigo's 2021 pop-punk song "Good 4 U" peaked at number one on the Billboard singles chart, which according to "Slate" magazine, made it "rock's first hot 100 number 1 in years". Publications such as "the Face", "the Independent" and "USA Today" cited this wave as having an increased diversity of sexuality, race and gender when compared to prior eras. A February 2021 article by Louder Sound cited artists like Meet Me at the Altar, Yours Truly, Noah Finnce and Jxdn as "reinventing pop-punk for 2021".


title: Pop punk

text: Emo pop became popular in the mid-2000s, with record labels such as Fueled by Ramen releasing platinum albums from bands including Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Paramore. Maloney wrote: "While many pop punk fans adamantly deny any association between their favorite acts and those labeled "emo," crossover bands who melded the two have gradually put both genres in the same scene-boat."


title: Pop punk

text: Easycore (less commonly known as popcore, dudecore, softcore, happy hardcore, and EZ) is a genre that merges pop punk with elements of metalcore.


title: Pop punk

text: It often makes use of breakdowns, screamed vocals, major key progressions and riffs and synthesizers. The genre's roots come from early 2000s pop punk groups Sum 41 and New Found Glory. New Found Glory's self-titled and "Stick and Stones" albums and Sum 41's song "Fat Lip" were some of the earliest and most influential released in the genre. The style's name originates from the 2008 "Easycore tour", which featured A Day to Remember, Four Year Strong and headliners New Found Glory, which itself was a pun based on the name of "hardcore punk".


title: Pop punk

text: Neon pop punk (also known as simply neon pop) is a form of pop-punk that emphasizes synthesizers. "Alternative Press" writer Tyler Sharp wrote that while this wasn't the first instance that "a band decided to put fuzzy keys over their chord progressions, but it was a time when that formula was perfected." Kika Chatterjee of "Alternative Press" added that the late 2000s "brought in glowing synths and poppy melodies that shifted the entire definition of [pop punk]", giving it the "neon" moniker. Sharp cited Forever the Sickest Kids' debut album "Underdog Alma Mater" (2008) as "a big moment" for the genre.


title: Pop punk

text: Pop punk received widespread criticism from punk rock fans, and many punk rock fans refused to identify it as a legitimate genre of punk. They often perceived pop punk to be, according to Iain Ellis of "PopMatters", "too soft, too fake, too derivative, and too corporate". In a 2003 interview, Buzzcocks guitarist Steve Diggle would suggest that punk had become a "huge umbrella," stating, "And fair play to bands like Green Day and stuff, you know, they've been inspired when they were really young by us and the Clash and things, but it comes from a different well. When we started, punk to me was the Clash, the [Sex] Pistols, and the Buzzcocks over here [the United Kingdom], and in the [United] States it was the Dolls, Iggy, and the Ramones. We invented our style, just like the Clash did and the Ramones did. But the bands that have come later, some of them you see tend to just ape what went on before, where I'd rather them do their own thing a bit more with it."


title: Pop punk

text: Green Day were accused of selling out since the release of "Dookie" for signing to a major label and becoming mainstream. John Lydon of the 1970s punk band the Sex Pistols criticized Green Day and said that Green Day are not a punk band. Lydon said: "Don't try and tell me Green Day are punk. They're not, they're plonk and they're bandwagoning on something they didn't come up with themselves. I think they are phony." Green Day guitarist and lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong said: "Sometimes I think we've become redundant because we're this big band now; we've made a lot of money—we're not punk rock anymore. But then I think about it and just say, 'You can take us out of a punk rock environment, but you can't take the punk rock out of us.


title: Pop punk

text: Blink-182 also received a lot of criticism from punk rock fans, being accused of selling out for their pop-music-inspired style of pop punk. Lydon called Blink-182 "bunch of silly boys ... an imitation of a comedy act." Blink-182 guitarist and singer Tom DeLonge responded to criticism, saying: "I love all those criticisms, because fuck all those magazines! I hate with a passion "Maximumrocknroll" and all those zines that think they know what punk is supposed to be. I think it's so much more punk to piss people off than to conform to all those veganistic views."


title: Pop punk

text: In a November 2004 interview, Sum 41 rhythm guitarist and lead singer Deryck Whibley said: "We don't even consider ourselves punk. We're just a rock band. We want to do something different. We want to do our own thing. That's how music has always been to us." Sum 41's lead guitarist Dave Baksh reiterated Whibley's claims, stating "We just call ourselves rock... It's easier to say than punk, especially around all these fuckin' kids that think they know what punk is. Something that was based on not having any rules has probably one of the strictest fucking rule books in the world."


