Music / Simple Plan

From left to right: Jeff, Sébastien, Pierre, Chuck, and David

Simple Plan is a Canadian Pop Punk / Emo Pop band from Montréal, Québec. Formed in 1999 by Chuck Comeau (Drums), Jeff Stinco (Lead Guitar) & Sébastien Lefebvre (Guitar), with Pierre Bouvier (Vocals) & David Desrosiers (Bass) joining later on, both leaving the band Reset to do so - Ironically, Comeau & Bouvier formed Reset, and Desrosiers joined the band as Bouvier's replacement following his departure.

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Discography

Studio Albums

• No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls (2002)^Singles"I'm Just a Kid", "I'd Do Anything", "Addicted", "Perfect"
• Still Not Getting Any... (2004)^Singles"Welcome to My Life", "Shut Up!", "Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?)", "Crazy"
• Simple Plan (2008)^Singles"When I'm Gone", "Your Love is a Lie", "Save You"
• Get Your Heart On! (2011)^Singles"Can't Keep My Hands Off You", "Jet Lag", "Astronaut", "Summer Paradise"
• Taking One for the Team (2016)^Singles"Boom!", "Don't Wanna Go to Bed", "Opinion Overload", "Singing in the Rain", "Perfectly Perfect"
• Harder Than It Looks (2022)^Singles"The Antidote", "Ruin My Life", "Wake Me Up (When This Nightmare's Over)"

Other notable releases

• "My Christmas List" (2001; non-album single)^note Rereleased in 2021
• Live in Japan 2002 (2003; Live EP)
• "Don't Wanna Think About You" (2004; non-album single)^note Originally released as part of the Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed soundtrack
• MTV Hard Rock Live (2005; Live Album)
• iTunes Live from Montreal (2008; Live EP of Unplugged Versions.)^note iTunes exclusive
• "Summer Paradise" featuring Sean Paul (2012, non-album single)^note The original version of the song, featuring guest vocals by K'naan, was included on Get Your Heart On!.
• Get Your Heart On - The Second Coming! (2013; EP)
• "Saturday" (2015; non-album single)
• "Christmas Every Day" (2016; non-album single)
• "Where We Belong" with State Champs featuring We The Kings (2019; non-album single)
• "What's New, Scooby Doo?" (2021; non-album single)^note Rerecorded version of the Title Theme Tune of the animated series of the same name
• "I'm Just a Kid (Amazon Original)" featuring LØLØ (2022, non-album single)^note The original version of the song, without LØLØ's guest vocals, was previously included on "No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls"
• "Iconic" featuring Jax (2023; non-album single)^note The original version of the song, without Jax's guest vocals, was included on Harder Than It Looks.

They also performed the Title Theme Tune for What's New, Scooby-Doo? and appear as themselves in the episode "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman".

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Welcome to my tropes:

