Does This Look Infected? Turns 15

On November 26, 2002, the Ontario-born boys in Sum 41 released their second studio album, Does This Look Infected?. As the album turns fifteen, celebrate with these infectious facts.

1. Going deeper. The follow up to the band’s debut, All Killer No Filler, was noticeably different – and darker. Frontman Deryck Whibley said,

“I guess I watched too much CNN while making this record. Also, I guess I’m getting older. When you’re young you have an excuse to be stupid, but as you grow up it’s good to learn about everything that’s going on.”

He went on to say that when they “were writing the last record everything was happy go lucky. Now this time we’ve seen a little bit more and our eyes have been opened up a little bit.”

2. Tackling the heavy topics. The band used the album as a platform to address some of issues they had with the world. Hatred, war, internal demons, suicide, drugs, insomnia and HIV are all recurring themes throughout the album.

3. Bitter world. The inspiration for the song “Mr. Amsterdam” stems from how the band viewed society at the time. They didn’t like the fact that everyone was living life with so much negativity. Whibley said,

“‘Mr. Amsterdam’ is sort of about a guy who hates everything, very bitter person who kind of hates the world.”

4. Personal hell. The album is very personal to the band, so much so that “The Hell Song” was written about a friend who contracted HIV. Whibley has repeatedly said that it’s his favourite song on record. He wrote the song after an ex-girlfriend came to him following her diagnoses.

“She doesn’t sleep around. She’s only had two or three boyfriends and one of them used to cheat on her all the time, and then he got it and gave it to her.

It’s the heaviest thing that’s happened in our group of friends.”

5. Post 9/11. “Still Waiting” is undoubtedly one of the band’s biggest songs, and it was inspired by the aftermath of 9/11. Whibley stressed that while the meaning of the song isn’t directly related to terrorism or war, it was inspired by “the war on everything. It’s about the world as we know it.”.

6. Not your typical punk band. The music video for “Still Waiting” was intended to address and break the unfair stereotypes associated with punk music. The introduction to the video shows a record executive trying to get the band to change their names while handing them a pack of cigarettes, saying “drinking and smoking is the ‘in’ thing”. The full music video was difficult to track down, but you can watch the introduction below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4dQzyOBtWA

7. Committed to the art, man. The album’s cover features drummer Steve Jocz dressed up as a zombie. The band actually chose the artwork before the title. In fact, the album was almost delayed because the band couldn’t agree on a name.

8. Punk as heck. Although the band aimed to break the stigmas surrounding punk music with the record, the album was still punk at its core. It received positive reviews from both critics and fans alike. Rock Sound listed the album at #28 on their “51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time” list.

9. The metal! In a bonus DVD entitled Cross the T’s and Gouge Your I’s, the group’s alter-ego metal band called Pain for Pleasure performs their song “Reign In Pain”.

10. Punk till death. As of 2013, Whibley has been the last remaining original member of Sum 41.