Music Column: Why Only a Summer Punk Tour?

(andPOP) - The Rolling Stones, U2, Madonna and Paul McCartney have had some of the highest-grossing tours in recent memory. But if you see one of them one summer, chances are they won't hit your city again for another few years.

There is one tour that returns year after year?this is its eleventh year?and that's the Warped Tour.

The Warped Tour is unique because it brings together almost every punk band for a summer long outing. Established bands (The Offspring), hot bands of the moment (My Chemical Romance) and up and coming acts (Fall Out Boy) all co-exist in an informal setting with no preferential service. It doesn't matter if you've gone triple-platinum or are looking for a record deal; lunch is served at noon.

And they go all summer without controversy. There's the very odd band scuffle, but it's like a summer camp, and every band is thrilled to be a part of it; even Good Charlotte, who were booed last year because they put too much pop into pop-punk. "Warped Tour's kind of like a community," Joel Madden told andPOP last summer. "It's not about the money, it's about being part of the Warped Tour. I'll play Warped Tour for free if I had to. When you play it, you become a part of it." Turns out they aren't back this year, but the fans probably aren't complaining.

So why aren't more genres trying this? Here's why:

-Hip-hop- 50 Cent has a beef with everyone. Even if he's not on the tour, one of his G-Unit members will be, or Emimen, or Dr. Dre, or someone associated with him. There are far too many beefs in the rap world that a hip-hop tour with 50 artists going from city to city all summer will never happen. That's a certainty. If 50's on the tour, Ja Rule, Fat Joe, and The Game won't be. If Jay-Z signs up, Nas and R. Kelly drop out. No R&B singers will dare to commit, out of fear that the audience will jeer them off the stage for not being tough enough. It's a shame because few hip-hop artists tour extensively, and it would be a great chance for people to see artists that don't normally visit their city.

-Country- First, it would be hard to secure big artists like Faith Hill and Shania Twain because they're making 6-figures for every concert on their own tours. Second, country music is trash, nobody would go (ok that's my bias, and fine, lots of people will go, but wouldn't it be great if nobody showed up and country music just, well, stopped?). Third, all the artists will break the audience's achy hearts with their tear-jerking music, there wouldn't be enough Kleenex in each city to go around (Editor's note: country fans can send their complaints to Adam on the contact page).

-Pop- Who's going to perform, the Backstreet Boys? There are no pop acts left, and if there are, they say they're rock or hip-hop. Try telling Ashlee Simpson she's pop and she'll hit you with her never-working microphone. Her sister Jessica is too busy making movies in scantily-clad shorts. Leave her to be. And heaven forbid a pop tour.

-Jazz- what a great tour that would be, except the average age of a jazz artist is 82.

Somehow those punk kids know what they're doing.