There’s something to be said for longevity…

On Prime Video tomorrow; Simple Plan: The Kids In The Crowd is a strong all be it formulaic rock doc that tracks the band’s origins, their struggles to find a place in the pop culture landscape before truly being punk rock and basically carving their own.

In a film that dials it back to the turn of the century, Simple Plan: The Kids In The Crowd is a nostalgic trip back into the tour bus with one of the most popular pop-punk bands of the 2000s. Packed with never-before-seen archival footage and exclusive access to their sold-out 2024 World Tour, the members of Simple Plan and a cast of punk-rock superstars recount the highs and lows of the first 25 years of their career. It’s a Stage-dive into a story of brotherhood, fans and resilience.

Dismissing the longevity of a band an easy thing to do as we navigate the 24 hour news cycle of that pop culture zeitgeist and that’s what makes Simple Plan: The Kids In The Crowd pretty special because if we do genuinely try and think of how many bands from the late 90’s/early 00’s (much less the ones in the pop/punk genre) who are still touring pretty consistently, it’s just not that damn many.

Thanks to a treasure trove of archival footage, director Didier Charette isn’t afraid to lean on the early (and quite frankly more interesting years) of the band as we chronicle their rise.  From kids, playing in a basement to getting noticed while touring non-stop, it’s genuinely a testament to the rock and roll dream, because it’s never about that “one song” or that “one moment” it’s about working your asses off, in a tour bus driven by your dad, playing in parking lots, playing shows for 12 people and just not giving up.

Are they pop?  Are they punk?  It doesn’t matter because when these young musicians stopped worrying about “fitting the mold” and letting the mold fit them, that’s when they found success.  Charette frames the film with wall to wall music so the nostalgia ramps up to 11 and in a time when music was changing they managed to redefine the definition of what it meant to be punk.   Sure they wanted to be loved, but they wanted to be loved for who they were and the songs that they sang that resonated with so many audiences all across the world.

It’s not a rock and roll or punk rock story really with that many warts on it because….let’s face it they are Canadian; but Simple Plan: The Kids In The Crowd is a testament to the ideals that every aspiring musician or artist needs to hold on to.  If you want to have a hope in hell of making it, you simply can’t give up, a message so important and so easily forgotten in an era where people are clawing for fame and success at every turn.  To be honest, this film actually show that Simple Plan as a band is probably more Sinatra then punk or rock.  They did it their way, because it’s the only way they knew how.