• Abusive Parents: The singer's father in "Perfect" is implied to have been verbally and emotionally abusive, having set impossibly high standards for his son and, judging from one set of lyrics, having said something to the singer that he can never forgive.
  "Nothing's gonna change the things that you said.
  And nothing's gonna make this right again."
• Anti-Hero: The narrator in "Me Against The World" views himself as one, combined with Hero with Bad Publicity.
  "I'm a nightmare, a disaster
  That's what they always said
  I'm a lost cause, not a hero
  But I'll make it on my own
  I've gotta prove 'em wrong
  It's me against the world!"
• Break-Up Song: "Addicted" is a pretty heartwrenching one:
  "How long will I be waiting?
  Until the end of time?
  I don't know why I'm still waiting,
  I can't make you mine..."
• Broken Pedestal: From "Perfect":
  "I try not to think about the pain I feel inside
  Did you know you used to be my hero?
  All the days you spent with me now seem so far away
  And it feels like you don't care anymore."
• Butt-Monkey: "God Must Hate Me" is written from the perspective of one. The narrator crashes their dad's car and forgets to study for a test, leading them to believe they've been cursed.
• The Cameo:
  • Patrick Langlois, a friend of the band, in all of their music videos up to "Save You".
  • Eliza Dushku, DJ Qualls, and Tony Hawk in the video for "I’m Just a Kid" as the song was featured on the The New Guy soundtrack.
  • The cast of the live-action Scooby-Doo films appear as their characters in "I Don't Wanna Think About You" alongside the film’s CGI Scooby.
  • Perez Hilton in the video for "When I'm Gone".
  • Celebrity cancer survivors Kevin Hearn, Delta Goodrem, Marissa Jaret Winokur, René Angélil^note Céline Dion’s husband, Bif Naked, NHL player Saku Koivu, and Sharon Osbourne appear in the video for "Save You" alongside members of the band’s families who had also survived the disease.
  • Members of bands MxPx, All Time Low, New Found Glory, PVRIS, Pierce the Veil, The Summer Set, Silverstein, Black Veil Brides, Parkway Drive and Issues appear in the music video for "Boom".
  • David Hasselhoff in the video for "I Don't Wanna Go To Bed".
• Cover Version:
  • A live performance of the band peforming Bad Religion's "American Jesus" was a bonus track on "No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls".
  • "Surrender" by Cheap Trick.
  • Covered "Freaky Friday" by The Turtles for the Freaky Friday (2003) soundtrack.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • "Crazy" from Still Not Getting Any... is not about teenaged angst like many of their other songs but about how the world is a harsh, bitter place where people have to sacrifice so many things to fit in society standards, divorce cases existing and also the gap between the rich and the poor being so wide.
  • Their self-titled album, which actually went into much more mature themes and felt more structured as well compared to their previous two full-length albums. For example, "The End" can be said as a darker and more mature counterpart of "Addicted", both songs tell a story about damaged relationship, but the former is a song about someone making attempts of fixing said relationship, while the latter is a song about someone venting his frustrations instead of taking actions.
  • "Untitled" is already one of the more somber and depressing songs in their repertoire, but with the context of the music video it's even worse. It depicts a fatal drunk driving accident, taking a deep look into the sheer amount of lives ruined by such a decision - the drunk driver is going to prison, the innocent driver is dead, and the victim's family is thrown about their house as though they were in the wreck to depict how their lives are damaged as well.
• Department of Redundancy Department: "Perfectly Perfect" from Taking One for the Team.
• Divorce Assets Conflict: "Two" is written from the perspective of a child of a divorced family, wishing that their parents had been able to work things out.
• Double Entendre: Used in the titles of several of their albums and their DVD rockumentary.
• Et Tu, Brute?: "Thank You" and "Congratulations" are both directed to a former friend following their betrayal.
• Failed a Spot Check: The music video for "Shut Up!" features the band arriving at a fancy hotel to perform a concert, only to be realise they’re in the wrong place entirely.
• Fanservice: The video for "I Don't Wanna Go To Bed" is a Shout-Out to Baywatch, so it fittingly features the band shirtless for the majority of the video & numerous shots of women in swimsuits.
• Growing Up Sucks: The main theme in "I'm Just A Kid" and "Grow Up" although the two songs have different interpretations of the phrase - "I'm Just A Kid" is about how hard it is growing up, whilst "Grow Up" is about wanting to prolong your childhood.
  "I’m just a kid, and this world is a nightmare" - Opening line to the chorus to "I’m Just A Kid"
  "I don’t wanna be told to grow up" - Opening line to the chorus to "Grow Up"
• I Just Want to Be Special: "Ordinary Life" is about ignoring everyone telling you not to pursue your dreams, even if accomplishing them is a long shot.
• Interspecies Romance: "My Alien" is about a guy with an alien girlfriend.
• Long-Runner Line-up: Type 1, the same line-up from 1999 to 2020. As of their twentieth anniversary, the only change to the line-up was David stepping back from touring in 2017 for two years to battle depression & focus on his mental health. David eventually left the band in 2020 after being accused of sexual misconduct.
• Lyrical Dissonance: "Addicted" has a pretty upbeat sound, but the actual lyrics are about the heartbreaking end of a relationship.
  "I tried to make you happy,
  I did all that I could,
  Just to keep you but you left anyway.."
• Multilingual Song:
  • They released French versions of "Summer Paradise" and "I Don't Wanna Go To Bed" but they still keep the chorus in English.