title: Pop punk

text: Music critic for Treblezine Jeff Terich argued that the debate regarded the ethics of "pop-punk" is redundant, saying that the there is "no discussion of the genre that doesn’t eventually devolve into the black-mold-like growth of Disney-approved mallrats, but the irony of it is that all punk is pop. The Ramones? Pop. The Clash? Pop. And The Buzzcocks? Damn right they’re pop."


title: Iron Chef America

text: Iron Chef America is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's "Iron Chef", and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed "Iron Chef USA" that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original "Iron Chef". Like the original Japanese program, the program is a culinary game show. In each episode, a new challenger chef competes against one of the resident "Iron Chefs" in a one-hour cooking competition based on a secret ingredient or ingredients, and sometimes theme.


title: Iron Chef America

text: The show is presented as a successor to the original "Iron Chef", as opposed to being a remake. The Chairman is portrayed by actor and martial artist Mark Dacascos, who is introduced as the nephew of the original Japanese chairman Takeshi Kaga. The commentary is provided solely by Alton Brown and Kevin Brauch is the floor reporter. The music is written by composer Craig Marks, who released the soundtrack titled "Iron Chef America & The Next Iron Chef" by the end of 2010. In addition, regular ICA judge and "Chopped" host Ted Allen provided additional floor commentary for two special battles: Battle First Thanksgiving (Symon/Flay v. Cora/Morimoto) and Battle White House Produce (Batali/Lagasse v. Flay/Comerford).


title: Iron Chef America

text: Per the introduction fiction from the "Battle of the Masters" miniseries (and ignoring story elements from the 2002 "Iron Chef" Japan Cup Special), Chairman Kaga (the character) has ordered his nephew to continue the tradition of Kitchen Stadium, initially in Los Angeles, where the "Battle of the Master"s took place, before establishing a permanent Kitchen Stadium in New York's Chelsea Market. For the "Battle of the Masters", the elder Chairman dispatched two Iron Chefs: Hiroyuki Sakai and Masaharu Morimoto. In Season 11, the show's fiction expanded to include international Iron Chefs, spread by the Chairman "like Johnny Appleseed". In the first episode of that season, "Iron Chef UK" chef Judy Joo competed on the US show against Iron Chef Guarnaschelli as an Iron Chef.


title: Iron Chef America

text: Unlike the original "Iron Chef" or "Iron Chef USA", Alton Brown, rather than the Chairman, is credited as the show's host.


title: Iron Chef America

text: In 2017, "Iron Chef Showdown" premiered as the spiritual successor to "Iron Chef America", with a revised format and returning Iron Chefs Bobby Flay, Jose Garces, Alex Guarnaschelli, and Michael Symon joined by "Iron Chef Gauntlet" winner Stephanie Izard. On April 5, 2018, Food Network announced "Iron Chef America" returning under its original name, with Jet Tila serving as floor reporter.


title: Iron Chef America

text: On this version of "Iron Chef", the Iron Chefs have either been previous Food Network personalities, are current personalities, were part of the original "Iron Chef", or earned their position on "The Next Iron Chef."


title: Iron Chef America

text: The winning percentage for Iron Chefs participating on Iron Chef America is an average. The win/loss data is based solely on the performance of the participant as an Iron Chef in "Iron Chef America: The Series" and the "Battle of the Masters" but does not include the results from "Iron Chef Showdown".


title: Iron Chef America

text: Each Iron Chef wears a specially designed chef's jacket, a simplified version of the more stylized attire worn by the Japanese Iron Chefs, along with an apron and trousers of their choice for each battle. Through the Battle of the Masters and the show's first six seasons, the Iron Chefs wore contemporary denim chef's jackets with individualized solid-colored patches and trim: Batali's jacket trim was red, Cora's pink, Flay's blue, Morimoto's white, Puck's green and Symon's black. On the left shoulder of each jacket was a flag representing the Chef's country of origin.


