• May 30, 2005
• Vol. 63
• No. 21

Rock Band Simple Plan's Hit Video About Drunk Driving Strikes a Huge Nerve with Fans and Parents

Despite the juvenile title of their latest CD, Still Not Getting Any..., pop-punkers Simple Plan were dead serious when creating a video for the album's third single, "Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?)." Inspired by their memories of a high school friend who was driving drunk when he got into an accident that killed his best friend, the video depicts a car crash and the grief that follows. "This is not about us saying, 'Hey, don't have fun and don't drink, ever,'" says drummer Chuck Comeau, 25. "It is about telling people, just make the right choices and think about what could happen. The last thing we want to do is some corny PSA." In fact, the video, which has been a staple on MTV's Total Request Live, has had a sobering effect. The Simple Plan Web site has garnered more than 4,000 posts from fans, many of them personal stories of how they were affected by drunk driving. "It's amazing to me," says Comeau, "how many people were impacted by this." Among them: Mothers Against Drunk Driving national president Wendy Hamilton, who will be using the video in MADD's school outreach program next fall. Says she: "To have somebody who can carry the message to kids is a real gift to us."

More From This Article

The Fans Respond: How Drunk Driving Affected Me

LAUREN, LOS ANGELES "I taped the video and watched it with my family. Every one of us cried. My mom had lost her baby brother to drunk driving, and my dad lost his grandfather. I hope kids will realize that they hurt so many people when they drink and drive."

ASHLEY, WISCONSIN "My parents drink a lot, but I hate the taste of the stuff. I get dragged out with them and usually have to drive them home. But now I'm kind of glad they do. I'd rather sit through their mindless, drunken conversation than not hear them ever again."

ROBERT, CROYDON, PA. "In the last two years I have lost five [people] to car accidents, and three of them were by a drunk driver. I love this video and hope it opens [people's] eyes to how severe it is to drive drunk. THANK YOU, Simple Plan, for this amazing message to the world."