Episode 3: Sum 41 - 'Underclass Hero'

Via Sum 41's "Fat Lip" video, Island Records

Before we get into this week's topic, I'd like to note that I've launched a music podcast called Aux Words. You can find it here.

This week we're tackling a genre that was a major part of the 2000s alternative scene. It might be the biggest rock subgenre of the decade, honestly (nu metal might be its closest competition but the genre mostly died down by the second half of the 00s). 2007 was an huge time for pop punk music. Emo's third wave was in full effect. Fall Out Boy's huge Infinity on High dominated the charts in the first half of the year. My Chemical Romance's epic The Black Parade blew up just before that. Panic! at the Disco broke out a few years earlier.

Meanwhile, one of the genre's more established acts were trying to figure out how to stand out as the new guard dominated the airwaves....

Sum 41 - Underclass Hero (Island Records, 2007)

Genres: pop punk, alternative rock

Producer(s): Deryck Whibley

Metacritic Score: 50/100

RYM Rating: 2.31/5 (686 ratings, ranked 7/7 in artist's catalog - Note: The band's 2000 EP Half Hour of Power is being counted in these rankings)

Sputnik Rating: 2.6/5 (912 ratings, ranked 5/7 in artist's catalog)

Weeks at #1: One (Week of August 11, 2007)

Other Accomplishments: certified Gold in Sum 41's native Canada

Two weeks ago when talking about The Smashing Pumpkins' Zeitgeist, I briefly talked about the idea of the Anti-Bush Record™. Bush faced tons of criticism from people in the media, and music was no exception. While there was plenty of anti-Bush music from genres everywhere from country to hip-hop, pop punk was definitely at the forefront of the criticism (much like punk was at the forefront of anti-Reagan protest music). Fat Wreck Chords released two Rock Against Bush compilations amid the 2004 election, and basically every pop punk/melodic hardcore band worth anything appeared on it: NOFX, Against Me!, Yellowcard, Alkaline Trio, Pennywise, Descendents, Rise Against, The Offspring, Dropkick Murphys, Green Day, Sum 41, Bad Religion, etc. NOFX had a full Anti-Bush Record™ with 2003's The War on Errorism. But the pinnacle of pop-punk's anti-Bush sentiments came with Green Day's 2004 monster hit American Idiot.

American Idiot feels like one of the last truly landmark rock albums as the genre has declined in mainstream popularity in the years since. It went Platinum six times in the United States alone, and went multiple-times Platinum in basically every other country as well. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" cracked the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. "Holiday" made the top 20. "American Idiot" peaked at 61 on the top 100 but topped the rock chart. It was impossible to turn on a radio at the time without hearing a Green Day song. It was massive.

It was also a statement from Green Day. This was the moment they became and Important Band That Took A Stand For Important Things. They were no longer the slackers that made Dookie and Insomnia. They'd rather write rock operas about the Iraq War than make three-minute songs about teen angst. But Green Day still had the penchant for writing some hooks, man. It's maybe the best example of a once "juvenile" rock band successfully growing up in front of its audience while maintaining their appeal, at least to a lot of people. There's definitely debate on whether or not the record is actually successful when viewed as protest art (in that light it's... flimsy). But the success and influence on the culture is undeniable.

This is a review about a Sum 41 album, but that information is necessary because it's impossible to talk about Underclass Hero without talking about American Idiot. If you listen to the album, it becomes very clear very quickly that this is an album that tried to do exactly what Green Day did on American Idiot.

In 2006, longtime guitarist Dave Baksh left the band because he wanted to play heavier music. Sum 41 had long flirted with heavy metal influence on earlier releases, especially 2004's Chuck. Frontman Deryck Whibley seemed to want the opposite. He wanted  to maintain that pop punk sound with all the big hooks, but he wanted something that sounded more mature and artistic. You can imagine them arguing over the band's direction and Whibley saying something along the lines of, "Y'know, like Green Day did" when talking about what he wanted.

It's not necessarily a bad idea to want the band's sound and lyrical content to be more mature. Whibley was 27 years old at the time and fast-approaching 30. He probably realized he couldn't be the bratty punk who wrote "Fat Lip" forever. The issue is Whibley and the band didn't show his work. He leaned over and peeked at Billie Joe Armstrong's homework while the teacher wasn't looking. He stole a few answers off MCR's Gerard Way as well.

The album is more or less a concept album based around Whibley's thoughts on the times. It tackles ideas like politics (especially against Bush and the Iraq War), religion, and general anti-establishment ideas. STOP ME IF THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR. It also doesn't help that the album gets its title from John Lennon's "Working Class Hero," a song that was famously covered a few months earlier in 2007 by... Green Day.

The similarities don't end with the title and the themes. Listen to "March of the Dogs" and tell me that intro isn't something straight out of American Idiot (maybe not; even Green Day would think "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States... is dead!" was too on-the-nose for an album called American Idiot). The verses of acoustic ballad "With Me" have some flourishes that are way too reminiscent of "Wake Me Up When September Ends." "The Jester" gives me vibes somewhere between a My Chemical Romance track and Green Day's "Holiday."

It would be one thing if any of the political commentary had much more to say beyond, "George W. Bush.... is bad!" but it's laughable. A guy who's sold millions of records on a major label calling himself a voice for the underclass is.... not a great look. On "Count Your Last Blessings" he sets himself up as a Christlike figure who doesn't care about anything and is the pinnacle of wasted youth (so... a Jesus of Suburbia?). Whibley doesn't care accept when he does. "The Jester" is all about what a joke George Bush is, but never gets into specifics. Sum 41 never scratch beneath the surface. It's the musical equivalent of a bad comedian saying, "Now y'know the REAL clowns are the ones in Congress."

 Admittedly, the album does stick to more punk-sounding roots than American Idiot, but that's one of the few things it has going for it. There are some nice hooks, too. "Walking Disaster" is as catchy as anything the Whibley's ever written. But for the most part it fails to reach the heights of Sum 41's earlier music or any of the other bands Underclass Hero seems to take from. 

I think part of the album's failure comes from song/album length. This record is easily their longest. Most of Sum 41's early work is defined by its quickness. If there's a weak song on one of their early albums, it's at least usually over within 3 minutes. Because Underclass Hero wants to be more mature and get those Important Ideas to sink in, they let everything expand and linger more. Sum 41 had one song longer than 4 minutes between Half Hour of Power and Chuck. Underclass Hero has four such songs. Sum 41 could get away with more duds on other projects because they were fleeting moments and you were onto the next song in seconds. This isn't the case here.

The most frustrating part is that Whibley and the band sought to make this their mature, artistic album that shows how far they've come, but they actually accomplished that on the previous album. Chuck is Sum 41's most interesting record musically. It's darker, heavier and less juvenile than what the band was doing before. What they did on Underclass Hero was derivative and 2-3 years too late to the party. The band likely thought this album would be their most personal to date, but nothing feels genuine.

Chris' Rating: 3.5/10

Chris' Official Sum 41 Ranking:

1. Does This Look Infected? (2002)

2. Chuck (2004)

3. All Killer No Filler (2001)

4. Half Hour of Power (2000)

5. 13 Voices (2016)

6. Screaming Bloody Murder (2011)

7. Underclass Hero (2007)

Next Week: The white boy angst continues with KoRn's untitled 2007 album