"Anything" for a Hit: When Simple Plan Broke Big

Paul Natkin/WireImage

"Anything" for a Hit: When Simple Plan Broke Big

The new millennium saw an explosion of pop-punk acts in the wake of Blink-182's monster commercial success with hits like "What's My Age Again?" and "All the Small Things." One of the bands that rode that wave of success, Canadian rockers Simple Plan, had an advantage of sorts: an endorsement from Blink's singer/bassist Mark Hoppus, who lent vocals to their breakthrough hit "I'd Do Anything" back in 2002.

The roots of Simple Plan as a band trace back to another punk act coming out of Montreal in the early '90s named Reset. Lead singer Pierre Bouvier and drummer Chuck Comeau were members of the band since 1993. Comeau eventually left to form Simple Plan with guitarists and high school pals Jeff Stinco and Sébastien Lefebvre. In 1999, Bouvier departed Reset; his replacement, bassist David Desroisers, would soon join the new band as well.

When Bouvier and Comeau started writing together, two songs came together quickly: their eventual debut single "I'm Just a Kid" and follow-up "I'd Do Anything." Still, it took some time to perfect. "The chorus is pretty much exactly the same, but everything else got changed," Bouvier told Songfacts about their demo version. "That was one of the very early songs."

Once the track started to come together, the band traveled from Montreal to Toronto to catch the Warped Tour, the legendary traveling punk caravan. Comeau had been in touch with Blink - specifically Hoppus - since they shared the stage with Reset some years back, and ended up giving Hoppus a copy of the track after meeting up outside their tour bus. He loved it so much, he agreed to sing on the track as well as appear in the video.

The result was pure pop-punk magic: "I'd Do Anything" became Simple Plan's first of six Top 10 hits in their home country, and also became their first song to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 in America.

Artist Name

Simple Plan