It is crazy to think that 20 years ago this summer, Spider-Man went from a B-Side of the Marvel industry to one of the biggest attractions. Following the success of X-Men (2000), there was a push to get everyone’s favorite web-slinger a movie. Back before franchises became the norm and we had umpteen iterations to start up a cinematic Spider-Verse, there was one. In May 2002, director Sam Raimi had the luck to helm a massive hit that grossed over $825 million and began the debate of “Who is your favorite Peter Parker?” Considering that the past year has brought with it appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and Raimi doing Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022), it’s been one of the biggest celebrations imaginable.
Though the one thing that has often been ignored is the accompanying soundtrack. While many recognize the buoyancy of Danny Elfman’s score, there’s a good chance that something else brings a little dread. There’s the subset of soundtracks that fall under “music inspired by” that often has very little to do with the film itself. If anything, it’s the equivalent of buying off-brand merchandise with a logo that you know doesn’t correlate. It could be great, it could be terrible, but it’s definitely what it’s being sold as. If anyone is to recall this soundtrack at all, it’s the lead single “Hero” by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger and Saliva’s Josey Scott. By the time of the third single by Corey Taylor/Stone Sour’s “Bother,” the phenomenon was over.
With that said, there is one single in there that has always been perplexing. Amid a soundtrack that includes music by Alien Ant Farm, The Strokes, Macy Gray, Pete Yorn, and The Hives’ year-old hit “Hate to Say I Told You So” was a song that promised great things. It had rap. It had rock. It had an amazing guitar solo by Slayer’s Kerry King. What was this self-indulgent experience that was ushering in The Age of Spider-Man? It was a reworked version of “Dave’s Possessed Hair/What We’re All About” by Sum-41. Much like The Hives, it may be difficult to fully understand what this has to do with fighting crime, taking pictures, or even falling in love. Much like the accompanying songs, they may have been fun on their own but this was clearly the work of turn-of-the-century trends trying to get the youth vote. In fairness, “It’s What We’re All About” is actually in the film as Uncle Ben drops Peter off at the library, but it’s such a background moment that it fails to matter.
There was a weird amalgamation around 2002 in regards to Sum-41. They were part of a new wave of Canadian rock artists that also included Nickelback and Avril Lavigne. Sum-41 was coming off of the success of “All Killer No Filler,” which came to be considered one of the cornerstones of 2000s era pop-punk and set the band up for years of radio hits. Songs like “Fat Lip” dominated on Total Request Live and the effort to make them the next big thing was in effect. They were unlike most groups of the time, borrowing as much from Slayer as they were N.W.A. and even pop-punk. Of course, it all shined through in the opening for the music video of “Fat Lip” where they beatboxed the opening lines to “It’s What We’re All About” to a dissatisfied clerk.
“Fat Lip,” for better or worse, was the gimmicky rebellious song for the ages. It had timeless edgy lines like “The doctor said my mom should’ve had an abortion.” The video had girls getting their heads shaved and chasing geese around. Total abandon. While the rest of their album fell closer to pop-punk, “Fat Lip” created a shadow that lasted well into their follow-up album “Does This Look Infected?” and threatened to mark them as nothing more than B-Boy posturing. Given their success, it makes sense why they were called upon to contribute to Spider-Man and it makes sense that they would flesh out this song from their E.P. “Half Hour of Power” by giving it more production values and several more verses. If nothing else, it was much easier than trying to write an angst-ridden track about being half spider, half man.
But here’s the thing… whatever thoughts can be achieved from “It’s What We’re All About,” it’s not one that reminds the audience of Spider-Man. At best, one can suggest that the opening riff is meant as a pastiche to the theme song, but even that would be a stretch when the three singers Deryck “Bizzy D” Whibley, Dave “Brownsound” Baksh, and Steve “Stevo-32” Jocz spend more time singing about playing grade school parties, selling their soul to Satan, getting bacon grease in their eyes, and declaring themselves “the poon patrol.” As the chorus suggests, rock is what they’re all about. If Peter Parker was ever to hang out at a skate park, MAYBE Sum-41 would fit into this universe. However, this wasn’t anywhere close to Raimi’s vision. By the time King drops in for a dizzying cameo, it’s pure madness and confusion. Personally I love it, but this whole track is more cartoonish than the Stan Lee source material.
To some extent, I am always disheartened that contemporary properties don’t embrace the hit single approach. While I recognize that the impact of the radio isn’t what it used to be, there is something to be said for a universe where everything is thought out. The idea that even the music the characters listen to is tailor-made for the experience speaks volumes for me. Even if I disliked it, there’s something to be said for this approach in the Jay-Z curated production of The Great Gatsby (2013). Even later works like Black Panther (2018) and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) have worked a soundtrack so perfectly that I think it raises all boats. Everyone involved gets their work out to new fans and it helps to create something vivid and exciting.
