Source: Album Artwork
2001 was a great year for pop punk. Not only were the angsty 90’s vibes at an all-time high, but also the albums released that year were just killer *ba dum tss*. We had Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American, blink-182’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, Brand New’s Your+Favorite+Weapon and Weezer’s self-titled (The Green Album)… just to name a few.
But since we’re slowly coming up to the pop punk fuelled month of May (Slam Dunk Fest woohoo) we decided to make a 15th-anniversary post about one of our favourite pop punk albums, All Killer, No Filler by Sum 41.
15 years later and this mega-album is still considered an essential guide on how to do pop punk right. So, here are some of the reasons why we still love it to this day.
- The damn intro! Literally just the creepiest, coolest, most rad way to start an album! “Children of the beast embrace/ To scorn and hate the human race/ Consume the light that hugs the earth/ And aid the womb in giving birth/ To a group that will appear/ And guide you through this final year/ The dark armies then will come/When the sum is 41.” Chills…
- Unlike a lot of bands before them (Green Day, The Offspring, blink-182, Bowling For Soup) the band brought a whole other kind of pop punk to the scene. They weren’t exactly comedic and clever like blink and BFS, and they definitely weren’t heavy like the way-more-punk-rock-than-pop-punk band The Offspring. They were a cool combination of the two—with some skate punk elements thrown in for good measure.
- ‘Fat Lip’ aka the anthem of youth – A track that makes even the nerdiest of nerds cooler. Rapping the verses, with hand gestures and all, makes you feel like the biggest gangster this side of the suburbs! The song is a true testament to youth… and doing stupid hoodrat things with your friends.
- ‘In Too Deep’ is and will always be the jam. It just screams summer and pool parties! The song itself actually sounds like summer. How is that possible?! I honestly can’t listen to it without picturing skateboards, a pool and the cast of American Pie.
- The closest thing to a ballad on the album is ‘Handle This’. All Killer is all party, all the time!
- The random 80’s metal influence – ‘Pain For Pleasure’ is so 80’s it’s insane. It doesn’t go with any of the other tracks on the album and it’s just outstanding.
- The intro to ‘Crazy Amanda Bunkface’… and the title, obviously. As soon as that guitar starts you’re restraining yourself because you’re so ready to do some full-on pop punk jumping! The track, like all the songs on the album, is just edgy and raw. It’s just classic punk rock.
- The extremely gnarly, chaotic ‘Never Wake Up’. The track is very NOFX hardcore punk and in typical hardcore punk fashion, it’s not even a minute long. It’s a can of Monster packed into a 50-second track!
- The epic album artwork. It’s just so good.
- 15 years have passed, but as soon as you hear ‘Introduction to Destruction’ you immediately feel like an angsty teenager once again!
Happy 15th birthday All Killer, No Filler! Even if we become casualties of society, victims of conformity and fall in line, you never will. You’re everlasting.
