Haha. No problem! I feel the urge to qualify this random knowledge with a statement that informs you that I work in the music industry, just so that you don't think I'm some 5SOS fan girl with posters all over my bedroom walls or something, lol. TBH, I think I prefer One Direction over 5SOS and I don't think they'll have nearly the staying power as One Direction has had. Still, here's some additional perspective, for anyone who might be bored enough to read it... ;)
I think there's more to "pop punk" than just the music. Clearly, that's the most important but their fashion style, the attitudes they convey on stage, the fact that they cite bands like Blink 182, Green Day, Good Charlotte, ATL, etc., as main influences, helps me throw them into the genre. They met Alex through John Feldmann of Goldfinger and that guy has so much pull in the pop punk genre that anything he touches is guilty of being pop punk by association... Well, except for Hilary Duff who also released a few songs written by the Madden Brothers.
The Madden Bros covered "Amnesia" not too long ago, if you're interested! Here's a link.
I also read an interview they did a little while ago, which helped sell me on the categorization of 5SOS. I'm 26 yrs old so I remember how "pop punk" Good Charlotte was... until they weren't "pop punk" at all because "omg, what is this 'Hot Topic' store and why are they ruining punk rock by making it trendy?!?" But now that I look back on it, I'm not so sure the genre would be as awesome as it is today without the GC influence, mostly because they helped labels realize they could make money off of the idea of "pop + punk rock music," which definitely made industry folks more willing to take a risk and spend money on younger bands. Like, "The Young and The Hopeless" was released in 2002. Fall Out Boy's "Take This To To Your Grave" came out the next year.
Google was friendly tonight and helped me relocate that article for ya....
Q: "The original pop punk sound you had with Good Charlotte feels like it’s also having a resurgence with band’s like 5 Seconds of Summer. Does that make you feel a bit old?" Madden Bros: “Yes and yes! But 5 Seconds of Summer remind me of Good Charlotte in the best possible way. They’re a younger us. I’m glad they’re doing this sound and I’m very happy to pass the torch. The thing is, me and Joel have always written pop songs - we just dress them up differently. We actually wrote 5SOS’s song Amnesia, and it's to see that sound coming back and being a part of it back in the day we often felt the brunt of being a rock band singing pop melodies. I’m glad it wasn’t for nothing!”