Simple Plan - Simple Plan

Josh Maule | 22 September 2008

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Simple Plan
Simple Plan
Warner
2008

Simple Plan are one of the biggest bands in the world at the moment. Their Myspace page has had more than 20 million hits. Their record sales worldwide stand at seven million.

It’s surprising then that they are best known for their songs about failure, emptiness, and disappointment. To my thinking, they are an emo band; that is, they’re emotional and not afraid to admit it. They’re famous for singing the words:

“Hey Dad look at me
Think back and talk to me
Did I grow up according
To plan?
…
I’m sorry
I can’t be Perfect”

I’m sure plenty of Sydneyanglicans.net readers have never heard of these five young men who wear eyeliner. But I have no doubt plenty of kids at our churches like their music; especially junior high school students. Some will probably be going to see them when they play in Sydney on October 18.

Simple Plan’s latest (self-titled) album has recently hit the stores and it is worth knowing a bit about, not least because of the band’s widespread popularity.

Musically the band delves into some new territory on this album, while also covering some familiar ground. As always there are the anthems they have become so renowned for, but there are also some new tone colours. Some electrotonic sounds have crept in, as have some mechanical rhythms. A couple of the songs have also taken on a very pop sound; think 96.1 top twenty material…

Lyrically the album is fairly grey and miserable. Ailing relationships, wasted days, a lying lover and loneliness each get a song.

But one track in particular captures the overarching attitude of Simple Plan and their loyal fans. Titled ‘Generation’ it is an anthem for the discontented cohort tired of the system that tells them what to do.

“I’m sick of all this waiting.
And people telling me what I should be.
What if I’m not so crazy.
Maybe you’re the one who’s wrong not me.”

While I don’t doubt that the frustration in this song is real, it’s hard to have a lot of sympathy for the Simple Plan boys who reside in ‘Canada’! If they seriously think they do it tough they ought to take a plane trip to oppressive China or war-torn Africa. Or even just switch on the evening news.

But solutions aside, this sort of music is truly the anthem for the Simple Plan generation. Millions of kids worldwide feel united by these songs. You could read their hundreds of blogs. They feel restricted and bossed around by their parents and teachers and so they break free in the Simple Plan soundwaves.

And maybe this gives those of us who run youth groups and mentor teens something of a slap in the face. What do our young teens think of the things we teach them? Do their eyes glaze over when we ask them to get out their Bibles and pens? Do they find the Simple Plan anthem an appealing alternative to Friday fellowship?

If a ‘hard done by’ attitude is what many of these kids subscribe to, how are we reaching them with Jesus? Surely the answer is not to say: “Well that’s ungrateful… Get over yourselves.” A better way would be to tell them of the Jesus who had some fierce words to say to ‘the system’, and the oppression of the world he lived in. The Jesus who called for an end to legalistic lip service and ushered in a new way. The new testament’s Jesus of true freedom.

Alternatively, just do a youth group series on Lamentations or Ecclesiastes.

It’s easy to dismiss the Simple Plan attitude as whiney and weak. But we do so at the peril of losing our teens who think likewise.