2000's Guilt #02: Papa Roach “Scars” (2005)

This was our #1 guilty pleasure song of 2005:

This is what it sounds like when the angriest football player in school comes out of the closet. The artist formerly known as Coby Dick was once cashing-in on the angry family-hating y2k atmosphere that made millionaires out of Limp, Staind & Mudd. Five years later, radio friendly nu-metal is dead, and fake-emo is in. This is the same reason why Hoobastank followed up the oddly over-aggressive "Out Of Control" with the significantly sappier (abysmal) "The Reason," and why Sum 41 followed-up the punked-out anti-everything "We're All To Blame" with that song that sounds like Coldplay. The first single keeps the fans from crying "sell out," but the second single maintains their record contract and ensures U.S. Top 40 spins.

This is an interesting point since Hoobastank's "The Reason," Sum 41's "Pieces" and "Scars" were all the last time the mainstream heard from any of these bands... and even stranger since "The Reason" specifically was fucking huge.

P-Roach and their label strategically planned out a similar tactic, making "Scars" the follow-up to the execrable "Getting Away With Murder." But somehow the 2nd single in this case turned out to be their best song ... It's so stupid and catchy and simple that eventually, it sticks. - TMK, 1/12/06

What's even stranger is that this song seems to get better with every passing year. If we were gutsy enough to include this is the "best of the 2000's" list, "Scars" probably would have placed embarrassingly well.