Songoftheday 4/20/23 - Last day of the rest of my life, I wish I would've known 'cause I didn't kiss my mama goodbye...

 

 

"Youth Of A Nation" - P.O.D.

from the album Satellite (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #28 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 7

 

Today's song comes from the Christian "nu-metal" hard rock band P.O.D. (for "Payable On Death"), who came together in San Diego in the early 1990s. Lead singer Sonny Bernardo, who had become a "born again" Christian after the death of his mother, joined guitarist Marcos Curiel and drummer Wuv along with second bassist Traa Daniels when they released their debut album Snuff The Punk independently on the Rescue imprint (ran by Bernando's dad) in 1994. They followed with a second album and a live release before they were given a record deal by Atlantic Records in 1999.

The band's first release on the major label, The Fundamental Elements Of Southtown. The record was revolutionary at the time, combining Christian themes with the rap/rock fusion already new at the time called nu-metal. Nicking off fans of bands like Linkin Park who didn't particularly pay attention to the overtones, as well as church-going youths that wanted to hear music of their own generation instead of listening to a million Amy Grant ripoffs, the band found themselves with a hit, which peaked at #51 on the Billboard 200 sales tally as well as topping the Christian Albums list. Two songs from the record also got played on secular rock radio in 2000 making both charts - "Southtown" (#28 Alternative/#31 Mainstream) and "Rock The Party (Off The Hook)" (#25 Mainstream/#27 Alternative). At the close of the year, another song from the band, "School Of Hard Knocks" from the Adam Sandler movie Little Nicky, scored a third hit at Alternative Rock radio at #38. 

Building on that success, P.O.D. returned with their second album on Atlantic, Satellite, which had the unfortunate release date of September 11th, 2001. The lead single from the record was "Alive", written by the whole band, who co-produced the track with Howard Benson. The tragic circumstances of 9/11 actually aided the reception of the positive song, written about Sandoval's look on life through his daughter. Mainstream radio started to play the song (they had already signed on to Linkin Park at that point, it wasn't a stretch). The song spent four weeks at #2 on the Alternative Rock radio chart, and peaked at #4 on the Mainstream Rock counterpart. But the shocker was the song came one notch away from making the top-40 on the "big chart", Billboard's Hot 100, stopping for a week at #41.

With that momentum, though, the band took advantage and released their next single "Youth Of A Nation", written by the band's Norm Bernardo, Marcos Curiel, Traa Daniels, and Sonny Sandoval. Inspired by a mass shooting at a school near where they recorded the album, the song's verses paint three dark stories of childhood in the age of automatic weapons, bullying, and sex trafficking that is sorrowfully still so damn relevant today. The production and music plays like a march to battle, and while the melody is a little too linear, the message is quite powerful, and the public responded, giving the band their most successful hit...

"Youth Of A Nation" became P.O.D.'s first and only top-40 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in April of 2002. On the radio, the song peaked at #18 on the Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart, and #6 on the Mainstream Rock list, while spending two weeks at #1 on the Alternative Rock format. Internationally, the single made the top ten in Germany (#5), Norway (#5), Sweden (#7), and Denmark (#10). It also  reached the top-40 in Austria (#11), Italy (#13), Finland (#15), Switzerland (#16), Hungary (#16), Australia (#17), Ireland (#20), the Netherlands (#34), and the United Kingdom (#36). The Satellite album, released in September of 2001, crested at #6 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, racking up 71 weeks on the list and going on to sell over three million copies. 

The third single from Satellite, "Boom", was more in the nice-guy Limp Bizkit vein. The song made both the Alternative (#13) and Mainstream (#21) rock radio charts, and "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #123. That was followed by the title track "Satellite", which also made the Mainstream (#15) and Alternative (#21) lists.

The band returned the following year with Curiel replaced by Jason Truby with a contribution to the soundtrack to The Matrix Reloaded, the second movie in the sci-fi film series starring Keanu Reeves. "Sleeping Awake" was a moderate success at rock radio, going to #14 on the Alternative Rock chart and #20 on the Mainstream counterpart. Later in 2003, P.O.D. released their next studio album, Payable On Death, which rose to #9 on the Billboard 200 and sold over a half-million copies. Lead single "Will You" peaked at #12 on both the Mainstream and Alternative rock radio charts, and "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #117. 

It was three years until P.O.D.'s next release, Testify, which would be their final studio set on Atlantic Records. While the first single "Goodbye For Now" was again a moderate hit at rock radio (#17 Mainstream, #25 Alternative), it nearly reached the top-40 on the Hot 100 at #48. The album peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200, but failed to sell gold in the U.S. (500,000 copies). 

Curiel reunited with the group in 2007, and a year later, signed to Columbia Records' Christian-centric INO imprint, P.O.D. put out When Angels and Serpents Dance, which landed a fourth top ten rank on the Billboard 200 at #9. But after the single "Addicted" stalled at #30 on the Mainstream Rock chart, this would be their only disc with the label. They switched to the Razor and Tie label, who released their Murdered Love album in 2012. The set did rather well on the radio, with "Lost In Forever" taking two weeks at #3 on the Mainstream Rock chart, and third single "Beautiful" peaking at #5 on the list. 

P.O.D. released two albums under the T-Boy label on Universal Records; an acoustic collection of their older hits, and the album The Awakening, which is their most recent placing on the Billboard 200 at #75. Their most recent album, Circles, came out in 2018 on the Mascot label, got to #93 on Billboard's Current Albums Sales chart. Two songs from the record made the Mainstream Rock chart: "Listening For The Silence" (#23) and "Rockin' With The Best" (#34). But they are still active and touring, and an essential piece in religious and rock music.

(7/10)

(click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's the band performing the song on Letterman...

 

Next up, in concert in 2004 with guitarist Truby...

 

 And lastly, an acoustic take for a radio gig in 2012 back with Curiel...

 

 Up tomorrow: This colorful singer refuses to be self-p0wned.