(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Mon 24 November 2025 0:30, UK
In the early 2000s, pop punk rattled from the local skateparks to house parties and radio airwaves, amplifying a soundtrack for disillusioned kids, yearning for something beyond suburban life and the rigour of school.
A channelling of boredom into something electrifying that, at its finest, sounded imperfect and honest, and with a blend of rock and hip-hop, Sum 41 were one of the few to play the adolescent challenging of authority best, led by the unmistakable voice of Deryck Whibley.
The Canadian band captured the strange tumult of being a teenager in a world that felt like it was simultaneously opening up and caving in around you, where, as a songwriter, Whibley tapped into the universal sentiment of teenage angst, with the typical high school experiences to pull from, such as late-night parties, crushing first breakups and going against your parents. He soundtracked a generation that felt perpetually misunderstood, while keeping a humorous and lighthearted edge that felt inviting and relatable.
Whibley, in conversation with Kerrang!, said it best when reflecting on writing their early hit, ‘In Too Deep’: “There’s something magical about that era in your life”.
Becoming so synonymous with pop punk’s final gasp, it may be curious to hear that Whibley’s personal music tastes span far wider than the expected pop, rock and rap catalogue.
Speaking with Forbes, he named his favourite singer-songwriter album of all time, Wildflowers by Tom Petty. “Every time I listen to it, it makes me feel a certain blissful feeling which is really hard to describe,” he explained, “It’s that mystery in music that I love. Why do I feel that way when I hear it? I have no idea.”
Wildflowers, released in 1994, is the second solo album from Petty, who was then in his mid-40s, and was widely heralded for the evolved maturity, particularly in his accounting of middle-aged life. The songs captured reflections of years lived within the world of rock ‘n’ roll stardom, looking back on his time with The Heartbreakers, and Petty believed in the album so strongly that it frightened him. As producer Rick Rubin, who would later work with Sum 41 on their single ‘What We’re All About’ in 2002, recalled, “He told me Wildflowers scares him because he’s not sure why it’s as good as it is. So it has this haunted feeling for him”.
Petty, not looking to reinvent his sound, stuck to his roots in Americana. In his fashioning of rock with a folk and country twist, he produced songs that were meant to linger, as they evidently did for Whibley. “It just speaks to me on a level that’s impossible to explain and can only be felt,” he continued, “It’s the culmination of the music, the lyrics, the sound of all of it put together that triggers something in me and makes me instantly happy.”
The sharp contrast between Petty’s refined rock and Sum 41’s skate punk could not be a wider gulf, but it is a sign of the musicians’ respective knack for capturing a generation’s sound and emotions that shows up in the appreciation.
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