title: Iron Chef America

text: During the show's sixth season, designer and "Iron Chef America" judge Marc Ecko designed new jackets for the Iron Chefs, which were first worn on the 2008 "Thanksgiving Showdown" episode. The jackets are individualized for each chef and include features such as short sleeves for Symon's jacket that make it resemble the black shirts he wears at his restaurant, Lola, or men's kimono styling and colors for Morimoto's jacket that suggest the costume he wore on the original "Iron Chef". With the exception of Symon and Garces (whose long sleeves were shortened for his second season on ICA), the jackets have long, turn-back sleeves. Colors differ by chef: charcoal grey (Flay), black (Symon), light blue (Cora), silver with a red undershirt (Morimoto), white with light brown trim (Batali), white with green trim (Lagasse, for Battle White House produce), brown with wide red edging (Garces), grey with white trim (Forgione), grey with black trim (Zakarian), and black with white trim (Guarnaschelli). "Iron Chef" with the chef's last name underneath is embroidered in the font from the show's logo on the left front side of the jacket, in the manner of a traditional chef's coat. The jackets also include a large embroidered Iron Chef patch on the right arm also bearing the chef's name, and an American flag on the left sleeve.


title: Iron Chef America

text: "Iron Chef America" first aired as a special titled "Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters." Unlike "Iron Chef USA", "Iron Chef America" quickly earned legitimacy with the appearance of Iron Chefs Hiroyuki Sakai and Masaharu Morimoto. (Chen Kenichi was also originally slated to appear, but he was absent due to a scheduling conflict.) The first "Battle of the Masters" involved Sakai and Flay, with the theme of trout. There, Sakai had made two dishes of note: one was gift-wrapped to commemorate the opening of Kitchen Stadium America, while the other was trout ice cream, a dish that would be repeatedly recalled and referred to later on when anyone used the ice cream maker. Other battles in "Battle of the Masters" were Morimoto taking on Batali, Morimoto taking on Wolfgang Puck, and a tag team battle where Morimoto and Flay teamed up against Sakai and Batali. "Battle of the Masters" was largely successful and a regular series was commissioned.


title: Iron Chef America

text: The regular series is taped in New York, while "Battle of the Masters" took place in Los Angeles at Los Angeles Center Studios. Because of his other interests, Puck was forced to decline to appear in the regular series, and Morimoto took his place. Later that season, Cat Cora debuted as an Iron Chef during "Battle Potato", becoming the first female chef to hold the rank.


title: Iron Chef America

text: The second season of "Iron Chef America" began airing in July 2005. This season saw its first and second ties on the American show: the first aired on July 31, 2005, with both challenger and Iron Chef receiving 45 points. In this case, unlike "Iron Chef", there is no overtime, although a rematch was suggested by Alton Brown. The third such tied result occurred in Season Three, when Susur Lee challenged Bobby Flay in Battle Bacon.


title: Iron Chef America

text: Starting November 2006, Australia's SBS, the domestic rights holder to the original "Iron Chef" program, started airing "Iron Chef America: The Battle Of The Masters", replacing the original Japanese incarnation of the program. On December 9, Season 1 of "Iron Chef America" began airing. The show was scheduled to run until February 17, 2007, but due to viewer feedback, SBS ended broadcast of "Iron Chef America" three weeks early and resumed showing the original "Iron Chef" on February 3, 2007.


title: Iron Chef America

text: Starting in Season 8, Mario Batali was dropped from the show's opening sequence, though he continued to appear in on-air promos for the show. Despite his appearance during the special battle in which he was teamed up with Emeril Lagasse against Flay and White House Chef Cristeta Comerford, for a time it was not clear if he would return to compete in "Iron Chef America" on a regular basis. In a July 2010 interview with Slashfood's Allen Salkin, Batali explained that his absence from the series was due to travel conflicts with the show's summer shooting schedule and expressed a desire to appear in 2-3 battles for Season 9. However, in a May 2012 interview with "The Atlantic", Batali later explained that he resented the decision to move away from serious food critics to "skinny little actresses" and other personalities he felt weren't credible enough to judge his cuisine.


title: Iron Chef America

text: After the 2014 season, the show was put on temporary hiatus, but on July 25, 2017 Alton Brown tweeted and Food Network announced that Iron Chef America would be returning in last quarter of 2017 as "Iron Chef Showdown".


title: Iron Chef America

text: After the active Iron Chefs are introduced by Alton Brown, the challenger chef is introduced. The Iron Chef introduction sequence is sometimes skipped in the holiday shows and other specials. In the first two seasons, the Chairman announced the challenger's Iron Chef opponent. Starting with Season 3, the show returned to the format of its predecessor, where the challenger chef selects the Iron Chef they will battle. In reality, the match-ups are determined well in advance in all three incarnations of the show, which is not to say that the challengers have no influence on the selection of their opponent.


title: Iron Chef America

text: An ingredient or group of ingredients (referred to as the "secret ingredient(s)") is revealed, and the cooking begins. On occasion, the ingredients are actually a 'theme meal;' for example, eggs, bacon, potatoes, etc. are revealed and thus the "secret ingredient" is breakfast. Just as with the original "Iron Chef", the "secret" ingredient is not truly secret. Both the competitor and the Iron Chef are given a list of three to five ingredients before the battle, of which one will be the secret ingredient.


