Released May 15, 2007 Length 3:16 | Genre Pop punk Label Island | |
Format CD single, digital download Recorded November 6, 2006 - March 2007 | ||
"Underclass Hero" is the first single from Sum 41's fourth studio album Underclass Hero. The song impacted radio on May 15, 2007. The song in its entirety was leaked on April 23 from a 91X podcast interview with Deryck Whibley. It was confirmed on Sum 41's official site that this would be the opening track for the album. The song was used in the EA Sports computer game Madden 08 and Sony's NBA 08. It is the band's first single since the departure of guitarist Dave Baksh.
Contents
Overview
"Underclass Hero" was written by Whibley with a theme of "us against them", similar to their previous lyrics. Although "Underclass Hero" is written from a different angle, the song refers prominently to society and the struggle of "high-class versus the underclass" instead of "youth against adults" as in All Killer No Filler. The song also uses the more classic punk-rock themes of anti-establishment. This is the theme song for MTV's Crash My School. The song´s intro is similar to the band´s previous single, "Handle This", but with certain modifications in the notes and tuning.
Music video
Sum 41's video for “Underclass Hero” was premiered May 29, 2007, on their official website. It shows the band playing behind a large group of teenagers, fireworks, a marching-band and bonfire, supposedly a pre-high school pep rally for a football game with a mascot, which represented the anarchy symbol. The video was launched worldwide on May 31, 2007, on Total Request Live on MTV. The video was co-directed by Marc Klasfeld and the Sum 41 drummer, Steve Jocz. This is the band's first video without the former guitarist Dave Baksh, who had left the band the previous year, but returned in 2015.
Subject to Change
The chorus of "Underclass Hero" is a remake of the chorus from the unfinished version of "No Reason" that originally appeared on Chuck and was released as a bonus track, titled "Subject to Change".
Radio promo
- "Underclass Hero" (clean edit)
CD single
- "Underclass Hero" - 3:16
- "This Is Goodbye" - 2:27
- "March of the Dogs" - 3:10
- Road to Ruin #4 - webisode
- Underclass Hero - video