Tag Archives: anniversary

3 years since the release of ‘Taking One For The Team’

by Dominika | Feb 19th, 2019 | no comments

“And it’s making me sick – feeling nostalgic..” – the lyrics from the the song Nostalgic, sometimes precisely sum up our feelings whenever we hit yet another anniversary of the release of a Simple Plan record, realizing how fast the time flies and how old we all really are already.

It’s true – Simple Plan released their latest, 5th studio album, ‘Taking One For The Team’ exactly three years ago on this day, February 19th. In those three years, Simple Plan toured the whole world a couple time, released a number of singles from this album, including ‘I Don’t Wanna Go To Bed’, ‘Singing In The Rain’ and ‘Perfectly Perfect’ and currently are in the process of making a follow-up album.

Besides these radio songs, the band also teased the release of this record in the summer of 2015 by putting out a video for ‘Boom!’, which despite not becoming an official single, has still managed to capture many people’s hearts and… let’s face it: their dancing & rocking moves too. Similarly, we also got a music video for ‘Opinion Overload’, one of the heavier songs on the album, which also was not chosen to represent this album on the radio waves.

On this album, Simple Plan once again featured various interesting vocalists, who were supposed to give the record a little bit of a different feel. Rapper Nelly laid some guest vocals on the song ‘I Don’t Wanna Go To Bed’, musical duo Rock City then appeared on ‘Singing In The Rain’, while the voice of Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory can be heard on ‘Farewell’ and the only female artist – Juliet Simms – sang beautifully on the final track – ‘I Dream About You’.

Looking back, how do you feel about Simple Plan’s last studio effort? Which songs are your favorite? And would you like for the band to head a similar direction with their next record?

11 years since the release of Simple Plan’s self-titled album

by Dominika | Feb 12th, 2019 | no comments

Today marks exactly 11 years since Simple Plan released their third, eponymous record ‘Simple Plan’, on which the band brought us a number of deeply personal songs as well as many international chart-toppers.

While initially struggling with a writer’s block during the process of creating this 2008 classic, Pierre and Chuck eventually managed to dig deep inside their own personal experience and came up with the 11 songs that became the record we now know as ‘Simple Plan’. These personal experience can be heard in the lyrics of songs such as ‘Your Love Is A Lie’ (Chuck’s story about how he got cheated on by his former girlfriend), ‘Save You’ (Pierre’s recollection of his feelings of desperation when his younger brother went through cancer) or ‘I Can Wait Forever’ (song about Pierre’s love for his then girlfriend now wife Lachelle).

Interestingly enough, alongside ‘Still Not Getting Any’, ‘Simple Plan’ is the only other album by Simple Plan that does not feature any special guests on any of the songs – that is if we don’t count Chuck Comeau, who made his rap/spoken word debut on the song ‘Holding On’.

From the start even until now, this Simple Plan album has sparked many debates amongst the fans, some seeing a major departure from the band’s previous music efforts with the album’s more electronic and alternative style and lack of pop-punk songs, while others saw this as an interesting and mature creative choice from Simple Plan, while still keeping the core Simple Plan style present.

But the music style wasn’t the only thing that made the fans argue. Prior to its release, the band revealed the album art, which featured the band members emerging from the ruins of a city destroyed by fire. This interesting choice of an album cover made many fans on MySpace (the social network the band primarily used in that time to communicate with their fans) express their (often) negative opinions, which eventually made the band second-guess this choice and decided to let the fans choose the album art on their own by offering a second, less controversial, black&white option, which the fans eventually went with.

Tell us, 11 years on, how do you find the self-titled album in the context of all of Simple Plan’s discography? Do some of your favorite songs appear on this album? What does this album mean to you? Let us know in the comments below!

14 years since the release of ‘Still Not Getting Any’

by Dominika | Oct 26th, 2018 | no comments

Precisely 14 years ago on this day, October 26th 2004, Simple Plan released arguably one of their most-popular records ever ‘Still Not Getting Any’.

Many Simple Plan fans, who were too young to begin being a fan in the No Pads era, often remember the songs from the band’s second album, often shortened to SNGA, as the official starting point of their Simple Plan obsession. Songs like ‘Welcome To My Life’, ‘Crazy’ or ‘Untitled’ made Simple Plan a commercial success all over the world. Over the years, this Bob Rock produced album sold over 2 million copies worldwide and because of that it was also certified Platinum in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and United States, Gold in Brazil, France, Japan and Mexico and Silver in the United Kingdom.

The album garnered some fairly positive reviews after its release. For instance Rolling Stone gave it 3/5 stars, stating that “it’s goofy as all hell, but don’t be surprised if you catch yourself singing along.” Alternative Press magazine also published a review of the record in 2004, comparing it to the band’s first studio effort: “Some excessive ballads aside, Simple Plan’s second disc all but perfects the one before it.” E! Online also pitched in and in its review saw Still Not Getting Any as a important addition to the pop-punk genre: “This isn’t just a step in the right direction for the band, it’s–believe it or not–a good move for the pop-punk genre as a whole.”

And while we could also definitely find some less favorable reviews, what’s more important is the album’s legacy and the fact that its songs meant a great deal to many fans, who were able to relate to many of the themes that the album touched within its lyrics – topics such as relationship struggles, teenage angst, feelings of misunderstanding, desperation and loneliness and last but not the least also various social issues.