title: Iron Chef America

text: Unlike "Iron Chef", where chefs had roughly 5 minutes to discuss their strategy before the battle begins, the revelation of the theme ingredient occurs 45 minutes before the start of the battle. However, this segment is not shown on television, and it is a common assumption that the battle starts immediately after the secret ingredient is revealed. This practice was described on an episode of "Unwrapped".


title: Iron Chef America

text: ""Allez cuisine!"" (loosely translated as "Go cook!" or "Start cooking!") is the phrase that started battles in the original Japanese series (hence the reference to his uncle, Chairman Kaga).


title: Iron Chef America

text: On "Iron Chef America", both the challenger and the Iron Chef have 60 minutes to prepare a minimum of five dishes based on a theme ingredient. Starting with Season 11 (2012–13), the first course is due to the judges 20 minutes after the start. After that point, a "culinary curveball" is announced by the chairman. It can be an ingredient, piece of equipment, or plating device. Each chef is required to integrate the item into at least one of their remaining dishes, and receives scoring from the judges based on their use.


title: Iron Chef America

text: After the first commercial break, Brown typically asks Kevin Brauch to introduce the judges. Generally, Kevin pays homage to the program's origins by adding, "Konban Wa" (Japanese for "Good evening") to his introduction. Unlike the original series, none of the judges participate in the running commentary, although Brown or Brauch visit with them roughly mid-battle for their comments on the ongoing action and the secret ingredient. Over the course of the cooking hour, Brown may also provide further information on the theme ingredient, using visual aids as required.


title: Iron Chef America

text: The dishes are tasted by the chairman and a panel of three judges, two of whom are professional food critics (a contrast to the original "Iron Chef", which typically had one professional food critic as a judge). Like the original "Iron Chef", each chef can be awarded up to 20 points by each judge; consisting of ten points for taste, five for plating (the appearance or presentation of the dishes), and five for originality. The rules are explained by Kevin Brauch before judging. The chef with the higher score is declared the winner. If there is a tie, it remains as the final result, unlike "Iron Chef", where an overtime battle was immediately called with a new theme ingredient; however, if the overtime battle also resulted in a tie, that would be the final result. (Also in contrast with the original, the final scores are subdivided by category, rather than by individual judge.) Starting with Season 11 (2012–13), an additional ten points per judge is also available: up to five points for the first dish presentation, and up to five points for the use of the "culinary curveball". The scoring for the first dish is revealed shortly after the dishes are presented to and tasted by the judges, and the total score (including the "culinary curveball" points) is reserved for the judgment and revelation of the winner.


title: Iron Chef America

text: "Iron Chef America" is not affiliated with any culinary institution, unlike "Iron Chef", which was associated with Hattori Nutrition College. Chefs also bring in their own sous-chefs. Like "Iron Chef", each chef is allowed two sous-chefs. In tag-team or two-on-one battles, both chefs on one side each bring one sous-chef. On the original "Iron Chef", early episodes had two chefs without sous-chefs, while later episodes had two chefs and one sous-chef per side. The sous-chefs employed by the Iron Chefs are as follows:


title: Iron Chef America

text: All of the sous-chefs for both the Iron Chef and challenger are informally introduced at some point in the contest, unlike the original "Iron Chef." Sous-chefs have occasionally entered into battle against Iron Chefs, including the Iron Chef under whom they worked.


title: Iron Chef America

text: The rules in "Iron Chef America" are thought to favor the Iron Chef less than the original program, however, some challengers have noted favoritism in the selection of theme ingredients. On "Iron Chef", the Iron Chef's food was always tasted second, while on "Iron Chef America", the chef whose food is tasted first is determined by toss of coin before the show (Flay allowed his competitor to pick).


title: Iron Chef America

text: Since the tasting and judgment take upwards of 45 minutes to complete (although it is edited down in post-production), the chef serving second is allowed to reheat his or her dishes, as was allowed on "Iron Chef".


