Simple Plan – Did We Really Think This Was Going to be a YAY?

Simple Plan - NAY

When I was a sophomore in high school, the very first “show” I went to was Simple Plan, the Starting Line, and Brand New. I’m pretty sure every budding scenester (who now lives in Williamsburg) or emo music fan (most obviously from Long Island and maybe New Jersey) was there, but I was young and I was naïve, truly unknowing when it came to what could be considered “good” music. (Except for Brand New. With my excessive amount of regional pride, Jesse Lacey is still my boy. And an object of lust.)

We’ve all grown up now, with both TSL and Brand New putting out better, more progressive records since 2002. Simple Plan, unfortunately, hasn’t moved their sound as forward as their counterparts. Their self-titled album, which “drops” February 12, has a few songs that could be confused with Yellowcard and Fall Out Boy, two bands who added an electronic sound to their guitars and, in the case of the latter, ended up on top. Actually, this album reminds me a lot of Yellowcard’s Lights and Sounds, an album with mediocre songs and no direction. The songs on Simple Plan are, well, they’re fine. There’s nothing dazzling, nothing spectacular, nothing that makes you say, “Wow, I can’t believe that they’ve grown so much.” I don’t think that lead singer Pierre Bouvier should be raging anthems for his “Generation” at this point in his life. Homeboy is nearing thirty. I know there are all sorts of jokes how Canada (the entire band is French-Canadian, if you didn’t know) is backwards and behind the rest of the world and all that, but this is too much for even me, and I love to dabble in the music of my high school self. If you’re hoping for something new, don’t buy this album. I guess you could download it or even try and snag it on The Leak on MTV.com. Don’t expect too much. If you want a blast from your past, give it a listen. But to be fair, it wasn’t good then, and it isn’t any good now.

-Lindsay