Sum 41 Essay
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 10:33 pm
I had to write an essay in class. Couldn't think of anything so I wrote this.
They’re not very well known, but in my opinion Sum 41 is one of the best modern rock bands out there. They have had hits like ‘With Me’ and their most well known song, ‘Fat Lip’ which topped the TRL chart and Billboard’s modern rock chart during the summer of 2001. They have also had their music featured in the video games and on TV Shows. Their style is often compared to bands like Gob, Green Day, blink-182, and many other pop-punk bands.
Forty-one days into summer before going into twelfth grade in 1996 in the small town of Ajax, Canada, Deryck “Bizzy D†Whibley, Steve “Stevo†Jocz, Marc Constanzo, and Richard “Twitch†Roy met together and decided to make a band. They started off as a NoFX cover band called Kaspir, but when they got booked for a big show in September of 1996, they came up with some original songs and renamed the band Sum 41 because they had decided to make a band forty-one days into that summer. After seeing a show, Greig Nori, former guitarist and lead singer of the band Treble Charger, became their tour manager. They decided to send a video of the band having a water gun fight with their playing their music in the background to Island Records and they actually ended up getting signed. No albums were released when Marc and Richard were in the band except a couple demo tapes. In 1997 Dave “Brownsound†Baksh and Mark “London†Spicoluk joined the band replacing Marc and Richard, however Mark quit the band in 1999 and was replaced by current bassist, Jason McCaslin, better known as Cone because he would always have an ice cream cone during lunch. The band then, in 2000, released their first album, ‘Half Hour of Power’. This album ended up being popular just among fans.
Their next album ‘All Killer No Filler’ is arguably their most successful album so far. It featured the songs ‘In Too Deep’ and ‘Motivation’ along with their hit, ‘Fat Lip’ which was about going to parties, not listening to parents, and just being a teenager. All Killer No Filler was nominated for the Best Album Juno award in 2002, which is the equivalent of a Grammy award in Canada, but lost to Nickelback. They spent most of 2001 touring with blink-182 but were back in the studio by the middle of 2002.
In November of 2002 they released their next album ‘Does This Look Infected?’ featuring a picture of Stevo with a hole in the side of his head. The band members, after the release of the album, admitted that they couldn’t think of any meaningful names for it. The biggest songs from this album were ‘Still Waiting’, ‘The Hell Song’ which was written by Deryck for his friend who had been infected with AIDS, and ‘Over My Head (Better Off Dead)’. None of these songs got very high on any music charts.
In May of 2004 the band traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa for a charity concert. The country was going through a civil war during the band’s time there. The hotel they were staying at was attacked and they were not sure if they would make it out alive.
“Bullets were coming through windows and everyone was just lying on the ground with their hands on their heads. One bomb came too close, hit the hotel, and the hotel just started shaking. Everyone dove and was lying on the ground. Things were falling off the walls, mirrors were breaking. That’s when we all kind of realized this was really going bad, and we’re probably not going to make it out†-Deryck Whibley
A United Nations peacekeeper, named Charles ‘Chuck’ Pelletier, then arrived at the building and evacuated the band and at least forty others. The band named their next album, ‘Chuck’, after him. They wouldn’t have made it out without him. Once again, the album went on to have very little mainstream success. The biggest songs off this album were ‘Pieces’, ‘Some Say’, and ‘We’re All to Blame’.
Before the band began work on their next album in 2006, Dave Baksh quit the band to work with his new band ‘Brown Brigade’ because he wanted to play “heavier†music than what he had been playing with Sum 41.
After Dave’s Departure, the band began work on their first album with only three members, Deryck, Cone, and Steve. The album is called ‘Underclass Hero’. One of the more popular songs on the album is ‘March of the Dogs’ which almost got banned in the USA because it mentioned in the lyrics "Ladies and gentlemen of the underclass: The president of the United States of America is dead". Another popular song on this album was ‘With Me’, which may have received more air time on the radio than any other Sum 41 song before besides ‘Fat Lip’.
Since Dave left the band they have been playing with Tom Thacker from fellow Canadian pop-punk band, Gob. They use him to play songs that they would have needed Dave to play. After they finished the Underclass Hero tour in July of 2008, the band took some time off. Deryck was touring with his wife, Avril Lavigne, Steve was the touring drummer for The Vandals, and Cone was working on his side project, The Operation M.D., with Todd Morse. In November, Sum 41 released their greatest hits album ‘8 Years of Blood, Sake, and Tears’ in Japan. Their greatest hits album that was released to the rest of the world, ‘All the Good S**t’, was released on March 17th. The band is currently working on music for their currently unnamed new album that will probably be released this year.