title: Iron Chef America

text: Several of the secrets to how the show is taped were revealed in an episode of "Unwrapped" entitled "Food Network Unwrapped 2." It was stated that the chefs find out what the secret ingredient is about 15 minutes before the battle begins because the opening sequence is recorded many times. It is only the final taping of this sequence where the words ""Allez cuisine!"" are said and the battle begins. Moreover, at the end of the one-hour battle, the chefs must still prepare four plates of each of their five dishes for the judges and the Chairman. This is done during a 45-minute period after the battle ends and before tasting begins. They consider this to be part of the competition, and it is timed, but it is not recorded or shown to the viewers. The plates which the audience sees prepared during the one-hour battle are the plates used to obtain close-up footage of the dish for use in the final episode. Usually, on taping days, two different battles will be taped, one beginning at about 10 a.m. and the second at about 4 p.m. A Food Network crew has about 90 minutes between each show to clean the set and prepare for the second show.


title: Iron Chef America

text: Chefs provide the producers with shopping lists for each of the possible secret ingredients. Consequently, they can surmise what the secret ingredient will be just before it is officially revealed, based on which of their items were purchased.


title: Iron Chef America

text: ICA will occasionally stage special themed battles, generally during the holiday period. The first of these was held on November 12, 2006. A special 90-minute episode of "Iron Chef America" pitted two guest Food Network personalities, Giada De Laurentiis and Rachael Ray, the latter of whom does not consider herself a chef due to lack of formal training, against each other after they each received tips and training from Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Mario Batali, respectively. While the early part of the episode made it appear as though it would be a head-to-head battle, the Chairman announced just prior to the secret ingredient reveal that it would in fact be a tag-team battle, with each of the women joined by the Iron Chef who trained her. The secret ingredient for the special was cranberries. The expanded timeframe allowed for longer cuts of the competition hour and the tasting segments to be presented, and the show as a whole had a more laid-back feel than regular ICA episodes. Plenty of joking and good-natured ribbing took place on both sides of the kitchen, such as Batali's effort to "bribe" the judges with cranberry bellini cocktails. The battle was won by Iron Chef Batali and guest chef Ray.


title: Iron Chef America

text: A second special holiday episode premiered on Sunday, November 25, 2007. This special, titled "Iron Chef America: All Star Holiday Dessert Battle", paired Iron Chef Cat Cora and popular Food Network personality Paula Deen against fellow Food Network chefs Tyler Florence and Robert Irvine, with sugar as the secret ingredient. While this special was the usual 60-minutes in length, the tone was similar to the previous ICA special, with much "smack talking" and teasing among the four chefs. Iron Chef Cora and guest chef Deen's team emerged victorious.


title: Iron Chef America

text: On October 26, 2008, a Halloween battle took place between Iron Chef Michael Symon and former Next Iron Chef competitor Chris Cosentino. The theme ingredient was offal (organ meats, pig trotters, coxcombs, etc.), an ingredient with which each of the chefs is known to cook routinely. Igor and the Monster from the Broadway production of "Young Frankenstein" also made a special appearance, assisting with the presentation of the secret ingredient. The victory went to Iron Chef Symon.


title: Iron Chef America

text: A 90-minute "Thanksgiving Showdown" premiered on November 16, 2008. The secret ingredients were foods that might have been used at the first Thanksgiving feast: duck, lobster, heritage turkey, venison, leeks and walnuts. This battle marked the first time in ICA history that the American Iron Chefs competed against each other, with the team of Bobby Flay and Michael Symon battling against Cat Cora and Masaharu Morimoto. There were two floor reporters for this special: regular floor reporter Kevin Brauch covered Flay and Symon while ICA judge Ted Allen covered Cora and Morimoto. In addition, Mark Ecko appeared early in the episode to present the new Iron Chef jackets and describe the design process. Iron Chefs Flay and Symon defeated Iron Chefs Cora and Morimoto by one point.


title: Iron Chef America

text: First Lady Michelle Obama's White House Kitchen Garden was featured in a new special episode on January 3, 2010. The episode, called "The Super Chef Battle", featured Iron Chef Mario Batali and Super Chef Emeril Lagasse against Iron Chef Bobby Flay and White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford in a battle that required the chefs to create an American meal, with the produce from the White House garden as the secret ingredient. First Lady Michelle Obama made a special appearance, welcoming the chefs to the White House, and announcing the secret ingredient. This battle was also notable as the first for which the Chairman was not present in Kitchen Stadium. Although the Chairman appeared on video, and presented a supplemental range of sustainable foods to be used in the battle, it fell to announcer Alton Brown to start the battle with the traditional ""Allez cuisine!"" This battle was also the first that carried a prize: $25,000 was donated to City Meals, a New York charity similar to Meals on Wheels in the names of the winning team. Iron Chef Flay and Chef Comerford defeated Iron Chefs Batali and Lagasse.


