Simple Plan

There once was a Quebecois punk band called Reset. Despite the young ages of the members, they were very ambitious and passionate about politics, and garnered themselves a devoted fanbase in North America. After two studio albums from 1997-2000, they broke up. The members of Reset resurfaced in 2002 as Simple Plan, and aside from a few Bad Religion covers, could suddenly sing about nothing other than girls and not wanting to grow up. Predictably, this new formula has earned them international success, despite bitterness from Reset fans who feel the band has sold out by making their music so mainstream-friendly.

No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls (2002) 6 Thumbs Up

Considering the amount of oversaturation pop-punk has today, you probably have heard Simple Plan's singles "I'm Just A Kid," "I'd Do Anything," "Addicted," and "Perfect." The story goes that Simple Plan were about to be dropped from their label, when lame teen flick The New Guy featured their song "I'm Just A Kid" on their soundtrack. And bang, overnight the guys are international stars with their own clothing line. I picked up this CD because Mark Hoppus, Blink-182's bassist, sings guest vocals in single "I'd Do Anything," so I thought it might be good. Even as a bouncing pop-punker, I thought this CD was too generic and overproduced. "At least Blink-182 has humour!" I thought to myself. "This is nothing but endless complaining about relationships and your parents hating you! Every song sounds the same, and the lead singer won't stop whining!" This CD is the exact reason I stopped getting into pop-punk bands.

These guys are well into their 20's, so why are they singing about crashing Dad's car, failing tests, and wanting to be old enough to move out? They claim they stopped singing about politics because they wanted to talk about what was affecting them, but none of these issues can possibly apply to them! The content of this CD is so stereotypically mall punk that it's almost like a sarcastic parody. I mean, sure, it's catchy, but the production is layered on so thick that it seems very fake, and the catchiness dramatically falls when you realize every song sounds the same as the last. This is such a blatant cash grab that it's not even funny. Please reform Reset.

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