Robbed hit of the week 1/22/24 - Simple Plan's "I'd Do Anything"...

 

 

"I'd Do Anything" - Simple Plan

from the album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #51 (three weeks)

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the pop-punk band Simple Plan, who came together in Montreal at the end of the 1990's, with high school friends Chuck Comeau, Jeff Stinco, and Sebastien Lefebvre along with lead singer Pierre Bouvier soon joined by David Desrosiers. Signed to Atlantic Records' imprint Lava (who also hosted Matchbox Twenty), the group released their debut album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls at the start of 2002. The first single from the record, "I'm Just A Kid", got play on music television but never made any of the radio charts in Canada or the U.S., though it recently got tagged as a meme on the TikTok app and has since become their most streamed song (deservedly so). 

 

For the second release from the debut, "I'd Do Anything", came out that fall. Written by the band, the song was produced by Arnold Lanni, who himself is a veteran of the charts as a member of the bands Sheriff and Frozen Ghost, with the former having written their #1 hit "When I'm With You". In the lyrics Pierre is begging for a past love to get back together through a letter (yes, we did that pre-internets). However leading up to the chorus he explains how he "can't just let you leave once again", which portends he probably didn't send it. Nevertheless its an emotion a whole lot of young people (and us olds) have been through. Another chart veteran, Mark Hoppus of fellow pop-punksters blink-182 (of "All The Small Things" fame) contributes backup vocals. Lanni's production brings a whole lot of energy to the affair, and let's their harmonies shine through at the right times. The music video has people trying their best to get in to a show...

While "I'd Do Anything" climbed to #15 on Billboard magazine's Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart, the song stalled right under the halfway mark on the Hot 100 in March of 2003. Internationally, the single was a minor hit in the United Kingdom at #78. The No Pads album, released in February of 2002, eventually peaked at #35 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, spending 69 weeks on the list and going on to sell over two million copies. 

(6/10)

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Here's the band appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2003...

Next up, in concert in Australia in 2012...

And lastly, an acoustic take...