title: Iron Chef America

text: On January 2, 2011, "Battle Deep Freeze" aired. The show featured Iron Chef Michael Symon and Chef Anne Burrell facing off against Iron Chef Cat Cora and Chef Robert Irvine. There was no formal secret ingredient, just the theme "deep freeze." The chefs had to prepare 5 dishes, each with a frozen component, on the following five themes: Fruits and Vegetables, Meat, Aromatics, Seafood, and Alcohol. The dishes were either served in or accented by ice carvings.


title: Iron Chef America

text: On November 16, 2008, the Food Network preceded its "Thanksgiving Showdown" ICA special with a half-hour retrospective of the 10 best ICA moments. In the program, the Chairman presents each moment, followed by a female voice-over narration describing the challenge the Iron Chefs face, including live fish, big ingredients, time, the ice cream machine and unorthodox cooking methods. The introduction is followed by a clip of each moment interspersed with comments by the Iron Chefs and ICA judges.


title: Iron Chef America

text: Located at the Chelsea Market in New York City, "Iron Chef America"'s version of Kitchen Stadium has a more modern appearance than the one from "Iron Chef". Much of the equipment in the kitchen is top-of-the line; appliances include six burner stove tops, an infrared grill, blast chillers, convection ovens, deep fryers, cutting boards, a plethora of small electrical appliances like blenders and food processors, as well as pantry stations. Both kitchens in Kitchen Stadium are set up with the same appliances, and each pantry station has the same food items including expensive items like saffron. Challengers may also sometimes bring their own equipment to their sections; most notably, postmodern chef Homaro Cantu brought a Class 4 Laser, liquid nitrogen, and an inkjet printer with edible inks and paper for his signature dishes. One of the most infamous appliances in the kitchen is the ice cream machine (dubbed by the commentators as the "Ice Cream Machine of Doom"), which is often used to create unusual and abstract flavors of ice cream when chefs attempt to make a dessert course with the theme ingredient.


title: Iron Chef America

text: The commentator's station has Alton Brown standing in front of two large monitors feeding him camera angles from both sides of Kitchen Stadium. To stay informed, he also keeps his laptop open to reference an extensive food database and, in later seasons, an iPad to look up ingredients on the fly. An earbud allows him to be fed information from the culinary producer, who in turn is fed information from two culinary spotters on the floor. The station is much closer to and on the same level as the cooking stations, allowing Alton Brown to converse with the competitors and ask brief questions. Alton Brown has made frequent comments about Kitchen Stadium being "an orbiting space station" or "an underwater facility." Brown has also called Kitchen Stadium "Kitchen Stadium Number One, Two, and so on until number seven as of Battle Eggs.


title: Iron Chef America

text: There is a small section in the back of the stadium reserved for the studio audience, which is mostly composed of guests of the chefs. During the first two seasons, the audience is almost never mentioned or shown on camera unless there is a special guest in the audience. Starting with season 3, the show again takes a cue from its predecessor and gives a little more attention to the audience, particularly when someone close to the challenger or special guests are present. The audience is also now sometimes heard applauding the chefs, although they are ignored by cameras.


title: Iron Chef America

text: Despite Kitchen Stadium America's state-of-the-art appearance, problems arose during the first season. In her battle against Mario Batali, Chef Anita Lo had trouble getting her burners hot enough to cook her food. At one point, one of Lo's assistants took a pot over to Mario Batali's side of the kitchen to use his stove, to which Batali happily agreed. In several battles contestants have experienced technical problems with the ice cream machine. Though there have not been serious injuries in Kitchen Stadium America, several contestants have suffered minor cuts from knife slips.


title: Iron Chef America

text: In the "Behind the Scenes: Iron Chef America" special, Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai voices his distaste for the modern look of the American Kitchen Stadium. Sakai referred to the kitchen as "cold."


title: Iron Chef America

text: Morimoto speaks English with a thick Japanese accent, and he sometimes speaks in Japanese when describing his dishes. Consequently, his voice is at times dubbed by Joe Cipriano. Cipriano, a veteran TV announcer and Los Angeles radio personality, also provided the voice for Hiroyuki Sakai in "Battle of the Masters." When his voice is not dubbed, subtitles may be provided to help viewers understand what Morimoto is saying. In the episode Battle Eggs, Takashi Yagihashi had subtitles when the screen showed whom he challenged (Michael Symon).


title: Iron Chef America

text: "Iron Chef America Countdown" premiered in 2012. Each half-hour episode features a countdown of five moments on a theme from the television series. The show uses clips from Iron Chef America, as well as commentary from people who participated in the featured moments.