  • "Jet Lag" has four different versions, including French and Chinese.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls follows up the sombre "Perfect" with "Grow Up", a perky song about not wanting to grow up.
  • Get Your Heart On! sandwiches the defiant "Last One Standing" between "Gone Too Soon" & "This Song Saved My Life".
• Nobody Loves the Bassist: Averted; David received a similar reaction from girls to what lead singer Pierre does.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • The demo version of "I'm Just A Kid" - The album and single version replaces it with "hell"
    What the fuck is wrong with me?
    Don't fit in with anybody
    How did this happen to me?
    Wide awake, I'm bored and I can't fall asleep
    And every night is the worst night ever.
  • In the unedited version of "Your Love Is A Lie" - The edited version replaces it with "touched"
    And did you think about me when he fucked you?
  • When performing "You Suck At Love" in concert - The recorded version covers it up with a "Woah"
    Yeah, you were such an awesome fuck,
    But you suck at love
  • The final line of the chorus to "Best Day of My Life"
    ‘Cause I’m living every day,
    Like it’s the best fucking day of my life
• Rearrange the Song:
  • "Jet Lag" was originally released featuring Natasha Bedingfield on guest vocals; another three versions of the song exist - all three replacing Bedingfield's vocals with different guest singers (See Special Guest below) singing in their own native tongues, whilst the Marie Mai version of the song also has Pierre singing the verses in French too.
  • Six different versions of "Summer Paradise" have been released - four versions featuring different guest rappers (See Special Guest below), a version with Sean Paul's vocals but the verses and half the chorus are sang in French by Pierre, and a version without any guest singer sang entirely in English.
  • "I'm Just a Kid" was reworked in 2020 to feature guest vocals by LØLØ.
  • "Iconic" was originally released without any Special Guest vocals; the 2023 release as a single reworked the song to include guest vocals from Jax.
• Ripped from the Headlines: The music video for "Wake Me Up (When This Nightmare’s Over)" was directly inspired by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and a portion of the YouTube monetisation was donated to charities helping civilians affected by the conflict.
• Rockumentary: Their DVD release, "A Large Package For You".
• Safe Driving Aesop: The music video for "Untitled (How Could This Happen To Me?)" depicts a fatal traffic collision by a drunk driver and its aftermath, in which friends and relatives of the victim are thrown about, as if hit by a speeding car themselves, symbolizing the rippling impact of the driver's carelessness ruining the lives of more than just those directly involved.
• Self-Empowerment Anthem:
  • "The Rest of Us" is a pick-me-up song for those who might not be as smart, talented, rich, or popular as the best. As the lyrics say, it's for "the lost, the geeks, the rejects, the losers, the wrong, the freaks, the hopeless", and "the future".
  • The Simple Plan/State Champs/We The Kings collaboration "Where I Belong". The lyrics talk about finding a place in the world, even after being misunderstood and told not to take risks.
• Shout-Out:
  • The opening verse to "Grow Up" references Good Charlotte, Sum 41, blink-182 and MxPx.
  • The video for "I Don't Wanna Think About You" opens & closes in the same manner that every episode of 24 would, and features the band chasing the Mystery Machine. Considering the song was recorded for the soundtrack to Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed, it's not as absurd as it first seems.
  • "Saturday" quotes Journey's song "Don't Stop Believing".
  • The video for "I Don't Wanna Go To Bed" is one to Baywatch, with the band dressed in the iconic costumes from the show & numerous shots from the show's opening titles recreated exactly.
  • The video to "Singing in the Rain" pays homage to That Thing You Do!.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: "Kiss Me Like Nobody's Watching" is about being in such a relationship.
• Special Guest:
  • Mark Hoppus on "I'd Do Anything"
  • Joel Madden on "You Don't Mean Anything"
  • Rivers Cuomo on "Can't Keep My Hands Off You"
  • Natasha Bedingfield, Marie-Mai, Kelly Cha & Tantri of Kotak on various versions of "Jet Lag"
  • K'naan, Sean Paul, MKTO & Taka of One OK Rock on various versions of "Summer Paradise"
  • Alex Gaskarth on "Freaking Me Out"
  • Nelly on "I Don't Wanna Go To Bed"
  • Jordan Pundik on "Farewell"
  • R. City on "Singing In The Rain"
  • Juliet Simms on "I Dream About You"
  • LØLØ on "I'm Just a Kid (Amazon Original)"
  • Deryck Whibley on "Ruin My Life"
  • Jax on "Iconic"
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The lyrics to "You Suck at Love" are about falling for someone with a track record for cheating and superficial relationships, and their inability to grow beyond that.
• Title Theme Tune: Recorded "What’s New, Scooby Doo?" to serve as the theme for What's New, Scooby-Doo?.
• Trash the Set:
  • The video for "Addicted" features the band destroying an apartment, through the power of rock.
  • The video for "Perfect" features a number of teenagers trashing their bedrooms.
  • The video for "Ruin My Life" features a woman heading to the home of her ex, and proceeding to destroy their belongings, culminating in the house being set on fire.
• Unperson: Following his 2020 departure from the band following accusations of sexual misconduct, David was not credited on Harder Than It Looks despite his contributions remaining on the finished album.
• "Untitled" Title: "Untitled" from Still Not Getting Any... although it was later retitled "Untitled (How Could This Happen To Me?)".
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: "Perfect" is about a child who fails to live up to his father's expectations, leading to a falling out between them.
• "When I'm Gone" Song: As evidenced by the name, "When I'm Gone".

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