Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Untitled" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Single by Simple Plan | ||
| from the album Still Not Getting Any... | ||
| Released | 2005 | |
| Format | CD Single | |
| Recorded | 2004 | |
| Genre | Pop punk | |
| Length | 4:00 | |
| Label | Atlantic | |
| Writer(s) | Simple Plan | |
| Chart positions | ||
| Simple Plan singles chronology | ||
| "Shut Up" (2004) |
"Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me)" (2005) |
"Crazy" (2005) |
Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me) is a song, and a music video, by the Canadian pop punk band Simple Plan.
The song's official title, when the CD was released, was Untitled. However, when it was released as a single, it was given the parenthetical, perhaps to distinguish it from other songs named "Untitled" or else for the convenience of DJ's. The song is notable as one of the group's more serious songs, and for the salient vocals and piano.
The music video tells a story of an automobile accident on a rainy night. A man, drinking alcohol while driving, inattentively drives head-on into a car driven by a woman, who dies. The man survives, relatively uninjured.
The 'hook' of the video is what happens to the victim's loved ones at the moment of impact, when it is graphically shown that there are "more victims than people think, and many lives are changed forever", to quote Simple Plan's description:
- "Over the last few years, a lot of people we know have been involved in tragic accidents caused by drinking and driving. One of the students at our high-school crashed his car driving back from a weekend trip and killed his best friend. It was a very sad time that none of us will ever forget.
- When an accident happens, there are more victims than people think, and many lives are changed forever...Parents, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, grandparents...everybody feels the impact.
- We wanted to tell a story with this video: the story about all of the innocent victims affected by drinking and driving."
[edit] Trivia
- The song was used in a Smallville episode.
- The song became lampooned as an Internet fad when it was featured on YTMND.com in 2005, to a much less than positive review. It was used to portray sites with e-suicide notes, ignited by a 17 year old who posted his on MySpace. The chorus of the song has also become almost synonymous with the word "emo" and both are sometimes found paired, most often in a derisive way, such as making fun of "emo kids."
- The song has also been used on the gaming geek pod-cast Quarter Circle Forward QCF.ca in the segment "Operation Soul-Crusher with Bryan J. Greatness", which features the hosts tracking down Livejournal entries and reading them in a mocking and over-dramatic fashion. Many times the hosts will repost the links on 4chan.org where they are usually subject to flaming, taunting and vulgar commentary. In many cases target Livejournals will be forced to shut down due to overwhelming levels of harassment generated from the readings. The song acts as background music for the actual readings.
- The song more recently has also been used as the theme in many tribute videos for the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.
- The music video is endorsed by MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)
[edit] External links
- Music video on Simple Plan's website
| Simple Plan |
| Jeff Stinco | Chuck Comeau | Pierre Bouvier | Sébastien Lefebvre | David Desrosiers |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio Albums: No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls | Still Not Getting Any... |
| Live Albums: Live In Japan 2002 | Live In Anaheim | MTV: Hard Rock Live |
| Singles: "I'm Just a Kid" | "I'd Do Anything" | "Addicted" | "Perfect" | "Welcome to My Life" | "Shut Up!" "Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me)" | "Crazy" |
| Videography |
| A Big Package for You | MTV: Hard Rock Live |
| Labels |
| Lava Records | Atlantic Records |