Let’s celebrate this special Still Not Getting Any anniversary by reminding ourselves of these now classic songs by Simple Plan – and there’s so many to choose from. We can already tell you that picking our favorite would be impossible:

SimplePlan.cz celebrates 11 years online!

by Dominika | Aug 13th, 2018 | no comments

Year after year it gets all the more harder to realize how fast time flies. Did you know that today, for instance, marks the 11th anniversary of SimplePlan.cz?

Granted, it already was half-alive 2 years prior to that in a blog-form (est. 2005), but the official beginning on this platform dates back to August 13th 2007, when I decided that a blog just wasn’t enough – that the fandom needed something a bit bigger and more credible [if you’re not familiar with the SimplePlan.cz history, give it a read!].

11 years later and without any breaks, SimplePlan.cz is still here as the longest continuously running fansite about SimplePlan on the internet.

“… But Dominika, how do you even manage it all by yourself?”, I often get asked. To be quite honest, even though I do run the website alone, I would never be able do it “all by myself” if I didn’t have help from the rest of the fandom. It always baffles me how many fans are willing to help out just so that other fans can know their favorite band a little better – whether it’s by taking photos for the website, filming a video of a special appearance, translating a French interview, sending in a setlist or just letting us know about some of the highlights from a show they just attended the night before. All of that put together is how this website can still be alive – thanks to you. All of you who visit the website, who have helped make any article happen or even just commented under our social media posts, are the reason why this website keeps growing and has the ability to offer Simple Plan fans more insights into the work of the band and their music. Because we all know it’s not just about the official press releases – there’s so much more to be found in the SP world and we don’t even need to be tabloid about it. It’s absolutely fantastic to have such a dedicated group of little Simple Plan soldiers out there all around the world, willing to give a helping hand! Thank you SO MUCH for all of that!

And even though there aren’t any more shows planned in the near future, don’t fret! I’ll make sure there’s plenty of news that can keep your curious minds busy, but most importantly – we have the whole process of the making of the sixth Simple Plan album ahead of us! Who knows what we can expect?

What you can definitely be counting on though, is that SimplePlan.cz be there every step of the way, hoping that you will join us on this journey!

Obviously, the biggest thanks as always goes to the Simple Plan boys, for still going strong and being so involved with and dedicated to their fandom. We appreciate it a lot. On a personal note – thanks Pierre, Chuck, Jeff, Seb and David for all the support you’ve given this website over the years, especially in the TOFTT era. We all look forward to seeing what’s next for you and absolutely can’t wait to see you ALL together on stage again.

Well, time to get started on year no. 12, shall we? The battery is full and my keyboard is ready – let’s see what the future holds in the world of SP news!

Thanks for all the support, guys! I meant it.

WIN THE PIN – 11TH ANNIVERSARY CONTEST!

And finally one little present from me to you! If you’ve been a fan for SimplePlan.cz for a while, you know about the special SimplePlan.cz pins, that are awarded to the most dedicated of you, given out at concerts and to the attendees of SP.cz meet-ups! If you don’t already have yours and would like one, here’s your chance! Make sure to visit our Facebook page to enter our special ‘Win The Pin’ contest, where 6 of you can win your very own SimplePlan.cz pin! Official rules of the contest can be found here.

>> ENTER THE CONTEST HERE < <

Simple Plan to release a special 15th anniversary edition of the No Pads album!

by Dominika | Mar 3rd, 2018 | 1 comment

In just a little over a month, Simple Plan will finally be heading back down under for the long-awaited 15th anniversary No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls tour in Australia and New Zealand. And to make their grand return to the land of kangaroos and koalas even more celebratory, they decided to rerelease their debut album there just a few days before they hit the stage at the first show in Gold Coast.

Thanks to our colleagues from SPB, it was revealed that No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls (15th Anniversary Tour Edition) will be released on April 6th and it will include a number of bonus tracks that you won’t find on the original album from 2002.

Besides all the songs from No Pads, the new edition will also include some popular b-sides by Simple Plan, such as One By One, Grow Up, Happy Together and Vacation, as well as an acoustic version of Perfect and two bonus live versions – Addicted and Perfect – recorded at the shows in California in 2017.

Warner Music Australia has already begun the album’s presale on their official website and you can now preorder the record for $18.

As of right now it is unknown whether the band plans to release this special edition only in Australia or whether fans will be able to buy it all over the world. As soon as we find more details about it, we will let you know here on SimplePlan.cz.

In the meantime, check out the full tracklist of this special limited edition of No Pads to celebrate its 15th anniversary:

1. I’d Do Anything
2. The Worst Day Ever
3. You Don’t Mean Anything
4. I’m Just A Kid
5. When I’m With You
6. Meet You There
7. Addicted
8. My Alien
9. God Must Hate Me
10. I Won’t Be There
11. One Day
12. Perfect
13. One By One (Intl B-side)
14. Grow Up (Intl B-side)
15. Happy Together
16. Addicted (Live From California 2017)
17. Vacation (non-album b-side)
18. Perfect (Live From California 2017)
19. Perfect (Acoustic Version)