Does This Look Infected?

The album is a lot more aggressive, darker and heavier than Sum 41's previous studio album, All Killer No Filler.[1][2][3] It also has fewer elements of pop music than All Killer No Filler.[1] Described as heavy metal,[4] horror punk,[5] punk rock,[6][7][8][9][3] pop punk,[10][11][5][12] and melodic hardcore,[5] the album uses elements of heavy metal,[7][13][8][14][5][12][15] hardcore punk,[3] thrash metal,[5][13] d-beat[5] and, on the song "Thanks for Nothing",[3] hip hop.[15] Although the album has been described as pop punk by some sources, Counterculture.co.uk considered it an album that shows Sum 41 abandoning the pop punk genre for a more standard punk rock style.[7] Amy Sciarretto of ARTISTdirect wrote that Does This Look Infected? soldifies Sum 41 as "true punk stalwarts".[16] The music on Does This Look Infected? has been compared to bands such as The Offspring, P.O.D., Metallica, Rancid, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Bad Religion, NOFX, Green Day and Blink-182.[7][13][8][17][18][5]

Deryck Whibley at the Ottawa Bluesfest in 2003

The album's lyrical topics are darker than the lyrical topics on All Killer No Filler.[19] Sum 41's vocalist Deryck Whibley said, "A lot of stuff happened in the past year that opened our eyes to new things," Whibley said. "The whole last year has been really crazy around the world. There's been so much stuff going on and it's been so televised. I think we've all become more aware. When we 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."[10] The album's lyrical topics include hatred, war, internal demons, disliking the world, suicide, drugs, insomnia and HIV.[10][20][19][12][21] The song "Mr. Amsterdam" is about an embittered man. Whibley said, "'Mr. Amsterdam' is sort of about a guy who hates everything, very bitter person who kind of hates the world." He explains, "He's against the world."[17] The song is also about the complacency of pop culture in 2002, the year that Does This Look Infected? was released, and technology that was new during the year that the album was released.[10] Whibley explained the meaning of "Mr. Amsterdam", saying, "We depend so much on new technology to make sure that we don't have to do anything. Everything's being laid out so we can sit at home and do nothing and never leave our homes. You can order all your groceries from the computer. You can do anything you want. You can just sit there and become fatter. And I think that's bad."[10]

Dave Baksh, a member of Sum 41, explained the meaning of the song "All Messed Up", saying, "There's a song called 'All Messed Up,' which is about doing drugs . . . just what we feel when we're on drugs."[20] When Whibley spoke about "All Messed Up", he said, "It's about those kinds of nights. It's just about being really messed up and in that whole cracked-out kind of state."[10] "The Hell Song" is about a friend of Sum 41 who contracted HIV. Whibley spoke about "The Hell Song" saying, "It’s one of my favorite songs on the record. It's about this girl I used to date who I've known forever. Just last Christmas she found that she was HIV positive, and it was so brutal. 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."[10] "No Brains" is about a former band member of Sum 41. Whibley explained the song's meaning, saying, "That's just a basic 'fuck you, I'm done' kind of song. This guy was our old singer and I was best friends with him. We had this big falling out."[10] Whibley explained what the song "Over My Head (Better Off Dead)" is about. He said, "It's not about being fucked up or drunk. It's more about the aftermath when you're hearing everything you've just done the night before, and you're like, "Ah, fuck, I'm better off dead." I don't regret any of the things I do and I don't mind doing them, I just hate hearing about it. Being told every morning, "Dude, what did you do last night?" drives me nuts."[10]

"Still Waiting" was written after the September 11 attacks.[10] Whibley explained the meaning of the song, saying, "It's not directly about 9/11 or the war on terrorism. It's about the war on everything. It's about the world as we know it. It's no secret that the world doesn't get along and there's all this hatred. It's everything to do with how this world functions."[10] Whibley stated on the band's DVD, Sake Bombs And Happy Endings, that the album's song "A.N.I.C." is a "special love song" dedicated to Anna Nicole Smith. According to him, "A.N.I.C." stands for 'Anna Nicole is a Cunt'." Sum 41 member Dave Baksh said that Anna Nicole Smith is "a fuckin' loser" and also said, "Look what she's doing to herself."[20] Sum 41 stopped including the song in their live performances after Smith died of an overdose in 2007.[22] However, they put "A.N.I.C." back into their setlist during the 2012 summer European leg of the Screaming Bloody Murder Tour. When Sum 41 performed the song live after Smith's death, the band would not show any disrespect towards her, with Whibley saying that the song "A.N.I.C." stands for "Deryck Whibley is a Stupid Fucking Cunt". However, since 2018, Whibley has resumed using Anna Nicole's name in the title.

The cover for Does This Look Infected? shows drummer Steve Jocz dressed as a zombie. It was chosen months before the title. The album was almost delayed by the label because the band members did not have a name for it on time until Whibley thought of the name Does This Look Infected?. The whole band laughed at the idea and chose it. The same thing is also used on the band's EP Does This Look Infected Too?, except Jocz was replaced with Whibley, also dressed as a zombie.

Citations

Sources

• Does This Look Infected? at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
• Does This Look Infected? at Metacritic