"Fat Lip" is the first single off the punk rock band Sum 41's second album All Killer No Filler. It is arguably the band's most successful single, topping the Billboard Modern Rock chart, as well as MTV's Total Request Live and MuchMusic's MuchMusic Countdown in the summer of 2001.
The high-tempo song includes elements of rapcore, hip hop (particularly Beastie Boys), and punk rock, with Deryck, Dave, and Steve getting some lines in (Deryck providing some hip-hop while mainly doing the singing). The original title for "Fat Lip" was "Punk Hop", due to the song being a combination of hip-hop and punk. Its lyrics depict a person who wants to rebuff every attempt by society to conform, with the chorus beginning with the line, "I don't wanna waste my time/Become another casualty of society". The lyrics are rebellious and juvenile in nature, giving it a teenage target audience.[citation needed] "The verses are really about what we do: growing up in the suburbs, going to parties and hanging out with our friends, and causing trouble. A lot of people say they relate to it," said Whibley. [1]The song gets its name from the slang term for a swollen lip as result from being punched in the face. The cover of the CD has a boy with a "fat lip", hence the name of the single. The model in the cover is Charlie White. Rolling Stone Magazine described the sound of the song as if Sum 41 went from blink-182 to Beastie Boys to Black Sabbath, all in one song.
The video contains another track from the album, Pain For Pleasure. The band members dressed in an 80's heavy metal style with a different music tone that sounds similar to "Killers" by Iron Maiden - a clear influence of the band, as evidenced in the lyrics of this very song ("Heavy metal and mullets, it's how we were raised/Maiden and Priest were the gods that we praised"). This dual-video project was directed by Marc Klasfeld.
The video's intro features the band members singing verses from their song "Dave's Possessed Hair/It's What We're All About" from their previous album, Half Hour of Power.
