Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?)

"Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?)"
Single by Simple Plan
from the album Still Not Getting Any...
Released April 1, 2005
Format CD single
Recorded 2004
Genre Symphonic rock
Length 4:00
Label Lava
Writer(s) Simple Plan
Simple Plan singles chronology
"Shut Up!"
(2005)		 "Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?)"
(2005)		 "Crazy"
(2005)

"Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?)" is a song by Canadian pop punk group Simple Plan. It was released in April 2005 as the third single from their second studio album, Still Not Getting Any.... The song's official title, when the CD was released, was simply "Untitled".

Music video

The music video of this song tells a story of a car accident on a rainy evening where a young male drunk driver crashed his sedan head-on into a Trans Am driven by a female, resulting in her death. The drunk driver, however, stayed alive relatively uninjured, and ended up captured by the FBI and BATF. It was filmed near the famous tunnel in Griffith Park.

The video shows a family doing things such as: a high school student is seen playing video games in his bedroom, another high school student is doing her homework in her bedroom, the mom is in her house's kitchen washing dishes and the dad is working in his office. Then abruptly, the entire family is violently thrown into the walls surrounding them as the boy falls out of his bedroom window and the dad lands on his computer just as the two vehicles collide. In a joint letter with MADD, Simple Plan explained the events in the video:[1]

“ This song is a very personal look at what happens when tragedy hits close to home and we wanted to make a video that was as powerful and as special as the song was to the five of us.

Over the last few years, a lot of people we know have been involved in tragic accidents caused by drinking and driving. One of the students at our high-school crashed his car driving back from a weekend trip and killed his best friend. It was a very sad time that none of us will ever forget.

This is the story we wanted to tell with this video: the story of all the innocent victims caused by drinking and driving. We hope you will take the time to watch the video. Thanks for all your support.

 ”

In other media

The song has since been used in Mothers Against Drunk Driving anti-drunk driving campaigns[2] and in the fourth season episode of Smallville called "Recruit".

Live performances

When performed live, the guitar solo in the middle of the song is performed by Bouvier. Lead guitarist Jeff Stinco plays a semi-acoustic guitar until the end of the solo, while rhythm guitarist Sébastien Lefebvre and drummer Chuck Comeau come in at the beginning of the solo. Bassist Desrosiers' main role in this song is backing vocals, with his bass easing back a bit.

Track listing

  1. "How Could This Happen to Me?" - 3:28
  2. "Welcome to My Life" (Live) - 4:13
  3. "Jump" (Live) - 3:48

Charts

Chart (2005–06) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[3] 9
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[4] 17
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan) 3
Czech Republic (Rádio Top 100)[5] 52
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[6] 36
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[7] 20
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[8] 3
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[9] 7
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[10] 183
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 26
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[11] 49
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Top 40 16
U.S. Billboard Radio Songs 61

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[12] Gold 35,000
Canada (Music Canada)[13] Gold 10,000
Sweden (GLF)[14] Gold 10,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.