Sum 41 - What We're All About (Original Version)

2002

Sum 41 - What We're All About (Original Version) (2002) Director: Marc Klasfeld Era: Post-Grunge / Pop-Punk Mainstream Boom (2002) - Peak era of skate-punk crossover into blockbuster multimedia tie-ins; Sum 41 riding the wave of All Killer No Filler success into the Spider-Man franchise soundtrack High curatorial value as a time-capsule artifact sitting at the intersection of three significant 2002 pop-culture phenomena: the Spider-Man blockbuster, the pop-punk mainstream apex, and Marc Klasfeld's emerging signature as a top-tier rock video director. The upside-down performance concept is a memorable and technically unusual visual choice that distinguishes it from generic performance-only videos of the era. The Kerry King crossover cameo also makes it a documented genre-bridge moment between punk and thrash metal subcultures. Context: Released April 2002 as a promotional single for Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man film, 'What We're All About' represents the peak moment of early-2000s pop-punk's infiltration of mainstream Hollywood. Sum 41, fresh off the breakthrough success of All Killer No Filler (2001), leveraged the Spider-Man soundtrack tie-in to reach global audiences beyond the North American punk scene. The track's genre-blending, fusing pop-punk with rap-rock and thrash metal via Kerry King's guest solo, mirrored the era's appetite for hybrid rock sounds. The video's rooftop inversion concept reinforced punk's anti-gravity irreverence, while the high-profile soundtrack context marked a commercial legitimization of skate-punk aesthetics in mainstream pop culture. Director notes: The video premiered April 15, 2002, as confirmed by IMVDb and multiple sources. It is documented as one of Marc Klasfeld's signature rock performance videos from his early-2000s peak period. The video's central visual conceit, band members performing upside-down with instruments chained to the rooftop, is a noted production challenge; Sum 41 themselves acknowledged it as their most physically difficult video to make. Kerry King of Slayer, who performed the guest guitar solo on the track, also appeared in the video. The song was a promotional single for the Sam Raimi Spider-Man (2002) soundtrack. Klasfeld's RockHard Films produced the video. The video received attention in connection with the 2003 Music Video Production Association Awards (Billboard).