Someone needs to call the butt muffins at Sum 41's label and tell them that Blink 182 already released "Enema of the State" in 1999, we don't need another "political" version of it. Alas, this phone call would be too late, as Sum 41 have released "Underclass Hero" (the name's a deliberate send-up to John Lennon's "Working Class Hero"), an undercooked groan-fest of by-the-numbers Pop Punk. If Blink 182 wrote the book on the genre then Sum 41 (noun + number = band name!) copied the book page for page, even down to the bar code, ISBN and dedication. Ok, that analogy is a bit clunky but the root point remains; who gives a crap that Sum 41 exists? Honestly! Every Pop Punk band has already done this album, there's not a single note on this album that can't be traced back to a better, or at least older, album. Now, granted, I'm no fan of punk, pop punk or whatever the hell Angels and Airwaves was, so I might be missing the key gene that allows me to accept the fact that an entire genre of music can exist based on hundreds of bands sneering "fuck you, dad" vocals over a sped up variation of Pachelbel's "Canon in D" as it's root musical form. Perhaps someday science can provide me with the answers I seek, but for now I just don't get this music.
The album tries to rally the mascara'd masses to take some kind of action against something, probably the president, maybe their parents. Most likely all the fans will do is brood a bit more, get another piercing and continue to believe that growing up in a middle-class suburban neighborhood to boring, white Americans makes you an outcast. If the revolution won't be televised, it certainly won't take place on Myspace and I'll be goddamned if I'm gonna take to the streets and start hucking bricks if guys like Deryck (with a Y!) Whibley, Chester Bennington and Gerard Way are leading the march. I mean, their enthusiasm is admirable, but can you imagine hoards of skinny, pale punksters with their Invader Zim wrist cuffs and dyed black bangs and "Anarchy" t-shirts marching on Washington to take down the Administration? Now I know that Sum 41 almost got blown up in Bukavu, so if they're pissed and ready to fight then I could understand that, but I just don't see a political coup by the kids who make my cheeseburgers and skateboard down my street and call me a sheep for wearing a shirt from Target. Call me short-sighted.I can't really talk about the music on this album with any sort of revelation, as I said before it's all been done before, every last second of it. They've got the upbeat punk numbers, (complete with the "addressing the masses via megaphone" part), the sensitive acoustic-ish ballads, the campy 19th century French strolling song....wait, what? So if you want to know what this album sounds like just go listen to:Blink 182, New Found Glory, Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Linkin Park, Something Corporate, Fenix TX, Yellowcard, A Simple Plan,Box Car Racer, The Offspring, Brand New, Coheed and Cambria, The Starting Line, Senses Fail, Fall Out Boy, Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, Saves the Day, The Used, All-American Rejects, Cartel, Less Than Jake, Millencollin, Nofx, Rufio, MXPX, SR-71, No Use For A Name, Lagwagon, Ghoti Hook, The Click Five, The Ataris, Amber Pacific,or Bowling for Soup.That'll give you a pretty good idea. "Underclass Hero" by Sum 41 receives a score of 1 Rob Gordon, simply because they managed to sell this album as "new".
Mog Score 2/10
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