During the rise of pop punk in the early aughts there were a ton of bands that plied their trade on MTV’s Total Request Live. Few were better than capturing the silly teen angst of being a 13-year old than Simple Plan, whose debut album No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls captured exactly what it felt like to be a young adolescent coming of age. The lyrics which spoke in obtuse generalities about difficult days and loneliness and heartbreak felt like musings of Aristotle at that time in my life, and once they were coated in sugary sweet vocal hooks that were perfectly sing-a-longable, it was oh so easy to burn through this album and play it non-stop. In retrospect it doesn’t hit as hard as it once did (for fairly obvious reasons), but the gravitational pull of nostalgia still lends itself well to the ears. When those big choruses hit I find myself still singing along like I was holed up in my room with my blue Sony Walkman.
Standout Songs: “I’d Do Anything”, “Perfect”, “I’m Just A Kid”, “Addicted”
