I think there's little more to it than that. There are pop-punk banRAB out there who are not well known. It's not about the fact that the band is popular, it's about the fact that they do have a certain sound. It's a sound based on the mainstays of pop music: hooks, catchy choruses, tight instrumentation, etc.
I mean, listen to how poppy this Blink 182 songs is:
[youtube]iYEM68HIm0Y[/youtube]
