During my early teen years, I spent a
weekend at a camp for members of local 4H groups, at which we were supposed to
develop leadership skills. From the start, I had found the entire idea cheesy
and lame, and so I made sure to bring some tunes along with me to keep myself
entertained. The main disc that accompanied me was Sum 41’s Does This Look Infected?, which I spun
endlessly each evening in my bunk. However, returning to it almost a decade
later, I’ve found myself unable to recall anything but the radio singles,
prompting me to this time give the record a deep and thoughtful listen, to see
if these tunes can sink as deeply as they did all those years ago.
The band’s second full-length
release, Does This Look Infected?
delivers an invigorating and novel concoction of the pop-punk sound that blew
Sum 41 into the charts and the heavy metal influences on which the members were
raised. Though power chords and catchy choruses abound, Sum 41 dips into its
heavier sensibilities, adding double bass runs, drop tunings, and even some
screamed vocals. Brownsound shreds his strings to shadows, seeming to play
every possible note on the fretboard, while Steve-O 32 simulates a tsunami in
his speedy beats and booming fills. Bizzy D explores his extensive vocal range,
singing pop-driven melodies one moment before shouting angrily through the
next. Capping this quartet is the humble bass stylings of Cone, who drives his
lines through intricate changes and rhythms that most punk and metal bands
never approach. Despite jamming in genres hardly known for their technicality,
Sum 41 manages to provide fun and energetic music that is hardly formulaic.
Between the songwriting and the
equipment, Does This Look Infected?
has a completely distinct flavor. With the exception of a muddy bass guitar,
the overall mix is remarkable: the lows explode like cherry bombs in storm
drains while the highs squeal at volumes that rival a threatened macaque. Though
apparently the mix is Bizzy’s only regret for this album,[1]
in my opinion the guitars especially benefit, boasting a grungy and ragged tone
that has a serious metal growl. Andy Wallace’s affectation of the record’s
sound perfectly complements the genre-blurring musicianship and composition,
letting the band tear through its slash-beat punk riffs as easily as they pound
through palm-muted metal madness. Even the layout of the songs captures the
specific energy of the album, with focus equally presented in both sing-along
choruses which any listener would be daft to ignore, and heavy, intricate
instrumental sections that exhibit how tight this act is. No matter what song
you decide to sample, there is no doubt which record that tune calls home, or
what band has had the audacity to create it.
If one song completely encapsulates
the sound, energy, and approach of Does
This Look Infected?, I would place my money on “Mr. Amsterdam,” which
flawlessly merges every element that is Sum 41 into a rocking monster. Opening
with syncopated hits, the band suddenly rolls into a circle-pit punk
progression that beckons frenzy. Bizzy D takes center in this song, using an
angst-driven vocal to vent his disgust with the xenophobic and whiny world in
which we all resign to reside. His repetition of “I’ve said this before…”[2]
at the beginning of the verses is poignant and intelligent, and the
call-and-response moments between singing and screaming drive the song to
incredible sonic heights. The song rides the vocals through two verses before
diving into a hardcore instrumental outro loaded with sonorous drum fills and
tremolo-picking that could rival most speed-metal guitarists. Sum 41 then races
to the finish, halting on a dissonant and unresolved minor second, denying the
listener closure and mustering a thirst for more. “Mr. Amsterdam” denies
conventions in structure, notation and even feel, yet kicks ass from inception
to death, a homunculus of the awesome lifeblood flowing through this record.
Despite their relative youth and
their goofy stage names, the precision with which Sum 41 performs on this
record demonstrates logic and maturity, and both attributes are equally and
expertly expressed in Bizzy D’s lyrics. It is apparent he has a complete handle
on intelligent use of rhyme and consonance, employing feminine rhyme in the
chorus of “No Brains” with the lines “I’ve had enough frustration…this dead-end
situation,”[3]
while riding digraph sounds in “Thanks For Nothing:” “No patience / this
nation’s / obsessed with exploitation.”[4]
In line with his mechanics are his topics, as he eschews well-worn teenage
issues in favor of serious subject matter, including suicide and ineffective
social institutions. However, he doesn’t completely abandon the humor for which
Sum 41 is famous; he scathingly attacks Anna Nicole Smith in the miniature
“A.N.I.C.”[5]
and relives drunken forays in “Over My Head (Better Off Dead).”[6]
Bizzy D uses his lyrics to explore all aspects of his life at that time,
accepting his adventurous youth without denying the burgeoning adult within,
letting Does This Look Infected?
remain lively while flirting with the cognitive.
In terms of responsibility and maturity, perhaps the weightiest tune on
this record is the one that kicks it off. “The Hell Song,” a pop-punk drag
racer and the second single off of Does
This Look Infected?, is not only one of Bizzy D’s favorite tunes on the
record[7],
but also the vehicle for addressing a serious topic: HIV. Having written the
song shortly after finding out an ex-girlfriend had contracted the virus, his
lyrics carefully describe his reaction to the news, as well as the
life-shattering effect it had. He observes his newfound mortality with the line
“I feel I’ve come to realize / How fast life can be compromised,” while
acknowledging how beyond his control the whole situation as he says “I feel so
useless in this.” Despite the shocked, almost despairing tone, he attends to
the idea of responsibility associated with sexually transmitted diseases as he
asks “Why do things that matter the most / Never end up being what we chose?”[8]
With “The Hell Song,” Bizzy D utilizes gentle metaphor and catchy melody to
face a troubling reality while also asserting how he too must be held
accountable for his actions and his reactions in this life.
After again burying myself in this
record’s embrace, over a decade since my first exposure, I find it easy to
understand what middle-school-me found so enticing. Though this record has its
indecencies—Bizzy D too often sacrifices syntax to fit in a rhyme, and the
first half of “Hooch” is suspiciously reminiscent of “Boom” by P.O.D.—I have no
trouble drifting in its sonic waves, and what’s more, I don’t feel dumber for
having listened to it. With Does This
Look Infected, Sum 41 infuses intelligence, maturity, and variety into
their pop-punk moniker, providing me with rocking tunes that resound as deeply
now as they did when my biggest obstacle was summer boredom and responsibility
was something I could still avoid. And with each subsequent spin as I careen
down my daily commute, I pray that when this record next drifts into my path,
the thirty-something me will discover as much meaning and truth in it as did
the boy lying on the bottom bunk, mouthing along to the worlds and drowning out
the world he had yet to encounter.
Tunes to Check Out:
1) No Brains
2) Mr. Amsterdam
3) The Hell Song
Loved Sum 41 in middle school, then they basically dropped off the radar for me until a couple years ago when I heard Jessica Kill for the first time. I rapidly caught up with their discography and I have been digging their evolution. Every album shows a step up in maturity and refinement, as well as shifts in tone, keeping them feeling fresh where other pop-punk bands leave me feeling like they've stagnated. I love the hell out of them, more so now than I even did before.
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