I suppose on some level a song doesn’t need to be narratively consistent with the action on screen. This would get tedious for more blockbuster-oriented works. In the right vein, it could even launch careers like Daredevil (2003) did with Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life.” However, I look at how Vince Staples’ “Home” is used in Spider-Verse and I am in awe of how the animation complements the force of the music. Compare that to “It’s What We’re All About,” which is a background song. At most, it looks like Uncle Ben trying to pander to Peter’s taste in music. With that said, very little about his demeanor would suggest that he listens to songs that feature such pearls of wisdom like:
When I'm on top I'm gonna borrow that bootieHustling deals like Mickey Macoote
This might fly in the world of Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, but not Tobey Maguire. He doesn’t seem like the guy who would listen to rap rock. The stereotypical poster child for this archetype was A.J. Soprano on The Sopranos, and even his misunderstood loner child schtick seems much more nuanced than what Raimi’s Greek tragedy structure is doing. It’s not the fault of the film at all. As pure blockbuster entertainment, it’s actually masterful. As a song that’s “inspired by” Spider-Man, it’s absolutely false advertising. Even with web powers and six pack abs, that dude is getting his neck snapped in a mosh pit.
On the one hand, this is a great example of a song getting improvements from larger production values. All that one has to do is compare the “Half Hour of Power” version from two years prior and the signs are all there. It’s a ridiculous party anthem lacking the thematic consistency of their "All Killer No Filler” hits, but it works as disposable entertainment. Whereas the bigger hit from Spider-Man (“Hero”) is way too self-serious, there is a lack of sincerity here that could work in the same way that The Fat Boys teaming up with Freddy Krueger could, but don’t consider it to be the cornerstone of a cultural movement.
With all of this said, the music video is at times amazing. One of the big selling points of Spider-Man was that he climbed on walls and walked upside down. It’s a dazzling image if done right and, quite arguably, Jamiroquai beat Sum-41 at that game with the “Virtual Insanity” music video. Practical effects abound as the quartet interacts with footage from the film. With Marc Klasfeld in tow, they created a video where the band essentially performed on the ceiling. At times they would jump around not so much by reenacting the hand gesture, but by wires lifting the musicians closer to the camera. Elsewhere the band is performing to an audience directly underneath. As far as optics go, that’s pretty cool.
Admittedly, this is not a video that revolutionized the industry. While it’s a geeky celebration of various overlapping interests, there’s little to declare this as ushering in Spider-Man as an icon for the ages. If anything, it’s a failed attempt to cash in on Sum-41’s rising profile, where they were moving more clearly towards metal and fast rock. Whereas many are likely to recall “Hero” or the Spider-Man 2 (2004) hit “Vindicated” as closer to canon, this one is often outright ignored. Many wouldn’t even list it among the band’s greatest hits. For a song that remains a crazy outlier for everything they ever did, it’s weird that it doesn’t have more of a reputation.
Then again, that’s the sore spot of rap rock in general. More than any genre in the 21st century, there’s plenty that’s easy to mock. The idea of white guys trying to act cool while making questionable music is inherently silly. The more sincere it ends up being the closer to embarrassing it actually is. Sum-41 was never sincere, at least in the rap rock lane. “It’s What We’re All About” was a fun gimmick on par with The Bloodhound Gang’s “Fire Water Burn.” Even if it fills up four minutes, there’s little of the song that means much of anything. It’s just an excuse to recklessly scream nonsense, to get moving, and hopefully enjoy an occasional collaboration that doesn’t make any sense. But hey, if Maguire being in No Way Home means that the 2002 film is canon, then I guess Kerry King exists in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe playing at your local New York loft for drunken frat boys every weekend.
To be completely honest, the Spider-Man soundtrack is mostly disposable and many of the songs aren’t all that remembered today even if the bands themselves are. It was a failed attempt to expand the universe sonically and produce something amazing. Even if the film remains beloved, I don’t know that any of the music is. Even then, I love the great “What If?” that followed when suggesting that Sum-41 produce a rap rock track. Imagine how less interesting they would be if that was all they did after that. Imagine how boring they would be if they didn’t have odd chestnuts like “It’s What We’re All About” to surprise fans discovering them for the first time on a used two-disc special edition DVD they picked up at a garage sale. It’s a conundrum that goes beyond comics. It’s simply another fun corner of pop culture that will always be there, waiting for obsessive nerds to ask “Why was this relevant?” I’d argue that even at the time it wasn’t. It was fun, but there were much better options out there. I just wish there were more of these corners since to mull over.
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