"Fat Lip" is a song by Canadian rock band Sum 41. It is the fourth track on their debut album, All Killer No Filler (2001), and was released as the lead single in April 2001. It is the band's most successful single to date, topping the BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart. It peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at number eight on the UK Singles Chart.
"It was the last song I had written for All Killer [No Filler]," Whibley told Stereogum in 2021. "The whole album was pretty much done. It was never meant to be a single. It wasn't even supposed to be a song. The very, very first thing I wrote was the guitar riff. And I didn't necessarily write it for this idea that I had for this sort of punk rock-rap kind of thing. I knew I had this old school rap idea mixed with punk rock sort of stuff, but I wrote this riff just as a riff. And then I ended up writing a chorus, like, months later. And then I had this verse. And none of them were supposed to be together. They were just separate things that I was writing over time. And then one day it kind of clicked, and I thought, 'Well, these all kind of work. They're all around the same tempo, they're all the same key.' I changed a few things and made it work, now all of a sudden I was like, 'OK, I've got the rap part, I've got a riff, and I've got a chorus.' But I don’t have the rest of the song. And then it took a long time before pieces just kind of came together."[1]
The uptempo song has been described as pop punk,[2]skate punk,[3][4]rap rock[5] and easycore,[6] with Whibley, Brownsound, and Jocz sharing vocal duties. "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.[7] Brian Hiatt of MTV.com described the song as "pop-punk-meets-hip-hop",[8]Loudwire cited it as a containing elements of hard rock[9] and PopMatters cited it as using elements of heavy metal.[10] The song has also been described to be "Mixing elements of skate punk, nu-metal, and good old-fashioned pop"[11]
Music video
The song topped MTV's Total Request Live and MuchMusic's MuchMusic Countdown in the summer of 2001. In the original Canadian version, the music video combines with fellow All Killer No Filler track "Pain for Pleasure", a very short Iron Maiden-esque song which is the final song on the album. The video, filmed in Pomona, California,[1] was ranked at number 75 on "MuchMusic's 100 Best Videos". At the beginning of the music video, the band performs an a cappella of the first half of the first verse of "It's What We're All About"—which would be their future single— with Jason McCaslinbeatboxing for the staff of a liquor store (likely the store frequently seen in the background throughout the video).
^"Fat Lip" reached number 24 between June 5, 2001 and June 11, 2001. It peaked highest on September 20, 2001, according to the Jam! link provided above.
^Childers, Chad (August 29, 2022). "5 Scenes Stalled by Nu-Metal". Loudwire. Retrieved August 30, 2022. ...while Sum 41 added elements of rap and hard rock into their punk-driven "Fat Lip".
^Fat Lip (UK CD single liner notes). Sum 41. Island Records. 2001. 588 801-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Fat Lip (UK cassette single sleeve). Sum 41. Island Records. 2001. 588 801-4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Fat Lip (UK DVD single liner notes). Sum 41. Island Records. 2001. 588 801-9.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Fat Lip (European CD single liner notes). Sum 41. Island Records. 2001. 588 757-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
