Tyler. wrote:I actually find it quite odd that people mostly like Chuck and DTLI?. Before I joined here I thought it'd be mainly old school Sum 41 fans but everyone seems sort of younger and likes those albums.
Haha, there are a lot of old school Sum 41 fans on this website. Infected and Chuck are old school Sum albums. Half Hour only really got attention in Canada and on the touring circuit in North America when it was released back in 2000. Then in Summer '01, they blew up globally and released three albums in three years. People were still (relatively) newly fans of the band when Infected and Chuck came out, so they weren't like "Awh, Sum 41 sold out their roots, AKNF 4eva!". It was more like "cool this band that I've been listening to for the last couple of years has another awesome album".
By the time Chuck came, the Sum's time at the top of rock music was winding down, as the industry was changing and their spots were being taken by flavour of the week bands and a wildly successful concept album. Couple this with Dave leaving the band, things weren't going to be the same. Sum 41 lost a lot of fans in a natural way during that period I think, and the hardcore fans knew the sound was going to change too. It didn't help that they embarked upon this overhyped journey of self discovery, limited their media presence to pretentious and choreographed interviews, released an album with a diluted sound and weak first singles in the mean time, and topped it off with having to sit out and re-schedule their promotional tour.
There was a clearly defined end of an era between Chuck and Underclass Hero, and to me it felt like old school Sum 41 came to an end then. You could even find fans that had been there from the very beginning on the slag book, but that died out completely.
Not that I'm complaining, there were songs that I loved on Underclass Hero and I have a gut feeling that they're going to gain some well-deserved recognition and accolades with the new album. And I'll always love them and listen to them no matter what! I think you'll find fans on the boards that have been with the band since the early albums that will tell you the same or something similar