title: Iron Chef America

text: In 2007, a competition was held to determine who among eight chefs would become the next Iron Chef. The show ran for six episodes, and followed the contestants through a series of eight culinary challenges taking place in the United States, France, and Germany. Contestants were eliminated by a panel of judges at the end of each episode, until the final two chefs returned to the United States to compete in Kitchen Stadium. The final battle featured swordfish as the secret ingredient, and was judged by Iron Chefs Flay, Cora, and Morimoto. Chef Michael Symon was declared the winner of the competition and subsequently joined "Iron Chef America".


title: Iron Chef America

text: A second season of "The Next Iron Chef" pitted ten chefs against one another for the title of Iron Chef beginning in October 2009. This season ran for eight episodes, during which the contestants competed in culinary challenges held in the United States and Japan. Contestants were eliminated by a panel of judges at the end of each episode until the finale, in which chefs Jehangir Mehta and Jose Garces returned to the United States to compete in Kitchen Stadium. The final battle featured various racks and ribs (pork, buffalo, and beef) as the secret ingredient, and was judged by the panel along with Iron Chefs Flay, Morimoto, and Symon. Chef Jose Garces was declared the winner of the competition, and joined "Iron Chef America" as its newest Iron Chef. Garces made his debut as an Iron Chef on January 17, 2010 against Seattle chefs Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi in Battle Hawaiian Moi, with Iron Chef Garces emerging victorious. Jose Garces went on to receive the first perfect score ever in Season 9 (see List of Episodes).


title: Iron Chef America

text: Food Network launched its third season of "The Next Iron Chef" in October 2010. Competition took place in Los Angeles, before moving to Las Vegas. The final battle took place in Kitchen Stadium between Chefs Marco Canora and Marc Forgione, with traditional Thanksgiving proteins, such as turkey, lobster and venison as the secret ingredient. Chef Marc Forgione was declared the winner of the third season of "The Next Iron Chef" on November 21, 2010. His first battle took place on November 28, 2010, against Washington, D.C.-based Chef RJ Cooper.


title: Iron Chef America

text: In October 2011, a fourth season of "The Next Iron Chef" premiered featuring super chefs like Alex Guarnaschelli, Anne Burrell, Robert Irvine, among others. The December 18 battle in Kitchen Stadium featured Geoffrey Zakarian and Elizabeth Falkner. Zakarian prevailed and was named the winner. His first battle aired on December 25, 2011 during which he emerged victorious, being the second chef ever to receive a perfect overall score of 60 on "Iron Chef America".


title: Iron Chef America

text: The fifth season of "The Next Iron Chef" in November 2012 featured 8 chefs who had previously competed on the show, plus 2 newcomers. In the final battle, Alex Guarnaschelli defeated Amanda Freitag, becoming the second female Iron Chef, as well as the first female to win the competition. She made her debut as an Iron Chef on December 30, 2012 against Judy Joo from "Iron Chef UK". Iron Chef Joo previously judged season 4 of The Next Iron Chef, in which Guarnaschelli had competed and lost. Iron Chef Guarnaschelli was ultimately declared the winner.


title: Iron Chef America

text: In 2017 a reboot of the "Iron Chef" and "Iron Chef America" was created and is hosted by Alton Brown, who also takes over as the series' Chairman. In this Seven chefs from around the country battle each other in an elimination contest, with the last chef remaining then facing a "gauntlet" challenge of defeating three other Iron Chefs in order to earn the title of Iron Chef. There have been two seasons so far with one winner, Chef Stephanie Izard.


title: Iron Chef America

text: An "Iron Chef America" video game, titled "", was developed for the Wii and Nintendo DS by Black Lantern Studios and published by Destineer. Both versions were released on November 6, 2008, having been delayed from the original release date of September 23, 2008.


title: Iron Chef America

text: The game features "a series of fast-paced and intense culinary challenges" and includes the voice acting and likeness of The Chairman (Mark Dacascos), commentator Alton Brown and Iron Chefs Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto and Cat Cora, who players can either play or compete against. The Wii version of the game has received mediocre to slightly unfavorable reviews, with an average score of 42% determined by critical score aggregator Metacritic. The DS version of the game has received overall better scores, with median review score of 62%.


title: Rogers Centre

text: Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, the stadium was also home to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL) played an annual game at the stadium as part of the Bills Toronto Series from 2008 to 2013. While it is primarily a sports venue, it also hosts other large events such as conventions, trade fairs, concerts, travelling carnivals, circuses and monster truck shows.