So far, they have played over six-hundred shows, released 5 studio albums, and 6 DVDs, and they sure aren’t done yet.
They’re not very well known, but in my opinion Sum 41 is one of the best modern rock bands out there. They have had hits like ‘With Me’ and their most well known song, ‘Fat Lip’ which topped the TRL chart and Billboard’s modern rock chart during the summer of 2001. They have also had their music featured in the video games and on TV Shows. Their style is often compared to bands like Gob, Green Day, blink-182, and many other pop-punk bands.
Forty-one days into summer before going into twelfth grade in 1996 in the small town of Ajax, Canada, Deryck “Bizzy D†Whibley, Steve “Stevo†Jocz, Marc Constanzo, and Richard “Twitch†Roy met together and decided to make a band. They started off as a NoFX cover band called Kaspir, but when they got booked for a big show in September of 1996, they came up with some original songs and renamed the band Sum 41 because they had decided to make a band forty-one days into that summer. After seeing a show, Greig Nori, former guitarist and lead singer of the band Treble Charger, became their tour manager. They decided to send a video of the band having a water gun fight with their playing their music in the background to Island Records and they actually ended up getting signed. No albums were released when Marc and Richard were in the band except a couple demo tapes. In 1997 Dave “Brownsound†Baksh and Mark “London†Spicoluk joined the band replacing Marc and Richard, however Mark quit the band in 1999 and was replaced by current bassist, Jason McCaslin, better known as Cone because he would always have an ice cream cone during lunch. The band then, in 2000, released their first album, ‘Half Hour of Power’. This album ended up being popular just among fans.
Their next album ‘All Killer No Filler’ is arguably their most successful album so far. It featured the songs ‘In Too Deep’ and ‘Motivation’ along with their hit, ‘Fat Lip’ which was about going to parties, not listening to parents, and just being a teenager. All Killer No Filler was nominated for the Best Album Juno award in 2002, which is the equivalent of a Grammy award in Canada, but lost to Nickelback. They spent most of 2001 touring with blink-182 but were back in the studio by the middle of 2002.
In November of 2002 they released their next album ‘Does This Look Infected?’ featuring a picture of Stevo with a hole in the side of his head. The band members, after the release of the album, admitted that they couldn’t think of any meaningful names for it. The biggest songs from this album were ‘Still Waiting’, ‘The Hell Song’ which was written by Deryck for his friend who had been infected with AIDS, and ‘Over My Head (Better Off Dead)’. None of these songs got very high on any music charts.
In May of 2004 the band traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa for a charity concert. The country was going through a civil war during the band’s time there. The hotel they were staying at was attacked and they were not sure if they would make it out alive.
“Bullets were coming through windows and everyone was just lying on the ground with their hands on their heads. One bomb came too close, hit the hotel, and the hotel just started shaking. Everyone dove and was lying on the ground. Things were falling off the walls, mirrors were breaking. That’s when we all kind of realized this was really going bad, and we’re probably not going to make it out†-Deryck Whibley
A United Nations peacekeeper, named Charles ‘Chuck’ Pelletier, then arrived at the building and evacuated the band and at least forty others. The band named their next album, ‘Chuck’, after him. They wouldn’t have made it out without him. Once again, the album went on to have very little mainstream success. The biggest songs off this album were ‘Pieces’, ‘Some Say’, and ‘We’re All to Blame’.
Before the band began work on their next album in 2006, Dave Baksh quit the band to work with his new band ‘Brown Brigade’ because he wanted to play “heavier†music than what he had been playing with Sum 41.
After Dave’s Departure, the band began work on their first album with only three members, Deryck, Cone, and Steve. The album is called ‘Underclass Hero’. One of the more popular songs on the album is ‘March of the Dogs’ which almost got banned in the USA because it mentioned in the lyrics "Ladies and gentlemen of the underclass: The president of the United States of America is dead". Another popular song on this album was ‘With Me’, which may have received more air time on the radio than any other Sum 41 song before besides ‘Fat Lip’.
Since Dave left the band they have been playing with Tom Thacker from fellow Canadian pop-punk band, Gob. They use him to play songs that they would have needed Dave to play. After they finished the Underclass Hero tour in July of 2008, the band took some time off. Deryck was touring with his wife, Avril Lavigne, Steve was the touring drummer for The Vandals, and Cone was working on his side project, The Operation M.D., with Todd Morse. In November, Sum 41 released their greatest hits album ‘8 Years of Blood, Sake, and Tears’ in Japan. Their greatest hits album that was released to the rest of the world, ‘All the Good S**t’, was released on March 17th. The band is currently working on music for their currently unnamed new album that will probably be released this year.
So far, they have played over six-hundred shows, released 5 studio albums, and 6 DVDs, and they sure aren’t done yet.