title: Rogers Centre

text: The stadium was renamed "Rogers Centre" following the 2005 purchase of the stadium by Rogers Communications, the corporation that also owns the Toronto Blue Jays. The venue is noted for being the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof, as well as for the 348-room hotel attached to it with 70 rooms overlooking the field. It is also the last North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both football and baseball. The stadium served as the site of both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2015 Pan American Games (renamed the Pan-Am Dome or Pan-Am Ceremonies Venue due to sponsorship regulations).


title: Rogers Centre

text: The idea of building a domed stadium can be traced back to the 1968 Summer Olympic bid that Toronto lost to Montreal as the Canadian candidate city for the 1976 Summer Olympics. In the proposal, an 80,000–100,000 seat complex would be part of the planned Harbour City development on the site of Maple Leaf Stadium.


title: Rogers Centre

text: The contemporary impetus for building an enclosed sports venue in Toronto came following the Grey Cup game in November 1982, held at the outdoor Exhibition Stadium. The game (in which the hometown Toronto Argonauts (also known as the Argos) were making their first Grey Cup appearance since 1971) was played in a driving rainstorm that left most of the crowd drenched, leading the media to call it "the Rain Bowl". As many of the seats were completely exposed to the elements, thousands watched the game from the concession section. To make a bad experience even worse, the washrooms overflowed. In attendance that day was Bill Davis, the Premier of Ontario, and the poor conditions were seen by the largest television audience in Canada (over 7.862 million viewers) to that point. The following day, at a rally for the Argos at Toronto City Hall, tens of thousands of people who attended the game began to chant, "We want a dome! We want a dome!"


title: Rogers Centre

text: Seven months later, in June 1983, Davis formally announced a three-person committee would look into the feasibility of building a domed stadium at Exhibition Place. The committee consisted of Paul Godfrey, Larry Grossman and former Ontario Hydro chairman Hugh Macaulay.


title: Rogers Centre

text: The committee examined various projects, including a large indoor stadium at Exhibition Place with an air-supported dome, similar to BC Place in Vancouver. In 1985, an international design competition was launched to design a new stadium, along with selection of a site. Some of the proposed sites included Exhibition Place, Downsview Airport, and York University. The final site was at the base of the CN Tower not far from Union Station, a major railway and transit hub. The Railway Lands were a major Canadian National Railway rail switching yard encompassing the CNR Spadina Roundhouse (the desolate downtown lands were part of a master plan for revitalizing the area, which includes CityPlace). Ultimately, the Robbie/Allen concept won because it provided the largest roof opening of all the finalists, and it was the most technically sound.


title: Rogers Centre

text: The stadium was designed by architect Rod Robbie and structural engineer Michael Allen and was constructed by the EllisDon Construction company of London, Ontario and the Dominion Bridge Company of Lachine, Quebec. The stadium's construction lasted about two and a half years, from October 1986 to May 1989. The approximate cost of construction was C$570 million ($ in dollars) which was paid for by the federal government, Ontario provincial government, the City of Toronto, and a large consortium of corporations.


title: Rogers Centre

text: The stadium was funded by a public–private partnership, with the government paying the largest percentage of the cost. The initial cost of $150 million was greatly underestimated, with the final cost coming in at C$570 million ($ in dollars). Two levels of government (Metro Toronto and Provincial) each initially contributed $30 million ($ in dollars). This does not include the value of the land that the stadium sits on, which was owned by the Canada Lands Company (a Crown corporation of Canada) and the City of Toronto and was leased for $900,000 a year through 2088. Canada's three main breweries (Labatt's, Molson, and Carling O'Keefe) and the Toronto Blue Jays each paid $5 million ($ in dollars) to help fund the stadium. An additional 26 other Canadian corporations (selected by invitation only) also contributed $5 million, for which they received one of the 161 Skyboxes with four parking spaces (for ten years, with an opportunity for renewal) and a 99-year exclusive option on stadium advertising. Skyboxes initially leased for $150,000 up to $225,000 ($ to $ in dollars) a year in 1989 – plus the cost of tickets for all events.


title: Rogers Centre

text: The then unusual financing structure created controversy. First of all, there was no public tender for supplies and equipment. Secondly, companies that paid the $5 million fee, such as Coca-Cola, TSN and CIBC, received 100 percent stadium exclusivity, including advertising rights, for the life of their contract that could be extended up to 99 years. Third, the contracts were not put up for bid, meaning there was some doubt the contracts were made at a market rate: Pepsi stated at the time that had they known the terms of the contract they would have paid far more than $5 million for the rights. Local media like "NOW Magazine" called the amount charged to the companies "scandalously low".